Feed the birds, tuppence a bag...

Categories: uncategorized

Date: 04 November 2003 03:00:00

In the centre of town there is a large roundabout with a hole in the middle, underpasses pass under the road at various points and meet in the sunken circle that I'm sure, back in the 1980's when it was constructed, was intended to be a beautiful landscaped area where people could meet and sit and chat to the relaxing nise of cars going round and round and round...
That dream is long forgotten, or so I thought. I walk to work via the roundabout and so have had the joy of watching the council's attempts to revive the dream.

Last summer the sunken paradise was just a paved area with steep concrete slopes up to the road. Then one morning a number of hexagonal concrete planters appeared in the centre with flowers in. The next morning the planters were empty and someone had helpfully paved the underpasses with dead flower heads and clumps of root-bound earth. Then then planters dissappeared too.

This spring a new plan of attack has been formed. First the underpasses and central circle were given a nice new tarmac layer. Then the concrete slopes were ripped up- ensuring, of course, that the smart black pavements were left nice and dusty. Then the earth on the slopes were turned over, and finally the slopes were sprayed with a grass seed mix.

Grass takes a long time to grow, especially when the soil is so bad... but it takes even longer when there are hungry pigeons around.
For the pass few weeks I've walked pass and observed the morning feasting that is going on on the slopes. I've pondered why the council did not think of protecting the seeded slopes, and why they didn't use turf. But all my pondering is in vain, and it does not change the fact that the birds are getting fat and my sanity is on the line.

You see, it's quite hard to walk past the pigeons and not say something to them about their bad behaviour. Last night I walked past and actually stopped and lent over to the nearest bird and said, in my 'out loud' voice, "It won't grow if you do that".
I then had a moment of panic and had to look around to check that nobody else was in the area and had noticed me behaving slightly strangely. Fortunately the place was empty... but I can't guarentee that I'll be as lucky next time I have the urge to address a bird!