Country diary: I appear to be in a relationship with my local jackdaws | Jason Smalley

Warton, Lancashire: They've fully moved into the area. Their conversation is our soundscape. All because of a bag of Garden Gourmet seed mixIt began innocently enough. Back in the spring I bought a five-seed Garden Gourmet mix, and the sparrows, dunnocks and robins all politely took their turns. A sackful a month procured from the local grain mill slowly turned into the dawn chorus.And then they came: a sooty pair of jackdaws, scouts from the colony that breeds in the quarry, their grey heads bobbing, greyer eyes clear and alert. Oh how I loved it when they brought two more. Soon they became six - my own chattering of jackdaws to accompany my morning rituals: coffee on the hob, feed the cat, seed the birds, retire to watch. Continue reading...