Judy Allen

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July News

Birds and Bats

July - and the Swifts are shrieking around overhead.  

The male wren built a nest in the ivy on the wall just beside my sitting room window, but his chosen mate didn’t fancy it.  I hope they’re nesting somewhere else, not too far off.  They must be planning a second brood. I know they’ve already had one because a baby wren got itself into my sitting room two months ago.  I found it sitting on the mantelpiece, squawking.  It was easy to catch and put outside, but the parent wrens kicked up a lot of fuss.  I wasn’t sure if they were angry with me or with their child - probably both.    

A pair of coal tits nested just over the back wall of my neighbour’s garden.  They are now bringing their young to eat at the bird feeder in my garden.   A pair of great spotted woodpeckers have been eating at the feeder for months.  They still turn up, one at a time, but now their daughter comes along, too.  She is smaller than either of them, but I know she’s female because she doesn’t have the red patch at the back of her neck.

The bats come out at dusk - I don’t know where they roost but they feed over my garden and over all the neighbouring gardens, too.

Also - I have made a discovery about frogs.  When harrassed by the neighbourhood cats they make a loud noise rather like a squeaky toy.  This is definitely a mistake because the cats think a squeaky frog is even more fun than a silent one.  Mostly it’s ginger Marilyn and dark grey Elvis, from a few gardens away, who chase them.  M and E find me very confusing - often I greet them and stroke them, but if they’re persecuting frogs or birds I chase them off.  They don’t get the logic of this at all.

  Book News

All my books, except the very early ones, are on this website.  You’ll find fiction, non-fiction and some that are a blend of the two.  You’ll find books for very young readers and others for people of 14 and above, right up to adult.

The non-fiction subjects that interest me most are wildlife (from aphids to tigers), fantasy, myths, mysteries - oh yes, and walls.  They have all made their way into the fiction as well. 

I think I’m happiest when I’m writing a fiction and a non-fiction at the same time - then when I get stuck on one I can turn to the other.   (Do I ever get stuck on both?  Sometimes, but it usually passes.) 

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