Persistence

A beautiful new nest

The same nest seen from underneath

Sundry long strands of grass and weeds, bits of plastic and other assorted rubbish suddenly started appearing on the floor of Rocco's stable last weekend. It wasn't till I was mucking out on Monday though that I realised why. A blackbird kept flying in through the window and depositing beakfuls of assorted twigs and stuff on the roof beam nearest the wall: Which, since there's a gap of about 4 or 5 inches between the beam and the wall, just kept falling through. Undeterred the blackbird just kept at it. Every few minutes it reappeared with yet another load. Most of which fell straight through the gap on to the floor.
"Wonder how long she'll keep this up ..." I mused to myself.
On Wednesday Linda and I had a conversation about how long a bird might contunue with such a useless activity, shrugging our shoulders at the hopelessness of it all. I even considered getting the ladder out and climbing up to somehow bridge the gap so the nest materials wouldn't keep falling through to the floor.
Then I forgot about it for a couple of days. On Saturday whilst I was doing evening stables I happened to look up and couldn't help smiling with surprise. On the beam, securely wedged against the wall, was the most beautiful nest.  Surrounded by all our animals we are never short of reminders of the ways in which nature and instinct govern so much of our lives; this, however, is surely a graphic example of the power of persistence against all adversity.
"Never say Never"..........................