Posts Tagged ‘seagull’

So after a brief interlude in the UK, packing up the contents of the house ready for the tenant to move in, listening to the cricket for four days, watching the rain dance its way across the Pennines, we arrived back in Asturias on Monday afternoon to a lethargic, humid heat.

That lasted all of two days, because yesterday it rained a bit… a lot… it caught a lot of people off guard (even though the weather forecast was right on the money), girls in strappy tops and gladiator sandals trudging round looking miserably wet.

On the TV weather last night they showed Murcia having a top temperature of 42C. Oviedo had 18C (well, it felt a little warmer, but not, you know, hot). I’m all in favour of this sort of thing as 40C is not a temperature for Anglo Saxons (or Celts)…

The other thing that seemed to change is Nemesis the seagull, he’s not so agressive now, and we noticed the other night that there are three chicks (well, they’re a bit big to be called chicks) on the roof opposite. They flap their wings ineffectually and make whingy teenage-seagull noises while mum and dad flap around being proud. So we have our terrace back. Just in time for the rain…

It started a couple of weeks ago. I stepped out onto the terrace to read in the sunlight (for a few minutes before anyone gets any ideas about me actually sunbathing). Seconds later there was a squawk and it came, swooping down from the sky, making that awk awk sound and crapping.

The same thing happened the next time.

And the next…

I had a nemesis.

Nemesis the seagull. He’s there now, on the top of the crane opposite. He’s a bit protective of his territory, and he’s decided, without consulting me, that his territory includes my terrace. As soon as he spots me his neck extends and he gives a warning squawk. If I stand my ground he seems to shrug his birdy shoulders as if to say ‘I’ve told him a million times, but he just won’t listen’ and drops off his perch. He dive bombs and squawks and craps and doesn’t get bored of it.