There is a bird's nest

not far from our back door. It is well protected under the verandah. I knew it was there and I have deliberately avoided going anywhere near it. I most certainly have not "checked" it in anyway.

My caution may be paying off. Mother bird has been busy of late. She is tiny - and I mean tiny. She is a "brown thornbill". 

Now I admit I do not know a lot of birds. I had to look this one up. I thought at first that she had to be a baby herself because she is so small - about the size of one of the smallest cumquats on the nearby tree, or perhaps a medium sized strawberry.  

I know nothing more about her and I am determined to leave her alone. She is going to have a tough time bringing up any fledglings. It is an unlikely place for her to have built a nest but there was some old coconut matting on the Senior Cat's nearby garden shelf. She has "borrowed" that and he would be delighted to think she has used it. Next time we get him home I will make sure he sees the nest. Like me  he will leave it strictly alone.

S..., who comes in to help with the major gardening jobs I can't handle, did put the ladder up some distance away and look carefully. He couldn't see much but told me, "I think they are safe enough." Like us he knows they need to be left alone.

It has made me think again that there are times when people need to be left alone and simply allowed to get on with the job by themselves.

There are times when I appreciate,"Do you want some help?" but if I say "No, thankyou" I really do mean "No." It is sometimes easier to do something by myself, in my own way and in my own time. Someone thinking they are helping are actually hindering. I don't like saying no because it might put people off asking another time but... it's a difficult balancing act.

I wonder about nests though. They seem such flimsy things. Wouldn't that tiny bird like a proper house?