The only sign that it is really only Spring despite the insanely warm temperatures is bird behaviour. "Bad" bird behaviour, even if they are only doing what comes naturally. In Australia there are a couple of bird species which get rather protective during their spring nesting time. They take their job of protecting their eggs, and then their bubs, very seriously, and it's the one part of Spring that you tend to dread.

Magpies are the worst - and they particularly don't like bikes, although they also go for walkers. Marc and I were swooped on the tandem just as we reached our seaside village destination on our ride last Thursday. Freak out! You suddenly hear that swoosh, swoosh of wings, and you realise you're being dive bombed by a manic bird. The fact that you're wearing a bike helmet doesn't really make you feel any better about it. While they might not draw blood if they make contact, you don't really want a chunk taken out of your helmet, and you don't really know just how good their aim is. We must have been a sight - me on the back of the tandem, swivelled round trying to both stare at the magpie (because some reckon that if you're looking at it it won't attack) and fend it off with one waving hand, while Marc was trying to control the bike. They swoop again and again until you manage to get far enough from their territory for their liking. Some of the official advice suggests you get off your bike and walk (so you don't have an accident I guess), but I'm more an advocate of 'get the hell away from there as quick as possible'.

There is an area the girls know to avoid a couple of streets away from us, so they try to remember to take an alternative route to their friends' place.

As if the maggies weren't enough, this year a couple of plovers (aka "masked lapwings") have taken over the park area between the houses and the beach, so for now you have to take a bit of detour to get to the beach. We haven't been swooped by them yet - some kids warned us as we headed to the beach yesterday afternoon, and we could see them patrolling, so decided not to stir them up. It is quite amusing that a pair of birds can change the behaviour of so many humans.

I don't like the heat, but I'm just a bit 'bring on summer and the end of the swooping season...'

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