Something’s stirring in the bird world of late. There’s been more than the usual to-ing and fro-ing, hopping and bobbing, and some very interesting sounds I’m not going to demean by reducing them to a simple tweet. On Monday I saw four magpies who were most definitely cavorting. The starling at the café seems to be developing a far more brilliant coat than the speckled brown plumage he’s had on all winter. The seagulls are even noisier than ever. Even one of the crows (who, as a species, seem, on the whole, immune to any behaviour beyond the utilitarian) has been practising his (her? probably his) repertoire of croaks on one of the commonly perched-upon railings nearby, or as he struts the beach looking for tidbits.

As a human corollary to this, in the center of town, heart shaped balloonoids (they aren’t proper balloons because they are made out of that crinkly stuff, heat sealed at the joins) bedecked with extravagant and unsupportable assertions like ‘I will love you forever’ float in card shop windows, accompanied by an army of fluffy bears, bunnies, meerkats, and things with big round eyes I can’t find a name for, embroidered with similar slogans.

But this is not the main reason for today’s posting. What I really want to know is why this week everyone also seems to be throwing out their old mattresses? I found three today, and several others over the past few journeys. Is this phenomenon linked to human courtship rituals? Is this where I have been going wrong?