Avian Guests

I took delivery last week of a pair of blinds for a Velux window.  Specifically, the large south-facing window, one of three in my loft room and the one through which the morning sun shines in on the ‘puter, making it a problem trying to work there in the mornings at this time of year, and also contributing to making it uncomfortably hot when the weather is hot and sunny.  The loft room is my working-from-home office, so that’s a situation that needed fixing.

I first thought just a regular blind, to replace the broken one that was there when I moved in (there’s a similar and intact blind on the north-facing Velux window – presumably much less-used).  But searching online, I find I can get not just what they describe as a blackout blind (a somewhat-enhanced update on traditional roller blinds), but also an awning blind for outside the window.  The awning doesn’t block the light, but does reduce the sun’s heat on the window, so should keep the room a little cooler.

With the very sharp showers we were having last week (first real rain after an incredibly dry and sunny spring), I wasn’t about to risk putting up the awning.  But today I took advantage of more settled weather and put it up, starting with a liberal application of bucket-and-mop to accumulated crap.  A very simple job, and I was impressed by the condition of the window – particularly the outside – after the years of exposure to the elements.  But made a bit tricky by standing on the desk and working through an awkward hole in the roof while also having to hold the window at an angle it was reluctant to adopt and naturally swung back from, and using the screwdriver at an impossible angle to attach hooks.

No sooner was I done and admiring the awning than I heard a tremendous clattering from various points on the roof.  Damn, is the house falling down?  A couple of minutes later a pigeon comes and perches on the brand new awning.  Hmm, they claim it serves to reduce the noise of heavy rain, but how robust is it against the wildlife?  This was the first time I’ve had either the noise or the pigeon perching on the window.  Coincidence, or have I just supplied it a nice place to sit?

The plan is to leave the awning in place all summer, and open the blind sometime in the autumn – maybe October – when hot weather ceases to be a risk and whatever heat I can get becomes welcome (the loft was naturally the warmest room last winter – and the winter sun was never a problem there).  The blackout blind inside the window can respond to day-by-day conditions: I expect I’ll just draw it when necessary, and keep it open in dull weather and afternoons after about 2pm when the sun’s angle is away from me.

The other recent avian visitor was in the living room, a couple of weeks ago.  I was sitting there with the balcony door fully open when I heard a commotion.  A bird had entered, realised this was not its comfort zone, and made a rapid turn, happily retaining sufficient presence of mind to leave the way it had entered.  That all happened too quickly to get a proper look, and I’m sure the effect of being indoors made it sound bigger than it was.