I enjoyed Tim Abbott’s Nature’s Notebook column last week and agree that a good old-fashioned winter would be great. We had some good cold weather a few weeks ago, but last week proved to be another winter thaw. The sap was in fact flowing and maple syrup producers all across New England are scrambling to get their operations set up for the season— more on that in the next few weeks. The question of the day, though, has come from people who are concerned about not seeing birds at their feeders, and in some respect this question is related to this recent spell of warm weather.There is no clear and simple answer, but don’t despair. Bird populations fluctuate seasonally and from year to year. We also sometimes get irruptions of “winter finches” from our north, when winters get especially cold there. Tim pointed this out last week as well. Though there have been sightings of redpolls, pine siskins and crossbills, they have not been seen in any significant numbers.I think that the major reason why people sometimes do not see birds at feeders is that there is plenty of natural food available — plenty of native seeds, cones and persistent berries that birds love. Because of this, the birds are foraging in the brush, woodlands and forest edges, taking advantage of fresh premium natural food instead of going to feeders. This was especially true during the warm weather we saw last week.Just because it gets cold doesn’t mean that birds rely exclusively on feeders. Birds can survive the cold just fine as long as there is available food to provide the energy needed to stay warm. In fact even the migratory birds don’t fly south because it is cold. They fly south to find the grubs and insects that they feed on that are not available here in the winter.No food is alike. Just like us, birds have food preferences. If you are not seeing birds at your feeders and you have changed brands of birdseed lately, this could be the reason why. Old seed and seed with a lot of filler are not appealing to birds. They deserve the best, don’t they? Speaking of the best, if your neighbor has the granddaddy of all feeding stations, this could be another reason that you aren’t seeing birds at your feeder. Adding diversity to your feeding station attracts a diversity of birds. You don’t have to go crazy, but providing black oil sunflower seeds, maybe a mixed seed and some suet will go far to attract the best variety of birds to your feeder. Diversify your feeding station and look forward to hours of excellent armchair birding. Scott Heth is the director of Audubon Sharon and can be reached at sheth@audubon.org, (subject line: Nature Notes).
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Greg Fricke and James Boehmer, co-owners of Peggy Mercury in Kent, recently launched their first fashion line, “Imaginary Concerts.”
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Fricke and Boehmer are not there to stock their shelves with the same products customers find at standard makeup retailers. They’re there to help customers find what works for them. That usually means asking customers about themselves and learning about their beauty habits, skin, style and the way they like to present themselves. Fricke and Boehmer believe it’s their job to help customers bring out the qualities that suit them and determine what works best for their look.
So much of the Peggy Mercury world is about emboldening people to become more creative, and possibly bolder, versions of themselves. Some of this comes through the store’s creative collaborations with artists, designers and stylists.
It’s part of an ethos that encourages them and their friends to use the shop as a kind of laboratory, trying out new creative experiments without knowing how they might turn out. Whether in fashion, painting, fiber arts or photography, the projects almost always turn out marvelously.
A line of sterling silver charms they sell started as a small project by their friend Nolan Percival. In the beginning, the pieces were for close friends and loved ones. But Boehmer and Fricke encouraged Percival to get a little more serious about the project and create a whole line for the store. Today, it’s one of their top-selling collections.
Classic styles, bold colors, and creative concerts make up the “Imaginary Concerts” line at Peggy Mercury.Provided
“Imaginary Concerts” has the duo taking their own advice.
The project started as a way for Boehmer to connect with his mother, who had been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease. Taking old concert shirts from his own collection, Boehmer and his mother began cutting out the graphics with the idea that they would make a quilt together. Unfortunately, she died before they could complete the project in 2025. The pieces, which were ready for production, were put on the back burner as Boehmer and Fricke dealt with their loss and the whirlwind of projects that never seemed to cease at Peggy Mercury.
But the harsh winter of 2026 presented an opportunity to take some time and focus on themselves. Part of that meant revisiting and redefining the concert T-shirt project. This time, instead of looking to the warmth and comfort of a quilt, they turned to another passion — fashion.
Taking a page from their own book, they wanted to create something that felt comfortable to them. They took two disparate loves — one rooted in simple preppy style, with clean lines and classic silhouettes, and the other in the nitty gritty worlds of punk rock and pop — and blended them together to create something entirely new. Pulling from the staples of vintage Brooks Brothers and Charvet collections, they applied the graphic elements with bold stitching reminiscent of punk jackets of the ‘70s and ‘80s, but with a much more sophisticated air.
But the remixing isn’t just the pairing of prep and punk. The pieces are not canon. They take liberties with the realities of concert tours, combining one band’s dates with another band’s logos, mixing them all up until the reality is lost and imagination is the only truth.
Shirts from Peggy Mercury’s first fashion line, “Imaginary Concerts,” hang on display.Provided
Adding to the mix is an element of perpetual creativity. Art can be messy, both figuratively and literally, and many of Fricke and Boehmer’s artist friends carry evidence of their work on them at all times. As a nod to these tireless creatives, the duo added haphazard splashes of bright color, giving the line an even more distinctive feel.
For them, “Imaginary Concerts” passes the “Peggy Test.” The mythical Peggy Mercury is a fictional figurehead for the company, a character who thrives on creativity and change. The name, much like the clothing line, is a mixture of interests: Mercury is a planet, a deity and an elusive, transformative element, while Peggy is the wonderfully stylish and boundary-pushing Peggy Guggenheim.
Everything Fricke and Boehmer put in their store has to pass this test: Would Peggy Mercury approve? For their first collection, the answer is a resounding yes.
Peggy Mercury is at 9 Maple St., Unit 2, Kent.
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