Robin maturing

The young robin is shedding more feathers and will soon be all grown up. There are still another one or two baby robins about.

Robin going through puberty

A little bit fuzzy but you can certainly see his red breast coming through.

Baby Robin and friends

This baby likes to survey his patch from this stub. There are another two about, one of which is entering "puberty" as his red breast is starting to show.


I'd dumped a pile of nuts from the feeder so I sould put fresh ones in and it turned into a bit of a war zone between the squirrel, a magpie and some jackdaws. The squirrel decided they were his, but the magpie would run to him and nip his tail.


And what a fab shot of the jay I managed to take. You can really see his lovely colouring.

Birds

I haven't seen the bullfinches often. And no babies (hopefully yet)


I have loads of cute blue tits who don't seem to mind me watching them eating nuts.


This blackie has such lovely colouring


And I have an occasional baby robin visitor who only visits the far corner of the garden

March Visitors

After an incredibly quiet few days it was like Picadilly Circus in the garden.I think I had 15 species in 30 minutes.
I had 10 starlings, collared dove, greenfinch, nuthatch, 5 siskins (numbers well down), 6 or so jackdaws, goldcrest, robin, blue tit, coal tit, one goldfinch who wouldn't let anyone share "his" feeder, dunnock, woodpecker, about 7 blackbirds and 3 chaffinches.

I was in stealth mode, so managed to snap the robin




It must be amazing to eat something that is so much bigger than you.


The starlings were out in force today

Snow

We had been warned about it, so I decided to stay home and enjoy the snow. I was supposed ot be getting on with filing and tidying and stuff, but couldn't resist sitting in the window all morning.
We'd had a bit of snow last night, then a very heavy snowstorm for a few hours late morning. Then it turned lovely and sunny, so there's not much snow left, but here's a few photos


The siskins were their usual eating machines.


I snapped the robin. I'd cleared this rock to put some fatty seeds and chicken, but within half an hour you couldn't even tell where the rock was

The long tailed tits turned up for a quick snack.

And this blackbird must have been there for some time as the snow has settled on his tail. There were a few birds who were hunkered down trying to maintain their warmth, such as the wood pigeons

I was surprised to see crows eating the fat cake, but members on GBS forum have told me they are more likely to be jackdaws. I shall have to have a good look next time I see them.

I also spotted a thrush and whereas I'm sure the one I'd seen before was a song thrush, I'm sure the one I saw today was a mistle thrush.

The Morning After The Night Before

Wow, was it windy last night. I'd looked out the window and saw the candle on the floor, but then when I went downstairs to look out the window, I could see that it wasn't the only casualty.
The nut feeder was on the ground a long way from the tree and also the nyger feeder with tray had fallen and somehow the tray had cracked a bit of plastic and the bottom came off the feeder with the seed almost spilling out. So I had to go out and rescue everything. I brought the nyger in to dry and see if I could recover it (I did) and popped the big seed feeder onto a lower branch. because the tree is really a wild bush, it doesn't half sway in the winds which is why the feeders all fell off. Also, the cheap square nyger feeder that I had only filled on Friday was absolutely empty.

So this morning before going out to sort the feeders out again, the siskins were all over the floor and the goldfinches were happy on this feeder.

Hehe, I snapped the robin before he spotted me.

And the collared doves are starting to come close to the house again. For the past few months, they haven't come close (that I have seen) but this last week or so, they've been regulars

New Visitors

I had a new visitor today, and with the help of the lovely people at the GBS forum, I've identified it as a wren. I thought it was one due to it's tail, but it seemed to be very brown rather than the speckly borwn in all my books.

I also spotted my first wood pigeon. I assume they have been here for ever since I often heard them, but it's the first time I've noticed him and, boy, is he a fat bird. (Rubbish pic, I know)

And I also needed help in double checking that this is a crow.

Haha, I snapped the robin before he saw me and flew off

I took my 2 main feeders down to clean and put them back up the other way round. I'd also moved the tray onto the nyger feeder. However, the siskins and goldfinches have stayed away from it. First off, I thought that it was because it was too near the window, but when I swapped them around, they still didn't want to use the nyger feeder. If none has gone by tomorrow, I shall have to take the tray off. I have ordered a taller nyger feeder and tray, so perhaps they'll not mind that.

The collard dove was dive bombing onto the grass and scattering the smaller birds.

And I snapped this nice shot of a coal tit.

Siskins

My garden today was siskin central. While I was taking these pics I counted about 9 of them. Later on, there were 13 or 14 - it's hard counting birds as you get to 10 and one moves and you think "did I already count that one" haha.

This picture shows just how close that feeder is to the window. I have no zoom on and you can also see just how many feeders I have in this big "bush"

While I was "assuming the position" ready for the siskins to fly over, Mr robin landed on the feeder and I managed to press the button before he realised I was there and flew off. What a fab look on his face.

I was in a large B&Q yesterday, so thought I'd go see if they had any good bird feeders / food. They had quite an impressive section including niger seed and feeders, so I was having a good browse. I could hear tweeting, but thought it must have been some electronic bird thingie.

Then I saw a robin staring at me. OOOOOOOOOOOOOOO, I said. He was happy as anything hopping from side to side of the aisle, on the floor, flying up to get spilled seed. A woman pushed her trolly past, saw him and went OOOOOOOOOOO. "That's what I said" I told her.

Considering my robins hate the sight of me, I must have stayed there at least 15 minutes (while MrJoo was waiting for the tin of paint I was supposed to be getting ) I did try holding some seed out for him, but he just looked at me. I mentioned this at the checkout and she said he'd been seen there before Christmas. So whether that's his home and he doesn't go out, or he's in and out, I don't know. He certainly has plenty of food there.

New Year

I haven't posted a bit as I've been away for Christmas time and New Year, but I'd taken these pics just before Christmas and so here are a few

The gold crest is still a regular visitor


And I do like this pic of Mrs Blackbird


Blue tits are so fluffy

But not as fluffy as long tailed tits

The gold finches are regulars now. In fact I moved this feeder so next door could enjoy them while I was away.

The robin is still elusive. Mind you, I was out the back today stocking up and he flew up looked at me and flew off