There was a lot of sun today, but a sharp, cold breeze has meant that the birds have been most evident in the gaps between blasts of cold air. Nevertheless, there have been many of our regular visitors.
A blackbird was taking a bath in the morning sun, feeding on the grass mid afternoon and as the sun set he was on the rowan tree, singing away. A trio of the ring doves sat on the bramble stems, a pair and a lone bird further along the fenceline. There were a clutch of sparrows, chaffinch and siskins who emerged out of the hedge motel to peck away at the lawn and today the peanut feeders seem to be preserve of the great tits. They apparently prefer to lever out a nut and take it away rather than hang on to the feeders as the coal and long-tailed tits do.
There was a solitary starling which arrived in the early morning, standing on the topmost branch of the greengage tree, his mosaic of feathers almost glittering in the sun. I had put up a fresh half coconut, filled with fat and seeds. When the previous shell was almost empty, the starlings could not find a purchase with their feet on the edge of the it and could only snatch at a morsel whilst beating their wings furiously in half-hearted imitation of a hummingbird. This lucky bird found a perch above the shell, planted his right foot on the plant ring holding up the feeder and sunk his left foot into the fat. Once he’d had his fill he hopped up onto a branch and wiped his beak before flying off.
thekitchensinkbirdwatcher 