Don’t let anyone say blogging is easy, especially when you haven’t been out birding because of summer chores like painting the gates, power washing the patio then repointing the weed filled joints of the said stones. All this only after a trip to B&Q for the necessary materials at the Wednesday 10% discount for OAPs, followed by lunch at the “Kingfisher” pub, which was the nearest I got to a bird this morning.
Later I sneaked off on the pretence of a sit down with a cup of tea and there were lots of birds in the garden, if but common stuff. So an hour or two later after my brief respite I opened the bag of sharp sand and set to with a stiff brush and a heavy heart, but not before I got a few pictures.
Young Starlings don’t look a lot like the adults do they? I think Will said to me last week that he hadn’t seen the large gangs of young around in the same numbers this year, such a feature of early June. I think he was correct but there were a few in the garden today.
Starling
The Chaffinch is obviously one of the regular garden visitors. Note the ring, right leg. Wow the picture is nearly good enough to read the number!
My garden is absolutely crammed with Goldfinch at the moment. This bird has to be one of the most successful British birds of recent years, most of it due to its sheer adaptability and the fact that it has become a very common garden bird.
I swear the branch of the silver birch sagged when this fat young Woodpigeon landed on it. The thing isn’t long out of the nest but wasted no time in joining the others in searching out local gardens.
This Jackdaw is clearly up to some villainy, like nicking all the peanuts.
Even the young Great-spotted Woodpeckers waste no time in searching out my nuts!
Now I must get back to the chores, where did I put that paintbrush?