Today I spent rather more time than usual observing the birds that were in and around my garden and the results were quite interesting.
Perhaps the most interesting and certainly the most colourful were a male common redstart and a great spotted woodpecker, the latter feeding acrobatically on the fat balls.
Not far behind in their brightness were the male black redstart (whose partner has only just finished incubating the eggs in her garage nest) and the goldfinches and male chaffinches.
Greenfinches were very busy but the usually noisy serins which are nesting in one of the trees were rather retiring compared to yesterday. Two chunky hawfinches made a brief appearance as they flew from the top of the tallest oak to disappear over the fields.
The substantial colony of house sparrows which breed on the house itself divided their time between feeding, collecting even more nesting material and some energetic courtship.
The blackbirds were collecting food for their young as were the starlings which also nest in the walls.
Only one of the the two nest boxes is occupied and the great tits which are using it were back and forward with insects for their family. Blue tits were common of course but I don't know where they are nesting this year.
A robin and a cirl bunting played only brief parts in the drama but blackcaps, although furtive, were always present.
I purposely did not go searching for those species which revealed themselves only through their song and settled for merely listening to nightingale, chiffchaff, cuckoo, song thrush, turtle and collared dove, golden oriole and wood pigeon.
I saw no raptors today, not even the nesting kestrels, and the only fly-overs were the numerous swallows and the occasional crow and magpie.
The pond which adjoins my garden held its usual moorhens but the mallard don't really count as I put them there.
And worthy of note was a mistle thrush which I disturbed as I opened my gates this morning.
I reckon that makes 25 or so species which is a respectable tally for no outlay of physical effort.
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