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Just the usual pigeons, collared doves and sparrows in the garden but there do seem to be quite a few blackbirds around at the moment. I watched a pair standing in the birdbath this morning, the water must have been freezing. Do blackbirds mate for life or just for a season? There is one obvious pair coming in to the garden but it seems a bit early for them to be getting ready for nest building. I'll have to do a bit of googling.

I don't know the answer to that Vera. Let us know.

We have a robin and a blackbird and the goldfinches and one or two blue and great tits. But not as many as I would expect this time of year

I thought of you Jane,or more specifically your blackbird, when I was on a bus yesterday.

We passed a large grass area near a housing estate.
A group of seagulls were browsing and foraging and one young bird ( darker plumage, where full adult feathers are not yet grown ) was having a great time stamping his feet in the hope of raising worms.He was really going at it.
I often see them around here. It's really funny to watch a whole playing field of 'dancers'.

LOL Gwyn.They do look funny don't they...They would be good at the old fashioned way of pressing grapes :-D..I know when our dancing Blackbird is on the window feeder as the sounds vibrates on the window.It is the only bird that does this performance.

It is a busy day on the feeder.Hardly a minute or 2 without a visitor. Mainly the Chaffinch,Gt Tit and Robin,,,,plus the tap dancer.

I haven't seen the Woodpecker today, but I'm sure it is still around.

I am surprised at the different Seagulls here. Not in the garden .The ones that fly over head that probably feed on the fields,are one kind and then at Tesco there are always hordes that fly above the car park and they look completely different and screech like nothing on earth !!!!.Sounds like people are being murdered :-S

Good Afternoon Everyone :-)

Well, I've never had such a noisy back garden before! :-D
The birds must be happy, having never before had such an abundance of ready food to eat through the winter! :-D :-D

Nothing new to report .... just the "usual suspects" :-D
The House Sparrows, starlings, jackdaws, pair of Great Tits, pair of Blackbirds, the collared dove and the robin.

Although I may have seen a black blackbird- type bird on top of the hedge, but it's beak was black not yellow. It flew off before I had a good look.
Any ideas? :-)


edited ... just googled .... it could have been a first year male blackbird apparently :-)

that is interesting Jem, you live and learn, I don't think i have seen one with a black beak. Yes our feeders were a bit busier today with lots of blue and great tits mainly.

Just jostling starlings on the feeder so far today. They have a bit of a breakfast bonanza then just feed occasionally during the day. Later there's another feeding frenzy towards dusk.

Yesterday I noticed a wren bobbing about midst an ivy-covered fence. It has visited before, but not seen for some time, so I was pleased that it was back.

I love to see the little wrens Gwyn they are so quick and inquisitive.

That's right Ann.

The ivy has encroached from our neighbours, but I know the wrens and some other birds enjoy searching through it, so I will leave it in that area at the end of the garden.

Pristine sites are not always best for our wildlife!

A squirrel has visited a couple of times lately, - just one on it's own so far, but there are often a couple at a time. They are so funny when they play helter skelter after one another up and down the silver birch tree.

Yes Gwyn, we have a clump of ivy on a trellis and the birds love going into it looking for bugs, especially wrens.

We had a hard frost this morning, not all cleared even now, followed by a lovely sunny day, a really nice winters day. The birds were very active this morning, collard doves, blackbirds, ble tits, great tits, sparrows all feeding like mad. And the blackbird had a really long full immersion bath in our water feature, he looked as though he was really enjoying it, and the sparrows were queuing waiting for a drink.

Jane, I may have seen a solution to your blackbird stamping his feet. In town, in the square, there are raised bedds which, at the moment have grass growing like miniature lawns (probably weeds actually. There were two seagulls on one of these and they were both stamping there feet, stopping, listening, then stamping again. We stopped and watched, it went on for ages. we think they were doing it to get worms etc to come to the surface.

Look who came to see us this morning.

Oh a real cutie Ann :-D..We had a Robin having a bath in the thawed out bird bath yesterday.It was just after I had thawed it so it may have been quite warm LOL

Lol did you see below we had a blackbird bathing yesterday, I swear he was in the water for 15 minutes.

The blackbirds do seem to like the water and we often see them in the bird bath. Ours don't seem to dance to bring up the worms, they just uncover them by throwing all the earth out of the beds and pots on to the paths :-| And, just like husbands, they never tidy up after themselves ;-)

Yesterday we went on a coach trip to Waddesdon Manor. We've been there before, both in summer and in winter to see the decorations in the house and gardens. When we went in winter before, there was a lunch arranged for us. This time there wasn't and they didn't seem geared up to cater for the number of visitors there. The main dining room wouldn't let in anyone who hadn't booked, the large cafe had enormous queues outside that were taking up to an hour to even get in the cafe and everything else was outside. OH and I ended up eating in an unheated wigwam with a blanket over our knees. It was freezing! Apart from that, it was a lovely day out, made more special by seeing a red kite fairly close up. I've seen them flying higher in the sky before but this was not much higher then the roof of the coach and looked so big.

There is also an aviary at Waddesdon and some of the birds had such lovely names. I particularly liked the moustached laughing thrush and the white-bellied go-away bird :-D

EDIT: Love your robin picture Ann

Vera that sounds a really interesting place and how wonderful to see the kite so low.
I bet you were glad to get back in the warm after lunch though.


Interesting that many of you have blackbirds as frequent visitors. We seldom see them in the garden. I wonder if it's because we get so many bossy starlings most days.
This morning there was frantic feeding at the feeder hanging in the tree, then the starlings would swoop down to the bird bath for a quick drink, Several decided to plunge in. There were 6 in there together at one time spraying so much of the water around that I thought I'd have to refill it, but they left enough for a few smaller birds to have a later drink.
A bullfinch and a chaffinch visited, which I was particularly pleased about, as we seldom see any of the finch family.

I'm glad we seem to be back on the bird's map for winter feeding.

Vera, a good day out even if it was difficult to get a meal, sounds as if that could be down to the coach organisers, was it do you think?

Gwyn how lovely to see a Bullfinch. We have never seen one since we moved her almost 25 years ago. In Bedfordshire we had Hawthorne in the garden and they used to come to that. We get very few starlings at the moment, we had two one day this week on the fat balls but that is all. Whereas we have had as many as six blackbirds in the garden in the winter.
Yesterday I was sitting looking out of the lounge window onto the patio when a little wren bobbed up in front of the window, which has a very low sill abou 6 inches off the ground with a shelf outside for pots. The wren was on the shelf. The robin in my avatar I took when it was round the water feature by the patio, the photo was taken out of the lounge window.

Vera, you must have been freezing in that Wigwam even with a blanket over your knees.Did you have something hot to eat? I have never heard of a Moustached laughing Thrush or a White- Bellied- go- away bird LOL
I have had a Bullfinch on the window feeder and a little Wren pottering around.The Wren seems to enjoy foraging in the Window Box in amongst the Pansies :-D

I have not heard of those birds either, I meant to ask where they originate from?

I think the laughing thrush was from India or China and the go away bird from East Africa. Waddesdon Manor was owned by the Rothschild family but is now National Trust. I think the Rothschilds are involved in some way with threatened bird species.

Jane, it was freezing in that wigwam! There was no choice of food, apart from lamb or chicken. It was a sort of Middle Eastern salad with lots of spices and harissa, with meat and flatbread. I declined the salad so just had the meat and bread. All the food was very expensive. Friends had a nice meal in the cafe but it took them an hour and a quarter in the queue before they actually got the meal. Nothing to do with the coach company as we were a private group and they were just hired to drive us to and from. It seemed to be that National Trust weren't geared up for the number of visitors. I don't know why as they hold this attraction every year so should know what to expect. Never mind, we had a good day anyway and there was a Christmas market with lots of stalls. I came home with some special cheeses for Christmas, and some chutneys and a proper German made Stollen (all very expensive but OH was in a good mood so I took advantage :-))

Lots of sparrows in the garden today with a couple of starlings and a rather fat pigeon.

It's always good to take advantage when OHs are in a good mood Vera :-D :-D..I do it often lol
It does sound as though the place was unprepared for so many people. Not good really for a National Trust place.(especially if you are a member) We are members but there are not many places around these parts to visit. We have always thought that food /meals are expensive .We are thinking of going to Anglessey Abbey (just thinking) as they will have the house set up for a 60's style Christmas. But we might just go to Cambridge instead to do a bit more Christmas shopping lol .Anglessey Abbey is quite a long drive from here and I reckon it will be heaving.

Does anyone watch The Coroner BBC1 early afternoon? Todays programme featured a funeral in a church...The Church was the one I was a choir girl, I was married,my Children were Christened and my Dad's funeral was there !!!!!
It brought back so many memories .