Bird Table Update

The birds are very busy at our feeders just now, with many young birds to be seen. At present we are just feeding sunflower kernels, and there are families of blue and great tits there most of the time, plus one or two coal tits, all of these also seen prospecting through the adjacent bushes and trees for insect life. Yesterday a pair of bullfinches were taking cherries from a tree very close to where I was sitting having my breakfast out on our patio - not eating whole berries (though these berries are really quite small), but pecking at them to remove the softer and juicier flesh; today I've seen juveniles at the feeders. Young blackbirds are frequently there, pursuing their parents and demanding to be fed. From time to time the parents relent and feed the youngsters. A family of greenfinches, parents and five or six young birds, were feeding on elm seeds.

Our feeders in the front garden are empty at the moment, and will need a thorough cleaning before being refilled. This has meant that house sparrows, generally only found in our front garden, are making their way to the feeding station at the back, to mingle there with chaffinches and goldfinches. I am still seeing occasional siskins, too, and there are always nuthatches around.  From time to time single long-tailed tits visit, so I presume they are nesting somewhere within reach. The two feeders presently in use at the back are supposedly both squirrel-proof, but the squirrels generally seem to be able to find a way, usually by tipping the feeder over so that seed is spilled out. I don't mind feeding them, really, but I do mind the fact that while they are there the smaller birds do not come close. The wood pigeons and feral pigeons that come to the feeders have little fear of squirrels, and will from time to time drive them away. Yesterday morning there was obviously a major argument within the local squirrel population, with lots of yapping and snarling, though all taking place behind a thick curtain of bushes, so, apart from the occasional glimpse of a twitching tail, nothing to see.

Birds singing include song thrush, garden warbler (I think) and of course the chiffchaff. Swifts and a few house martins can be seen overhead, and families of jackdaws and carrion crows have been noisily present close by. The fine weather is set to continue for a couple more days, then the onward forecast looks rather more wet.