I haven't posted for a few days, so I'm a bit behind with reports from the garden. I'm a bit behind in the garden, too; it's time I got out there and started getting ready for the new season. Lots to be cleared, pruned, manured, weeded, planted. Wednesday, I think . . .
Meanwhile, the birds are still feeding well. We're clearly on the boundary between two robin territories - or perhaps in one, but close enough to the other for some sneaky raids and forays. There've been a few good fights and chases. Probably there are very few birds quite as combative as robins; I read somewhere that as many as ten percent of deaths take place because of territorial disputes.
The wren has reappeared a few times, always behind the rockery where there is plenty of low growing foliage. I wonder if they might nest in the shrubby area just behind our garden at the top of the wood. It would be ideal, and it would be great later on to see, as we saw in one previous garden, a whole nestful of little wrens trying out their wings.
Today the great spotted woodpecker was drumming from the tall oak behind us. I can see, I think, the branches he uses, which are more or less stripped bare; but I can't quite see the bird itself. The female visits the feeders every day, but we've hardly seen the male there.
The other day a sparrow hawk spent quite a long time perched in the elm tree behind us. This was a male I suppose, being very grey in colour, but quite large for a male, with strong markings across the chest. It had a distinctive white mark on the back of the head; interestingly, I've had a report of another sparrow hawk with a similar mark, seen in Montgomery. I can't imagine it's the same bird, I'm sure they don't range quite that far - but maybe they do, who knows?
The blackcap is still about, but not as much of a bully as he was a while back. This morning I heard a chaffinch sing for the first time this year, another sign that spring is gathering pace.
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