A couple of bright days here means my tits have been making merry in the garden. The feeder is set to 'constant swing' as they stock up on high energy seeds for mating rituals and nest building. Hopefully there is enough buddleia missing (snow brought down a big branch) to discourage them from nesting in it - it's too exposed now and I need to cut down more of it.

The robin is still trilling away so I suspect he's not found a mate yet. If he's not careful, he's going to end up with the ugly one.

The blackbirds have gone quiet but I see the fat pecker (I had no luck with the balls, they kept melting in the sun and falling off the string. I compromised with a plastic tray of beef fat and sunflower seeds) is being frequented and the sparrows are being noisy in my bay tree.

Alas, other than passing geese on their way to the lake in the park half a mile away, and black headed gulls in their summer plumage there have been no sightings of any different species. The perils of living in an urban area.

So; a tally reveals I have observed to date in 2009:

Great Tits
Blue Tits
Coal Tits
Sparrow
Blackbird
Robin
Pigeon (Rock dove and racing varieties)
Wood Pigeon (the brown and grey variety)
Magpie
Crow
Black Headed Gull
Grey Backed Gull

So far, the kitties have not eaten any birds (that I know of) but they've developed a new 'watching post' - a planter that is on the garden table because it was in the way of the fencing I was erecting and I never put back. They look so cute in it but it's doing my fuschia no favours at all.

LTS