Monday 2 February 2009

The first flowers to show in the park


I noticed these lovely crocus this morning while cycling through the park. They always make me think of springtime so I had to stop and take a photo for posterity and for George and Mabel.

Sunday 1 February 2009

Bro' Robin pops by to say hello



This little fellow has been visiting my window-ledge for a couple of months now, which I of course encourage. To-day he's been very busy chasing rival birds especially Robins from his territory.
After a particularly ferocious battle with another Robin he spent a few minutes just sitting on the window ledge recovering. I sit just a couple of feet away on this side of the window, sitting very still watching. During this time he resumed eating but not before he had a good look through the window watching me. I think he was perhaps suggesting I put out some more mealworms for him, alas I had none.
I'm fairly sure he has a mate now, she very rarely stays for more than a second, grabbing some food then flying off. I don't think she trusts humans, which makes her a very wise little bird in my estimation.
There is a very definite pecking order amongst the birds visiting my feeders. Top of the heap is the Great Spotted Woodpecker who will chase every bird who tries to share the feeder. Next is probably the Nuthatch who also will not tolerate any other bird trying to share the same feeder. The Great Tit, Blue Tit and Coal Tit follow, in that order, bro' Robin rarely uses the peanut feeder. So when I saw the Nuthatch land on the window-ledge while our Robin was resting there, I thought the poor Robin was going to get chased. He was having none of it, he held his ground and was not at all intimidated by the Nuthatches posturing. So the two of them stayed there a couple of inches apart in some sort of stand-off while I grabbed the camera to record it. Needless to say by the time I got my camera set up "this bird had flown" .