Baby birder

Bug Mad Girl's five year old brother announced last week that he wants a hobby and it's going to be bird spotting. We both thought that sounded like a great idea and was something we could help him with. Unfortunately he then said that when he grows up he'll change his hobby to knitting! That led to a few interesting discussions about what he would knit - maybe birds, or even little jumpers for birds!

Anyway, he's taken the new hobby very seriously and has been studying hard and started out with the the birds in the back garden.

Thankfully a few of the birds stayed still long enough for him to have a go at identifying them. Our friendly robin was quite happy to pose for him and he was good at spotting the blue tits (but I think he knew those two already). He did manage to identify a goldfinch, with it's very distinctive red face.

It went downhill a little from there as we had a partridge in a pear tree (a woodpigeon in a silver birch), a jackdaw (a blackbird) and a penguin (a magpie). Everybody has to start somewhere though!

We made some bird cake as a Christmas treat for the birds. It's currently setting in the fridge, but they always love it so hopefully that will bring in some more birds to the patio for him to 'spot'.

As he was almost an expert by this point, we decided to go for a walk around the woods to see what he could spot. He could use the binoculars as well, which is always a bonus! It's a really atmospheric wood and has lots of good climbing trees, which proved a bit of a distraction.

With a bit more practice he should be all ready for the Big Garden Birdwatch at the end of January!

While we were in the woods I noticed the bluebells are growing already - seems very early!