A blackcap and other back garden birds

We've seen our first blackcap of the year on the feeders this morning. We only seem to see them in the winter, but she seems very keen on our homemade bird cake. Despite being called a blackcap, she has a ginger coloured cap. The males have a black cap, but there's no sign of one of those yet.

 

She even enjoyed a quick bath

The starlings have also found the bird cake. They're the Viking raiders of the bird world and you can rest assured that once they find food, they won't stop until they've eaten it all.  They all seem very spotty at this time of year, but the spots seem to disappear by the summer when they look much sleeker and shinier with a blue/green/purple sheen.

 

 

The sparrow family are still amusing us. They love a bath and seem to enjoy jumping in together. It only takes one of them to have a good splash and they all pile in. We've also had a wren using the bird bath over the last couple of days.

 

Sparrow bath time

One of the sparrows has been carrying nesting material around in it's beak all morning. Seems a bit early to be nesting!

 

We seem to have had a lot of blackbirds in the garden recently. They like the bird cake as well, but they're a bit less agile than some of the other birds, so prefer to stand on solid ground. They seem quite happy to stand in a hanging basket though and eat it!

Mr blackbird seems to like the bird cake in the hanging basket

One of the female blackbirds has been trying to 'hover' to get the bird cake from hanging coconut shell. She's not very good at it though, so it ends up with her flying into the coconut shell and grabbing whatever she can. Good effort, but looks like hard work! 

 

 

And finally, a photo of one of the woodpigeons, just because they make me laugh!