Back garden news

The bird feeders seem strangely quiet today. The frantic feeding of the last few weeks seems to have given way to birds with other things on their minds. Don't get me wrong, they're all still around, they just seem to be popping in for a snack every now and then, instead of staying and feeding all day. Maybe it's just the warmer weather and longer days means there's more food around elsewhere.

There is little doubt that the birds have all paired up. Brenda and Eric, our resident blackbirds, have had a bit of trouble this morning with intruders. Eric had to chase a male blackbird around the garden until he eventually got rid of him. There was also a new female under the bird table, but Brenda didn't see her, else there would have been trouble (Brenda can be quite fierce!)

Eric (on the left) giving the intruder with the Elvis hair do the evil eye



Eric chased him out of the buddleia

He chased him over to the silver birch and eventually got rid of him

Brenda missed this female blackbird that was under the bird table. She would
have been very cross if she'd seen her there.

A pair of long-tailed tits have been popping in to feed this morning. Such pretty little birds and they seem to like the bird cake we made.

Unfortunately the blue tits took great offence at the long-tailed tits being there and chased them away at every opportunity. Obviously blue tits are higher up in the pecking order, although they know their place because they didn't chase any other birds away.

We've had a charm of goldfinches in the top of the silver birch for the last few days. Lovely birds!

This great tit was taking a look at one of the new nest boxes we put up



This pair of rooks couldn't decide whether they would try to get the bread
from the bird table or not

This little wren has been around the patio this morning. Such a tiny little bird
and they don't stay still for long, so are hard to get a decent photo of - this
would have been OK if there weren't some fairy lights in the way!

Elsewhere around the garden, our nettle patch is just starting to grow. We'll definitely be letting them grow again this year as we had so much fun watching all the wildlife on them last summer. Highly recommended - everyone should have nettles in their garden!

I spotted this clematis, which is growing really fast now. All good signs that springs nearly here!