There seem to be a few pairs of finches nesting within range of my feeders. We seem to have at least one pair of chaffinches and two of goldfinches visiting regularly at the moment. No doubt the starlings will turn up later in the season. At the moment I only have a couple of fat bars in the house and am not sure if I should be ordering more under the present circumstances.
In the woods the bluebells have come out in the last day or two. Great spotted woodpeckers are drumming and I have heard the occasional "yaffle" of a green woodpecker as well. With so little traffic noise birdsong is far clearer and the fact that we are lucky enough to have a good population of skylarks is obvious.
The garden has been disturbingly quiet this month when traditionally the feeders will be continously active. I am seeing a handful of blue and great tits on the feeders but no finches and only the occasional long tailed tit. Normally I woukld expect goldfinches and a few bullfinches on the feeders and chaffinches and redpolls on the ground at this time of year. It has been a strange winter, very mild apart from one cold snap so I hope that they are simply don't need to come into the gardens. On a better note I saw a pair of sparrows in the front hedge this morning so, hopefully, they might be spreading from their stronghold in privet hedges at the other end of the village. Away from home a family trip to Yorkshire netted three pairs of goosander on the Leeds and Liverpool Canal between Shipley and Saltaire. I think this is the first time that I have been close enough to get a good naked eye view. I have been neglecting this blog, probably because most web browsing is now done on t
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