I had to replace my seed feeder last week. I had just started putting out sunflower seeds when an over eager squirrel ripped one of the feeder ports right off. I included a replacement with a protective cage with my winter feed order which did attract the very occasional blue or great tit. I thought that the finches wouldn't appreciate the cage so added a second feeder to the set, replacing a flutterbutter feeder. I had become unhappy about using that product, despite its popularity with the starlings later in the season, due to the use of plastics. I looked out of an upstairs window just as the light was starting to fade this afternoon and saw that the new feeder was getting well used although the squirrel proof one was being ignored. The old man's beard growing through my neighbours leylandii hedge seems to be popular as a source of cover and a wren was investigating the seed heads. For a time a robin became very proprietorial about the feeders, keeping the other birds o
Once upon a time you could find me birding on the Thames marshes almost every weekend through the winter. For various reasons I am now seldom able to travel to good birding sites. I am lucky, however, to live in the beautiful Chiltern Hills and this blog is to document the birds that I see on my own patch.