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Partridge

With the roads quiet for the school holidays yesterday I was lucky to see a red legged partridge near Ley Hill. Just for a change he decided to run into the adjacent field rather than the usual partridge trick of running directly away from the car along the road. With spring here no doubt I will be seeing the usual crop of baby rabbits and squirrels among the road kill.

The main garden visitor seems to be the dunnocks which love the ground blend except for the dried fruit. That has to wait for the blackbirds which don't seem as common as last year. The suet treats that I have been trying only seem to get taken by blackbirds and a handful is lasting several days. The nyjer seed is hardly being taken at all now, the goldfinches seem to have moved on. The tits are not coming in great numbers but I am still seeing long tailed as well as blue and great.

Starlings are very occasional visitors at the moment, no doubt when the young ones are fledged they will swamp the fat feeder as they have done for hte last couple of years.

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