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Business as Usual

The first starling chick has appeared at the feeders. For a change this has been at the fat block hung from the quince in the front garden. The starlings have really taken to this and seem to have driven off the woodpecker.

At the back the usual birds come and go with beaks stuffed with food. I imagine that in a few days the starling chicks will turn up and start waking me up well before the alarm goes.

I had to drive down to Burnham near Slough yesterday morning. The kites were in evidence in the vicinity of the M40 at Beaconsfield. Not unusual these days but it had me thinking of the difference since I worked on the Trading Estate at Slough 12 years ago. It was nice to hear a few swifts in the air at Burnham. I may just not have been looking in the right places but I don't seem to have seen as many swifts, swallows or martins as I would expect normally.

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