Taking a walk today I thought about taking the bins but decided that I was unlikely to see anything interesting. Naturally, while walking along the edge of Cowcroft Wood I saw a hawk silluetted against the sky. No markings but swept back wings like a swift. I walked on wondering what it was (I have never been good on the smaller raptors). Glancing back I saw it again, this time heading down towards Bottom Lane and the River Chess.
A few minutes later the red kite that swept across in front of me in all its glory was instantly identifiable.
A couple of minutes with a field guide once I was home settled the identification.
At least one brood of starlings have been regular visitors to the feeder and today the fledglings got the hang of taking the food for themselves. Other broods must be less developed as adults were still taking away quantities of fat. The tits aren't so common at the moment, I don't know if this is because they have dispersed, if wild food is available or if pressure from the starlings has driven them off. Single blue tits are dropping in fairly regularly and a coal tit took fat away as well. The woodpecker seems to have become a regular visitor and still has a brood to feed. He definitely comes before the starlings in the pecking order and keeps them off the feeder until he has finished. The new feeder with perching rings is popular with the chaffinches and the goldfinches, the latter suddenly seem to prefer the high energy mix to the nyjer seed. With all this demand for feeding young ones the fat is going down very rapidly and I am putting larger quantities out on the ground t...
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