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Where Did They Come From?

The starlings are back. There seem to be several families turning up with their chicks working their way through the fat bars. We are shifting about half a litre of fat per day at the moment.

What puzzles me is the location of the nesting colony. Apart from a few weeks when the juveniles are recently fledged I am unlikely to see any in the garden at all. This year we had one or two individuals turning up and then a day or two later the numbers exploded.

Out and about we had an interesting encounter driving home in the car. Near Ley Hill, just at the edge of the headlights a long grey shape crossed the road. From the outline it seemed to be a ferret or polecat. It seemed pale in the light but at the extreme point of the beam I couldn't make out any colouring.

Coming back from Oxford yesterday in early afternoon the car in front of me suddenly started slowing and eventually came to a halt. I was just wondering what the problem was when a muntjac strolled nonchalantly past without any fuss and vanished into the hedgerow.

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