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Nuthatches

We get the occasional nuthatch in the garden during the winter but typically these are very brief visits to take a little fat from the starling feeder. For the last two days, however, we have had not one but two individuals making repeated visits to take sunflower hearts. It is striking that they never share the feeder, one may perch nearby but will wait for the other to finish before occupying one of the ports.

A little entertainment was provided yesterday morning by a rather aggressive robin who wouldn't let any of the tits perch on the fat ball feeder. I didn't see him attempt to use it himself but he stood guard on the squirrel baffle ready to attack any blue tit that did.

A solitary goldfinch turned up yesterday and there was a pair on the feeder this morning. If they follow the practice of previous years I suspect that we will have serious numbers turning up in the next day or so.

The long tailed tits haven't returned but the coal tit is a regular and a blackbird is resident in the bushes at the bottom of the garden but hasn't come near the ground feeders. The badgers aren't coming in every night as the raisins that I put out yesterday are still there.

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