During the recent storms my sunflower seed feeder vanished, possibly stolen by a squirrel. With the old feeder I observed that chaffinces didn't seem able to perch and use it although goldfinches and bullfinces were fine. A day or two ago I saw a pair of chaffinches perched quite happily and feeding on the new feeder. I think that the perches are ticker and a little longer than the old ones which presumably makes a difference for the finches.
Mostly though it has been blue and great tits on the feeders with robins, blackbirds, dunnocks and wood pigeons taking food on the ground.. The badger seems to visit on most nights as any uneaten raisins are cleaned up, and the feeding tray pushed around and turned over,
My next door neighbour as a broken slat on their kitchen ventilator and a pair of robins appear to be nesting inside. I hasten to add that these are static ventilators built into the brickwork not fans. Other than that the lesser celandines are in bloom under the front hedge, I tweeted a photo which I thought rather dull but which got over 500 views in 5 hours.
I haven't been posting much due personal matters but still have my eyes open. One thing that has struck me is the eastward spread of birds of prey. I have seen buzzards over Havering-atte-Bower but the big suprise in the past month as been a red kite over the M25 near Stapleford Abbotts in Essex. The skys still look empty by Chiltern standards though. A nice little spot last week was a goldcrest during a visit to Kew Gardens. I have downloaded the Merlin app which supposedly identifies birdsong. I have had little opportunity to try it out but a quck test in the garden showd that it correctly told me that I could hear jackdaws and a robin. I look forward to using it on the coast to see if it can distinguish the various waders for me.

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