Here are the 'friendly blackbirds'.  I can stand within six feet of them before they take flight, although they look at me very warily. When I am gardening they hop all around, waiting for that juicy worm that might get dug up, I suppose.

               These are the male blackbirds with their black feathers and bright, yellow beaks.

         Such beady eyes.           

                      Female blackbird with nesting material in her beak.

The female blackbird is a very plain bird, brown, with a light brown beak.

Spring is such a wonderful time. Here is an adult sparrow feeding her young. They look like little bundles of fluff.

              Young sparrows waiting to come down to the bird feeder.

The sparrow has very attractive markings which can be seen clearly here.

This little sparrow is taking a rest in the sunshine.

We have many wood pigeons in the area, and the sound of their cooing is often heard. Here they are collecting twigs with which to build a nest.

            This one is almost running!.                                     Time to bathe?

                           Easily recognisable is the little robin with his red breast.

In springtime the adult starling finds food for her demanding youngster, who is calling  to be fed. Notice how the young bird has yet to develop the adult plumage.

The thrush has a speckled breast. 

Part of its diet is the common snail and I see it making use of a stone on which to smash the shell.                           

 The magpie belongs to the crow family. Although striking in colour, not a nice  bird as it raids other birds nests to take the eggs and have been known to also attack smaller birds, so I chase it away when I see one.

When spring is on the way the blue tits check out the residential area availability, in preparation for building their nest.

With the blue tits settled in, they then fly in and out throughout the day, busy nest building in readiness of laying their eggs.

  May 2004 Climbing a tall ladder and with a risk of falling off!!, I managed, using the macro lens on my camera, to capture this picture of a young blue tit in the nest. Unfortunately the eggs you see remained unhatched.

       (click to enlarge)

May 2005

The adult blue tit sits on the nest to keep the youngsters warm. Leaving them occasionally to hunt for food to feed the demanding youngsters.

Returning with a tasty morsel.

Nearly fully fledged.        26th May. Fully fledged. Soon ready for flight.

Very busy getting food for the young.

Here the adult blue tit waits to go into the nest in with a tasty morsel in it's beak.

  29th May. Out for the first flight.

    This one landed in the Acer. Try again!

                                                        Hanging on for dear life!

When the fledgling blue tits leave their nests they all group together in the nearby Magnolia tree. Their high pitched tweets sounds lovely.

 Not very common in my garden is the greenfinch but I did manage to capture this picture of one just leaving the nut feeder.

This picture was taken of the greenfinch at the top of a 35 foot fir tree in my garden, so only managed to get a small image. It was singing all afternoon.

5th June

New residents have arrived on our property to build their nest. The House Martin has decided to make a nest under the eve of our bungalow. I look forward to seeing it completed.

                                                                        Nest completed.

The Jay with a lovely blue flash on the wing.

                Ring Necked Dove.

   Unusual in the garden was this sparrow hawk.   

This Chaffinch picture was captured in the local woods.           I think this is a fieldfare?

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