Fledglings everywhere.

It looks as if , despite a slow start, the garden birds are having a successful breeding season. There are lots of juveniles around whilst most of the adults are in post breeding moult and keeping fairly well hidden. Our garden Blackbirds look as if they're embarking on a 3rd brood and the Robins have just fledged their 2nd brood with 3 spotty juveniles being ringed.

Interestingly I've recently caught two juvenile Great Tits with consecutive ring numbers ringed as pullus in boxes installed on a nearby farm. Although only a few hundred metres away it shows these young birds are dispersing into gardens for a readily available food source even though they were born and fledged in prime 'natural habitat'.

Although some of the most recently fledged birds are still in full juvenile plumage there are signs that others are undergoing their post juvenile moult and beginning to attain their adult feathering. This Blue Tit has already moulted most of its lesser coverts and has replaced them with blue adult ones and its also dropped most of its juvenile greater coverts and the new ones are still growing.