Garden Robins

We are lucky in having two pairs of Robins nesting in our new garden - conveniently one in the front and one in the back. Even more conveniently the front garden pair have nested in a dwarf conifer right in front of the window!

They only laid two eggs and I originally thought they'd deserted but when I checked on returning from Oz there were two young.  We had a wet spell and maybe that deterred the female from laying if she couldn't find enough food.

The youngsters have been duly ringed and both adults had already been ringed and I took the opportunity to photograph them through the bedroom window.

Another Siskin control

I've just received another Siskin control from the large number  I ringed in the winter 2015-2016. This one was controlled in N Wales recently.

 That's four controls from around 160 birds ringed during that winter. Two have been returning birds that have been caught in gardens on the Wirral and now N Wales.

Back to the UK

We've just spent a fantastic two weeks in Australia visiting our daughter, son in law and granddaughter and helping them move into a fabulous new house where, every morning, I spent an hour or so on the rear deck overlooking the hills behind the house and watching Nankeen Kestrels catch grasshoppers with Crimson Rosella's, Eastern Rosella's, Kookaburra's and Wedge-tailed Eagles among the supporting cast. One downside of long haul trips is the jet lag and two nights later I'm still waking at stupid o'clock. This morning, despite staying up until 10 pm I woke at 2 in the morning and eventually gave up at 5! A blessing in disguise as I'd never have seen the pair of Tufted Ducks that hd dropped into the pond / flash opposite the house. A garden and new patch tick no less. They didn't stay long and were chased off by the resident Coots but they, or another pair, turned up with reinforcements in the form of a 2nd pair, a few minutes later. They to were chased off but the Coots don't seem to bother about the Teal.

The heavy rain earlier this morning dropped a few migrants in with Willow Warbler and Garden Warbler both in the garden and at mixed flock of at least 100 Sand Martins and Swallows hawking over the pond.

Since we've been away 2 pairs of Robins have hatched young in the garden and one nest box has a Blue Tits nest with eggs. Other boxes are being inspected. A Carrion Crow has built a nest at the top of our Scots Pine whilst a hare has made regular appearances in the field.