Robin

(taken yesterday)

Song Thrush



Robin




Blue Tit

A Blackbird catching the splashes from the birdbath

Shortest Day

-8°C at 8am. A neighbour claimed -10°C at 6.45am.

Another busy day with fourteen Blackbirds all feeding at the same time, beating yesterday's record by three! Now all I need is a Fieldfare, Redwing and Mistle Thrush to follow them in!

Blue Tit







The Black-headed Gulls arrived early, but as usual didn't stay long. Eleven of them today.


Robin



House Sparrow in warm water

Starlings

Pied Wagtail

Robin Redbreast

We currently have three regular Robins in the garden - two of which are constantly chasing each other away but one of them seems more tolerant/tolerated so maybe two of them are a pair. They've not been coming to the garden for very long so I'm not yet able to tell them apart.

Didn't check the thermometer this morning, but there was a hard frost. The bird bath is now almost constantly frozen solid. We remove the ice, clean and then refill the bath but it starts to freeze again before we've even gone back inside. We've put plant pot saucers of fresh clean water on the lawn instead - they're much easier to empty (in the warm kitchen under a warm tap!).

Blue Tit feeding on a fat-filled coconut.


Robin feeding on the coconut left on the table


Starling

Ruddick

Our Robin seems to be an almost permanent fixture in the garden at the moment. I leave 'him' chopped peanuts, sunflower hearts and raisins under the buddleia at the top of the garden.

('Ruddick' is the old Anglo Saxon name for the Robin)

More Garden Randomness

Here's the sick Greenfinch (taken yesterday). I have emptied and cleaned the water dish each time she's been on it.

And here she is compared to a healthy Greenfinch - her larger 'fluffed-up' size is very apparent. Both pictures were taken yesterday. She hasn't been seen today.

Our Robin lands on his favourite look-out post
Male Chaffinch
Woodpigeon. I like these. They vacuum up the mess :o)
Female Greenfinch
Proving difficult to photograph, as usual. The Blue Tits are rarely still ...
... and when they are, they turn away!

Fighting again. Tsk!

Of all our garden birds, these Greenfinches are probably the most quarrelsome - closely followed by the Goldfinches.

Our Resident Robin

This is our resident Robin. He is currently a daily visitor and seems to be claiming our garden as his territory.

More Robins

Once again, the Robins were showing really well down the lane today; a majority were in full song. This chap was particularly bold. At least I can rely on the Robins for a few photos!

The scrub, south west of the back garden, recently received a rather harsh haircut. Today, there were two men planting trees. Lots of trees! It looks as though the scrub will, in years to come, be a wood. I will pop down there in a few days, take some photos and try and identify the trees. Not sure how the local Tawny Owls will feel about their open hunting ground being turned into a wood.

Friendly Robins

Took these today along the lane at my local patch. If only all birds were as accommodating as the Robin!

Robin at the Scrub

Officially Britain's favourite garden bird, a Robin sings in the wood at the bottom of our street.

Also seen in the wood today: Goldcrest, Chaffinch, Greenfinch, Goldfinch, Blue Tit, Great Tit and Blackbird.