Wildlife Garden - 2

Last time I was telling you about all the different animals that had visited my garden over the past 24 years, and I thought I would let you know about the wild birds that I have seen in my garden too.

There are the usual culprits, robins, blackbirds, great tits, and blue tits. We don't see many sparrows, or starlings, but they have dropped in occasionally. There are nearly always a pair of dunnocks, which look a bit like sparrows, and they often raise a nestful of babies. Quite often we see coal tits at the feeders, when they can get in past the great tits.

We usually have a pair of wood pigeons, which sometimes nest in the tall thorn hedge at the foot of the garden. I've seen a collared dove, and occasionally a common pigeon too.

We get finches too, although not all the time. Green finches are probably the most frequent, and they always monopolise the bird feeder! We've had chaffinches too, and a couple of times I've seen a pair of bull finches on one of our berry bushes.

I think the most spectacular wild bird that has visited my garden was a sparrow hawk. We first saw it after it had pinned down a male blackbird. Needless to say, despite its struggles, the blackbird didn't survive. The sparrowhawk flew down the garden to eat it away from the house. One morning I saw a young sparrow hawk perched on the bird table - waiting. I think it waited in vain that time. I took a photo of it perched there, but I haven't managed to find it yet! The sparrow hawks have taken a few other birds as well, perhaps one of the wood pigeons, although maybe it was a cat who got that one. It's difficult to tell afterwards!

Well, that's the end of my wildlife summary for now. I'm sure once we head up North we'll see a whole new range of wild creatures. I'll tell you all about it in due course!