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Wren

We're in that phase of the year where everything in the garden is busy but quiet most of the day. The sparrows are visiting the feeders in odd twos and threes in between prolonged bouts of aphid gleaning in the trees. (Even as I was typing this a dozen arrived mob-handed!) A pair of goldfinches make a couple of visits and the pair of great tits call in late afternoon. The robins, coal tits and long-tailed tits are virtually mute invisible, just momentary shadows if I'm lucky when I glance outside. The blackcap's been singing its head off in the sycamores on the embankment. The past few weeks the wren's been very vocal but virtually invisible, he's out and about a lot more now, too busy for skulking round.

I think the blue tits have claimed the nest box at the bottom. They've been very vocal and active around it the past couple of days but a lot quieter today. The male's very busy on greenfly patrol so I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

House sparrows in the rowan tree

One of the lads from "Silver team"

I went into Urmston for the week's big shop. Waiting for the train at Humphrey Park I noticed that the work on extending the platforms is nearly finished. I also noticed that there's no chance of whitethroats nesting in the thick scrub here because there ain't any.

On a more positive note, the first black-headed gull for a month flew over the school while I was counting woodpigeons on the field.