Local patch

House sparrows

The male sparrows are escorting the fledglings to the feeding station. I've got dried mealworms and sunflower seeds on the go, the spadgers seem to be preferring the seeds at the moment. At some stage the starlings will discover the mealworms but at the moment they're busy working their way through the leatherjackets on the school field. I counted fifty this lunchtime, the rest turned out to be taking advantage of the playground down the road being deserted.

Had a wander round my local patch early afternoon. The conditions were bad for birdwatching: lovely and sunny but the strong wind was keeping everything hunkered down. Between the howling of the wind through the trees and the amount of leaves blowing about I had my work cut out hearing or seeing very much. A couple of the whitethroats popped their heads above the brambles and the chiffchaff in the copse behind the school tried to make itself heard.

Whitethroat, Barton Clough

Back home I noticed an odd shape in the cherry tree. It turned out to be the first of this year's collared dove squabs.

Collared dove squab