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Pigeon

Pretty much business as usual in the garden. The weather's been a bit quieter so the spadgers have been feeding more widely afield today so haven't been in mob-handed.

A new addition to the usual cast is one of the pair of pigeons that generally feed on the school field near the netball court. I don't often get pigeons in the garden, there really aren't that many round here and they stick to the main road as a rule — a flock of eight to a dozen that spend a lot of their time on the roof of the sheltered housing opposite the shops and another flock of about sixteen that sits on the roof next door to the chapel of rest. I wouldn't want a huge flock of pigeons in the garden (they make woodpigeons look houseproud) but having one or two in is good to see.

• Black-headed Gull 3 overhead
• Blackbird 2
• Blue Tit 1
• Carrion Crow 1
• Coal Tit 1
• Collared Dove 2
• Great Tit 1
• House Sparrow 11
• Magpie 1
• Robin 1
• Rook 1
• Starling 1
• Woodpigeon 1

For reasons which escape me (the stormy weather's coming later this week) there was a flock of sixteen herring gulls (including ten first-Winters and a third-Winter) clamouring round the rooftops of the school this lunchtime. None of them landed on the ground to feed or loaf about so I've no idea what they were about.

• Black-headed Gull 34
• Common Gull 2
• Feral Pigeon 1
• Herring Gull 18
• Jackdaw 16
• Rook 4