Stretford

The view from the living room window

Another cold, damp day in paradise. Today the garden had a visitation from thirty starlings and three goldfinches came in to the seed feeders, the largest number for this Winter, which would have unthinkably low even ten years ago. The pair of coal tits were back in together again, I felt a bit smug at being able to identify the male before the female popped out of the bushes. A male goldcrest came in just after lunchtime and spent a while being dwarfed by the giant pine cone it was feeding from. This gave me the opportunity for this year's first assays for the album of photos of where a warbler was a moment ago.

• Black-headed Gull 2
• Blackbird 2
• Blue Tit 2
• Coal Tit 2
• Collared Dove 3
• Goldcrest 1
• Goldfinch 3
• Great Tit 2
• House Sparrow 20
• Jackdaw 1
• Magpie 2
• Robin 1
• Rook 1
• Starling 30

The magpies are nest-building in the same tree they used last year. The large gulls on the school field were all herring gulls. No adults this time, and just the one first-Winter bird with a big fourth-Winter and three third-Winter birds. 

As I waited for the train at Humphrey Park (I was nipping to the shops) I listened to a couple of robins having a singing duel. One to be careful of: the robin on the Manchester platform has added a couple of willow warbler cadences to its song.