Rainy day

A brightish start to the morning quickly gave way to the cold, wet and windy day predicted by the joints in my hands and knees. I didn't much feel like doing much anyway, I hadn't been asleep long when the blackbird kicked off the dawn chorus. When it started heaving down outside I decided that was it for the day. And so it was.

The dawn chorus this week has been the blackbirds and the wren with a woodpigeon as a latecomer. Some days one of the crows does a bit of "singing" but this morning it was just a quick couple of caws and off.

The local robins have been quiet this week, just the odd few bursts of song at teatime. The ones that visit my garden are due a breather anyway, the first of the youngsters has spent the afternoon trying to have a go at the fat ball feeders. The young blue tits are pretty independent now and come in unsupervised. The great tits brought their three youngsters in on Sunday and they've been regular mid-morning visitors since. And we've had a couple more young spadgers, each one escorted by a high-ranking male. So the breeding season's pootling along.

A pair of goldfinches have been frequent visitors all year but I've not seen any youngsters yet. Time was I'd have a couple of dozen goldfinches resident on the feeders and they'd raise three broods a year, it's been single figures this past few years. I had been worried that this was down to a lack of sunflower seeds but I only have to fill the feeders about once a week this time of year. The spadgers aren't coming in for them very often, they'll demolish the fat balls within a day or two but there's plenty of aphids to be picked off the fruit bushes and roses so they can't be bothered with the seeds. They do an excellent job of keeping the bushes pest-free.

I think we've had it for warblers this season. The garden warbler sang for a couple of days and moved on, the blackcap was more persistent but doesn't seem to have lingered, I've not heard it for weeks. Some years we have whitethroats nesting at the station but they didn't turn up at all this year.

And for all the noise from the blackbirds I've yet to see or hear any youngsters. Perhaps singing all the minutes God sends saps your vitality.