It was a warm day, the pollen count was high and I was tired after yesterday's trip out. I'm at the age where being on the alert for small flying objects for ten hours straight isn't the easy ride it used to be. So I had a lazy day of it. The spadgers and juvenile titmice crowded the feeders all day except the ten minutes one of the squirrels had a go at the sunflower seed feeders. The adults titmice are like ghosts in the night. The blackbird had started singing at quarter to four but still had the energy to pick fights with its neighbour all day. The collared doves are more genteel about it, this time of year a fight usually consists of one pair landing on a television aerial another pair is sitting on. I've often wondered if it affects the reception.
The rooks have returned to the school playing field, a couple of dozen of them turned up today. I couldn't see any juveniles amongst them, it wasn't a safe day for standing pointing binoculars at a school. There are a couple of juveniles in the crowd of woodpigeons that are on there most days. The young magpies have already collected into a teen gang, or joined the existing one, I've no way of knowing for sure. The young jackdaws are still tending to hang about with their parents for now.
I mentioned the other day that it's a much better year for butterflies than last year. It certainly is. This is the number of times I've recorded butterflies in my observations so far this year (orange) compared to last (blue dotted line). I'm not going out specifically to look for butterflies, these are casual observations while I'm birdwatching, but the difference is striking.
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