Pittswood Birds

I decided on a mug of tea, and a sit at the bedroom window to watch the garden this afternoon, as very little was flushed up when I walked across Migrant Alley on the way home from work. I restocked the feeders, and threw a couple of hundred peanuts on the lawn, which a couple of JAYS took just an hour to pick up and stash away for the winter. Its great to see these birds back in the garden after an absence of 5 years, the fact that all the local Oak trees have failed to produce any acorns this year is probably the driving factor for their return. The usual Tits and Finch's were coming and going, and the SPARROWHAWK came in low and fast 3 times, but left empty handed, it's well practiced runs are aimed at the place the feeders were before I moved them, so I have outwitted it for the time being. A single DUNNOCK scurried mouse-like under the shrubs and up to 7 COLLARED DOVES picked up spilt sunflower hearts, just 2 HOUSE SPARROWS came in late on, for a pre-roost snack, but no Blackbird or Starling came to feed. A pair of GREAT SPOTTED WOODPECKERS fed on the peanuts, whilst a GOLDCREST flitted around the shrubs - nice to see in the garden. In total 16 species came into the garden and 10 were seen going over, or in the vacinity, a little disappointing.
A commotion outside the house, at just gone midnight last night woke me up, screams and wails and yelps, I jumped out of bed - half asleep, and rolled down the window- Tawny Owl perhaps ? No, it was just a fox, not even close, i'm still listening - even in my sleep!

Above: Two Jays, great to have them back. Below is the one that was rung, back in June 2005. You can seen it's ring if you enlarge the photo.

The first pic below is of the Male Great Spotted Woodpecker and the bottom is of a Male Great Tit.