The birds have returned...

...Well, kind of anyway! The sun is out and the birds are singing. Funnily enough, since the last post about the disappearance of the birds, they are starting to return slowly but surely. However, they are awfully shy, and it has really been difficult to capture these birds on camera. A Greenfinch has showed interest in the bird food and seems to be visiting again (see picture below). I have still only seen one at a time, but its a start.

I have had quite a busy week and have struggled to get out and watch the birds, but I have still noticed a definite increase in the number of birds visiting. They seem to only take brief visits to the feeder perches, as the great tit video shows below. I haven't seen a Goldfinch for a while, but I hope the other birds encourage them to return. I re-arranged the bird feeders after I took the photos and videos below in the hope that the less popular ones will now get used . I also topped up the tables and feeders so we should get some more visitors. With the cooler, wetter, unsummerish weather we've been having before today, the bird bath has been quiet.

Below is a picture of the solitary male Greenfinch seen over the last few days. It, like everything else at the feeders usually stays for a maximum of about 2 minutes before flying off. I could not get very close to this Greenfinch, and had to take the picture from the house. Chaffinches have continued to visit in reasonably large numbers, spending quite a lot of time feeding at the seed feeder at the end of our garden.

Even the House Sparrows are quite timid, and don't appear very often. I say this but they are still visiting often. I think this one is quite young as it has a slight gape on its beak.

A Sparrowhawk is visiting a lot at the moment, which could have caused this Great Tit to be unusually timid. However, it really wasn't happy with me getting close to film it which was a bit strange. Earlier on in the year, the Great Tits were much more tame, so I'm not quite sure why this one is. The photo is a little dark (even after a bit of editing), and my camera shook around a bit while I took the video, but it still gives you an idea on what is happening. At the start of the film the Great Tit is "hiding" in the bush near our feeders, before eventually hopping onto the feeder perch. Even then, it only showed itself briefly. In part of the video, the Great Tit appears to be nervously peering around the side of the feeder. Very strange behaviour indeed!


I will soon post on our messy, overgrown garden.

All photos and videos above were taken in our garden