Jackdaws!

Every morning I can be spotted filling the birdfeeders - usually before my own breakfast. If I don't go out straight away the sparrows in the hedge get louder and louder, as if they're telling me off!

The sparrows are usually the first visitors, closely followed by the starlings who then squabble over the first baths of the day.


We also have a robin, a pair of ringed doves and a family of wood pigeons: they are ground feeders and rely on picking up the bits that the others knock down. A flock of 7 or 8 jackdaws turn up when they see the commotion. Until recently, they also fed from the ground. They're quite striking birds, with pale eyes and a grey neck.



This one seemed to be wondering about the source of the "manna from heaven"...



Then one morning, one of them decided they're not too big to go straight to the source, and we've now bought a stronger birdfeeder. The previous one has vanished altogether, whether they actually flew off with it I don't know - but it's not in the garden!



The bird feeders were originally intended for the resident families of blue tits and great tits, but they wait until the noisy early crowd have moved on and refuse to be photographed. This week we've seen our first pair of goldfinches, exquisite little birds that I really hope I can photograph. Do you feed the birds? Who is your favourite?

Murmuration of starlings

We were thrilled to see the starlings "doing their thing" in Brighton recently, and I was snapping frantically as we hurried towards their roosting place on the (remains of) the Western Pier.



Naturally, when we got near enough for a decent photo, they settled down to sleep - but it was great to see them swooping and swirling in the sky, moving as one, even though I was not able to get the fabulous shots I wanted!

You can see the starlings performing on video here , courtesy of the RSPB.

And finally - MrNifty snapped a photo of me with a halo (it's the new Brighton Wheel)

feed me, feeeeeed meeee!

You can (in fact I insist!) click on each photo to enlarge it. Otherwise, basically, it's a lot of white and black birds with camouflaged chicks.

We went back to Rye Harbour Nature reserve to see if the chicks had hatched. Oh yes indeed they had - with a vengeance. My goodness they're noisy!


There was a constant coming and going of adult birds, fetching food. Each time a parent landed its chicks would surround the parent, chasing it round and round. Eventually the parent seemed to say "You kids are making me sick with all this chasing around" and then...yup, it'd throw up. And the kids would gulp down HUGE chunks of regurgitated food. Yum. The chick in the foreground of the picture above had herded its parent away from the other chicks so it got the whole meal. Resourceful - he'll go far!

The chick in the middle of the shot was jumping up and down flapping his pathetic little excuses for wings "Look mum, I'm flying!"



Can you see the three birds in the middle of the picture below? They're a different breed - and WE NOTICED! much slimmer, black cap instead of black head, red beaks - they're common terns, the others are black-headed gulls. *is birdspotter*



However - *is not **good** birdspotter* - don't know what this is, a duck of some sort I think, but he had a fine time trying to get this fish down his throat. Eyes bigger than beak.

Wildlife SOS

I don't need to feel guilty about watching too much tv because I'm invariably knitting as well. Mr Nifty has no such excuse! We both enjoy Wildlife SOS so when we discovered they were having an open day we knew we had to go.


This is Simon Cowell, the only-slightly-eccentric chap who runs the charity. Follow him on twitter.

We weren't expecting morris dancers - but I'm always keen to see a new side so I can figure out how to knit them!



There were various stalls and entertainments, but the highlight was a quick wander around the hospital. We queued for half an hour, but it was worth it to make the acquaintance of this little patient.



Isn't he gorgeous? I can now say I have stroked a baby hedgehog - not at all prickly, more like a medium stiff hairbrush.



There were lots of birds in various stages of growth, some almost ready to go back to the wild.





Wildlife Aid are keen to educate the public to watch and wait, as so many seemingly abandoned babies are actually perfectly safe and have been left to sit tight while the parents are off foraging for food.




And finally: Happy Father's Day to the father of my children, my first (and current!) husband. The tree he's sitting on is amazing, isn't it? A huge yew, split down its middle many years back but still living on defiantly. That's how we intend to be (well, maybe not the split down the middle bit!)

Windfarms - for or against?

We went for a walk at Rye harbour yesterday, and of course passed new local landmark - the wind farm. I actually find them quite attractive, and this was the first time I'd seen them since they became operational. I'd expected them all to be turning together (a bit like synchronised swimming!) but in fact they each move independently, as if to a different drum.

There was a huge outcry in the local paper when the windfarm was first suggested, and this continued throughout the construction. Obviously the traffic must have been a nightmare: these things are HUGE. Yet to claim they are a blot on the landscape seems wrong, in my opinion. this is not an unspoilt "natural" landscape by any means. Others feared for the birds (this is a nature reserve with many water birds) but surely they are big enough for even the daftest of birds to notice and avoid?
What do you think?