Wednesday 12 November 2008

Long-Tailed Tits return and a Jay visits the Garden




A lovely sunny autumnal day, a rarity this year, so I decided to have lunch in the park and, just walking through the gate at the top of Vicars Hill, I spoted a pair of Long-Tailed Tits in the tree opposite the gate. They’re one of my favourite little birds and I haven’t seen them in the park since the end of May so I was beginning to think we’d lost them. It’s good to see them back. (This is a stock photo, not today's bird)

On the way to the Flower Garden I passed the usual bush full of House Sparrows on the Cliffview Road side and Carrion Crow, Woodpigeon and a Magpie in the field.

I stopped in my tracks just inside the Flower Garden when I spotted a rare Jay in the tree above the birdfeeder – rare to Hilly Fields, that is, because my bird book says they’re twice as numerous as Long-Tailed Tits. It was eating a berry then flew to a neighbouring tree before flying off in a north-easterly direction. (This is a stock photo, not today's bird)

The birdfeeder was full when I arrived today, so I must thank somebody for filling it for me. Blue Tits used the feeder while a Blackbird scrubbed around for worms in the fallen leaves and I had my lunch. Job done.