Garden Fieldfares

Just when I had almost given up hope of the cold weather resulting in a more unusual species visiting the garden, a flock of 8 - 10 fieldfares descended into the whitebeam and silver birches just after 9.00 this morning. Unfortunately, they only lingered for seconds - had they stayed a bit longer they might have spotted the apples on the lawn!

We had several centimetres more snow yesterday and once I had put out the food a flock of 10 wood pigeons came to feed - they outnumbered the feral pigeons for a change. A third robin has now appeared on the scene which has led to many more robin skirmishes as the resident pair who had been tolerating each other rush to chase it away. Up to 10 goldfinches are visiting the sunflower feeders and I have seen the odd greenfinch but the chaffinch and collared dove seen a few weeks ago have failed to return and we hardly ever see a starling.

Plenty of visits to the feeders from great, blue and coal tits and I saw a flock of 5 long-tailed tits yesterday but they are yet to visit the fat balls. Male and female great spotted woodpeckers are regular visitors and there is a resident flock of about 8 house sparrows. Dunnocks, blackbirds, magpie and carrion crow are the other species feeding daily.

I am about to brave the dreaded Christmas shop at Sainsbury's - so will be checking the berries for waxwings. The roads have been so icy that I haven't risked driving to the Business Park to check all the berries there but hopefully I will get chance next week.