Morning rush hour

The early morning rush hour at the bird feeders always gives me a lot of pleasure, but this morning was particularly interesting.

This juvenile great spotted woodpecker made repeated forays to the new suet pellet feeder, zooming off triumphantly each time with a pellet in its beak, which he took back to a branch of the oak tree to consume in peace. He also investigated the peanut feeder and once, amusingly, alighted on the pole which supports the bird table – presumably thinking it was a tree trunk! At one point in the proceedings he was dive bombed several times by a feral pigeon, who wanted his turn at the suet pellets.

Other visitors to the feeders were our resident jay, a robin (who can be seen in my photo above), many great tits and blue tits and some greenfinches and goldfinches. It’s no wonder I find it hard to leave the kitchen in the mornings to go up and shower.

This afternoon I walked to the High Road via Warner’s Path which borders the Green, and once again, as I did on Monday, I heard a wren calling, followed immediately by the glorious song of a blackcap. I pulled out my phone in readiness, just in case, but sadly there were no sightings again today.