What's flying near you?

Our most usual visitors are a very cheeky robin (and his more cautious family members), and a pair of great tits. The blackbirds have been enjoying the bird bath, and then there's the inevitable fat wood pigeons that raid the ground feeder.

(Apologies for the blurriness of the photo - it was taken with my phone through our kitchen window, and the blackbird seldom stopped moving!)

   

Earlier in the year there were long-tailed tits on the fat feeder and a pair of blue tits, but I haven't seen them around lately - fingers crossed it's just because I'm staying indoors a lot more. Our feeders are mostly in the front garden as it's more open (and gets more foot traffic) and therefore is a poor hunting ground for cats, but the main rooms of the house are on the back so there aren't many birdwatching opportunities in this weather.

There was also a jay visiting earlier in the year, having discovered that he/she could raid the robin feeder by bashing it hard enough to make it swing at a steep angle and spill its contents onto the ground!

I put up a niger feeder in the back garden in the hope of attracting goldfinches, which I often see around the neighbourhood, but none in the garden so far. There are also green woodpeckers living on the rec that our house backs onto, but again they don't usually venture into gardens. A pity, as they're welcome to our ants' nests!