The Garden
Click on the thumbnail pictures to get a bigger view of our garden!
Bird-wise we get a varied collection of visitors, including sparrows, blue tits, great tits and the odd blackbird and thrush (there isn't much ground
for them to feed from!) Less frequently I have seen chaffinches, goldfinches, flocks of long-tailed tits, and a wren which I believe lives somewhere in the old ivy-covered stone wall at the back.
The most exciting thing I have witnessed was a sparrowhawk a few feet from our back door. I was opening the gate from our drive at the back of the house and suddenly this huge, dark coloured bird
(which had been perched on the floor with its back to the gate), lifted off from the floor a few feet away and sped off - leaving a pile of feathers on the ground from its
sparrowy lunch ...
Bird Watch Update
Not a lot to report at the moment, lots of house sparrows feeding babies, blue tits and great tits
coming to the seed feeders.
INTERESTING BIRDS I HAVE SEEN IN THE BRITISH ISLES
Reed warblers at Virginia Water - funny little birds with a very gravelly
distinctive call, and a loud song too. There was also a family of great crested grebes on the lake, two parents
and two young.
Ring-Necked Parakeets (originally from India, very tropical looking) - around the Greater London area (including a group of 100+).
Isles of Scilly:
Turnstones, Whimbrels, peregrine falcon, puffins, razorbills, linnets, stonechats.
Wales: Red kites at Gigrin Farm RSPB Red Kite Feeding Station, near Rhyader, mid-Wales.
Please let me know the most exciting (feathered!) birds YOU'VE
seen in the UK!
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accesses since 27Jun99
© Copyright Ben and Lynda Thornton
last updated 27Jun99
