BIRD NEWS:208

These beautiful harlequin ducks posed for me as I wandered towards the exit. That was that - for this second trip of 2016 to the wetlands reserve. More coming up now I have an annual pass card, though!

Back home and all was normal with Pidge resting in the tree. I have not seen the juvenile yellowhammer lately, but I have begun to spot another new garden visitor - the jay. Formerly, the only time I have seen one in our yard was when one went for a smaller bird. This latest jay however, seems to be a better behaved bird - it eats the peanuts.

Here you can see a shot of it hanging on the peanut holder and beaking out a nut. It has discovered a way to successfully obtain peanuts, pull the brown skin off and munch the white nut. I therefore learned that jays eat peanuts, and also that they don't like the brown skin bit.

The next day I managed to take a few more shots of the jay and his antics on the peanut feeder. Before Pidge arrived on the scene and the jay flew away. The jay has visited 4-5 days in a row, although I did not see it yesterday or today - but then I was out quite a lot on both weekend days... Photos from my latest excursion - back to Arundel - will follow.