BIRD NEWS:325

You can see the pair of magpies that often visit the yard in the mornings. The smaller birds are not appreciative, of course, but they make their noises in the tall dead trees at the far rear of the yard, nonetheless. I finally managed to get a better shot of the bluetit at the nesting box. After several blue and great tits had investigated, it was bluetits that actually moved in. As I write the blog, they have just fledged and left.

The bird bath is quite popular now we have had a burst of spring warmth. Here you can see the magpie taking a sip - and here is Pidge, sitting in the cool water to prevent overheating on a very warm morning.

My friend Liz had a blackbird nesting in the camellia bush RIGHT in front of her kitchen window - and we were all waiting, hopefully...but alas, the eggs never hatched, and after around 3 weeks the mommy bird gave up - leaving the daddy bird confused and staring at the unhatched eggs. (they are supposed to hatch after around 13 days) Maybe NEXT year - or even later this year - there will be another nest.

As I mentioned above, it was quite hot for around a week - warm enough indeed to wear just a t-shirt for us humans. For blackbirds, they have to fluff out as Mr Black depicts in the photo as he rests on our patio 'fluffed out'.