BIRD NEWS:392

That is the last photo I took of the jay. Recently, there have been a coal tit and great tit enjoying the peanuts along with the blue tits. Also recently, the blackbirds have been eating the berries - so it must be cold. Mr Black has stood on the ground under the berry tree, flown up, snatched a berry in his beak, and landed below to eat it several times in a row in order to get a winter meal.

Another of Mr Black's antics is captured above - being a ground feeder, unlike the starlings and sparrows who cling to the feeder itself with their toes while munching, blackbirds, robins, dunnocks, etc stand and peck - usually on the ground or a sill. One starling, Chackie, and Mr Black have learned to stand on the holder and beak at the suet balls, though.

Another poor shot here - of Plateface the elusive winter-only thrush taking a drink in the stone water bowl. The other 3 occasions on which I have noticed Plateface, I was too late to run to the spare room and grab my camera.

Does anyone notice anything strange about my bird feeder pole? Perhaps not...but there is a large lump that is not usually in sight that you may have noticed. It looks a bit like a hedgehog...

It is actually a sunflower head, complete with seeds, that our organic fruit n vegetable delivery company Riverford gave away for free in January. Recalling how a flock of cockatoos flew into my back yard from their usual haunt in the park across the street when I lived in Wollongong, I grabbed the chance of reconstructing the venture locally. Alas, 3 days later and not a single seed appear to have been munched...

Of course we do not get cockatoos in England, but goldfinches and sparrows and pigeons all favor sunflower seeds...