More baby birds being fed in the garden – this baby chaffinch is the latest. Meanwhile the first batch of dunnocks and robins are getting quite independent, left to their own devices whilst the parents go through it all again with the next brood!
Several baby dunnocks have lately graduated from ‘cheep’ing for food under cover of shrubbery to foraging independently, mostly on the lawn under the feeders. They share the space with several young robins, mostly in harmony apart from occasional squabbles – the ‘teenage’ robins dominate!
This year I hung some loosely-tied bundles of wool scraps in the garden for the birds to take as nesting material. The biggest collectors by far were the goldfinches! Goldfinches are late starters compared to other garden birds, making delicate wool-lined nests towards the slender tips of branches. The wool tops were feltmaking leftovers, and […]
Goldfinches like my weedy lawn! Here’s a small charm of them shredding dandelion heads – they seem to be gathering them too? See this one gripping the stalk with one foot, whilst it rapidly demolishes the head – this use of the feet in feeding is characteristic of goldfinches, and was exploited to teach them […]