Goldcrest

I have never been lucky enough to spot a goldcrest, but my partner saw this one searching for insects on the privet by the side doors and grabbed his camera just in time. Goldcrests are about the size of  a wren, which is what he thought it was until he saw the distinctive gold flash on its head.

Fieldfare

I am guilty of putting too many of my wildlife photos on my Facebook page and ignoring my blog. Time I rectified this. I put out some pieces of apple two days ago, in the hope of luring a fieldfare into the garden. Yesterday, we saw one sitting in a tree casing the joint and today - oh joy! - it actually came down and stayed long enough for me to take several pictures. I had never seen one so close-up before. Close-up through a telephoto lens, that is. It was actually a good thirty feet away, which is why the photos aren't as crisp as I'd like.

It was interesting to see the fieldfare next to the blackbird, to get an idea of their relative shapes and sizes. The blackbird is longer and slimmer, while the fieldfare is rounder and more like a song thrush and is in fact a member of the thrush family, which goes by the unfortunate Latin name of Turdus. Thefieldfare is Turdus pilaris. They are natives of Scandinavia but visit the milder climate of Britain in winter.

Pretty Polly and nobbled Nutkin.

Since we bought a new squirrel-proof peanut feeder, the parakeets have colonised it and the blue tits and great tits hardly get a look-in. This one was particularly cute.

The feeder features a sliding metal tube. As the squirrel puts its weight on it, the tube slides down, covers the peanuts and deposits poor Nutkin on the grass. He just can't figure it out at all.

And talking of squirrels, this one looks related to a lemur! Wonder if it's suffered an injury to its tail?

Coo, what a narrow escape!

Huge bang on the kitchen window this morning. The sparrowhawk, who regards our garden as his regular diner, had chased a pigeon that had been sitting on the power line going down to the workshop. Pigeon knocked itself out on the glass and fell down behind the watering can and the sparrowhawk veered off down the garden.

My partner went out to retrieve the 'dead' pigeon and as he put his hand down to pick it up, it shook its head, looked at him and flew away. Perhaps it mistook him for a giant sparrowhawk; he has got a bit of beak!

Fine fox

We hadn't seen the vixen for weeks. I had had a tin of dog food decomposing in my fridge - it had been opened at least a week ago when we saw one of the cubs - so last night I decanted it into the fox bowl and this morning, not only had it vanished but the vixen was back, looking wonderful with her thick winter coat and full brush, a terrific contrast to the rat-tailed, mangy-looking sight of earlier this year.

February this year.

Today.

I noticed what looked like a brown, withered autumn leaf stuck to the kitchen ceiling this morning. On closer inspection, it turned out to be a beautiful moth. I couldn't find it in my Butterfly and Moth Guide so I posted the image on Facebook. A short while later, I found it on an online guide and it's a Herald Moth. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Herald_(moth)

Absolutely beautiful, with its striped legs, glowing red outer wings with distinctive spots and wavy lines and serrated edges for extra camouflage.

Vixen Vamp

The cubs have grown up and been kicked out. We've seen her threatening them, tail down, snarling and snapping, driving the adolescents off 'her' territory, our garden! Now she has ceased her mothering duties, her fur has grown back and her brush is looking quite resplendent, as if she has had it combed out and blow-dried.

Next week she will be a superstar as her portrait is appearing in our local paper as Picture of the Week!

Here is how she looked in February while she was feeding the cubs. Her coat looks rather mangy and her tail is like a piece of ragged string. Even though she needed the scraps we put out, she didn't have a go at Flad for trying to steal them. The two sit side by side in the garden and seem to be the best of friends. However, she does chase off Charlie, the stray cat, but perhaps that's because he's ginger and about her size, so she might mistake him for a rival fox!

Here is how she looks now. What a beauty! 

Apologies to those who have already seen this photo on Facebook... but who wouldn't want to look at her a second time?

Great Spotted Woodpeckers

We had the delightful sight of a Great Spotted parent and youngster on the peanut feeder yesterday. The parent showed the fledgling the ropes, then sat on the cherry tree and watched while the young 'un ate its fill. Here are some photos of the youngster. What a pretty bird.