I have purchased a new 600 mm lens to enable me to capture some closer images of my garden visitiors. Nothing particularly noteworthy about these three except the Blackbird . This is a resident of the garden and he is coming into magnificent breeding condition. Note the glorious yellow beak and matching eye coloiur which is such a feature of this species. This is Turdus merula, a member of the Thrush family and a close relative of the American Robin-Turdus migratorius The Blackbird is one of the species that has nested and bred in my garden. Blackbirds are iconic common birds in the UK and hardly any garden or public park is without them. From time to time “albino” specimens have been seen, rare but not unknown. The other two are House Sparrow and Dunnock which is one of the birds we have had in the garden all year. I am pleased to see them, they are a relatively new visitor in my garden. National they are very common but often overlooked and unrecognised due to their skulking behaviour. I had always been suprised that they were not seen in my garden more often and then there they are with a pair setting up nesting territory. The male and female are impossible to tell apart, that is to say that they are sexually monomorphic. They have a pleasant song which only the male utters. I am convinced that they also bred in the garden last year but I have no real evidence of that.
The Goldfinch–Carduelas carduelas is a bird that passes through quite often and can quite often be heard before you see it, it has a distinctive twittering call when it flies in small flocks. This specimen was acting very unusually. Firstly it was disturbed drinking from the top pond which is quite close to the house, and then once disturbed only flew to the table half way down the garden. It never exhibited as much fear and caution as I would normally expect. It allowed me to approach within about 10 feet to take these exciting photos. I am still on a learning curve with the lens and I had it set on the wrong sensitivity hence the slightly grainy appearance of the picture. I am, never the less, very plaesed with the detail that has been captured. The House Sparrow is a common bird that is unfortunately in decline. It is thought that their population status is now only a half of what it was 10 years ago. There are theories as to why this is. The strongest being the absence of nest sites. Houses are now more modern and well maintained with plastic eaves and an absence of holes under rooves which was always a common nesting site for this species. The other common theory put forward is global warming. I do not subscribe to this as a warmer climate would surely be a benifit to this bird. I suspect that the proliferation of Magpies and domestic cats may be a strong factor. Magpies, in particular are predators of common nesting birds and their populations are soaring in the suburban environment.