These last two days have been good ones for Nuthatches, I must remind myself not to take them for granted, it's lovely to see them and watch their interactions.  This is a female and subservient  to the male that breezes in and out  and takes over when he's there.. At the moment the adults are not quite out of their post breeding moult so not looking as pristine as they will in a few weeks time. 

I was up very bright and early this morning and sat in the wood hide at 5.30…….. yes 5.30!  I wanted to be inside before dawn without disturbing the Buzzard that  I was expecting  to come down to the various road kill carcasses set out to attract them. Dawn arrived and gradually the light brightened but oddly no Buzzards arrived, a disappointment  to say the least.  By 8.15 I had enough and came home for breakfast and my first coffee of the day. Terry told me  that 3 Buzzards were around his property yesterday which is good news and everyone is familiar with the expression  "as the crow flies"  so a Buzzard can cover a large area in just a few minutes, one minute being out of sight and the next, right above you.  It was odd that I hadn't had a Jay in front of the hide for days and days but this morning they were the headlining act with at least 3 perhaps, noisily coming and going and enjoying the peanuts. I wasn't set up to photograph them really and they were mostly too close to get in the view finder. Their presence proved that my hide and camouflage is working well.  You can see that this bird, I think it's the adult female is deep in to a moult with "pin feathers" around the eyes and on the face, these are  the new emerging feathers still covered in waxy sheaths.  When this bird completes the moult in the next week or so she will be a beautiful bird.