All from the comfort of my chair!

Yesterday I showed a Siskin in the garden and it seemed to be the only one around. This all changed today.

Today Siskins were one the dominant birds at the in the garden. With feeders on both sides of the house it id always difficult to count how many are about but there were certainly more than ten and may be more than twenty.

As they wait for a chance to get on a spare feeding perch they do give me a chance to photograph them form the comfort of my desk chair, although it is a bit draughty with the window wide open.

The feeder out side the window had plenty of use, with Green, Gold and Chaffinches, Blue and Great Tits and House Sparrows also in popping in and out.

A bit further away a Great Spotted Woodpecker was feeding on peanuts, more "traditional" than the sunflower seeds that ti had been using through the winter.

A flash of white rump in the tree alerted me to the arrival of a Brambling, and in the course of the day there were probably three or four individuals around the garden.

Under the feeders several Wood Pigeons joined the Chaffinches in clearing up the dropped pieces of seeds.

Some of the male Chaffinches are looking quite colourful now and the white wing-bars have widened and brightened.

One or two of the Bramblings were already looking quite striking, although they have yet to acquire the proper black head of their summer plumage, if there are any around into April they may well have their complete breeding dress.

With the window open it was quite a noisy corner, with the local Great Tit loudly calling his "teacher teacher" song, the harsh sneers of the Brambling, the odd song from a Chaffinch, but more frequently the monotonous "hweet" and the various jingles from Goldfinches and Siskins.

The Bramblings eventually made their way down to the nearest feeder, giving me excellent views of this most striking bird.

Chaffinches are altogether less confident about going onto the feeders and often just flutter in front of it with out landing properly. Sometimes they sit on the climbing rose round the nearest archway while they contemplate their next attempt at landing.