After the disappointment of the Cuckoo site and the realisation that for this year, it will never be the same again, I went back to the wood to get everything sorted and to refill the feeders etc. Yesterday I had bought a very ingenious Squirrel-proof feeder which will definitely make a difference. The problem has been that the Squirrels, as soon as your back is turned, completely wreck the feeding station and eat all of the feed. This means that the birds don't recognise the area as a source of food because the feeders are too often empty. I am hoping that this will make a dramatic improvement. I have also placed a feeder on the edge of the wood and in the open so that once the birds get to know this source I will be able to photograph the Nuthatches in flight as the light is so much better here, well thats the plan anyway. This feeder is also near to the Buzzard and Jay feeding station where I have put pieces of Rabbit and day old chicks. The food disappears from here every day, probably crows and a fox in the night but so far I haven't see any signs of Buzzard except on two ocassions when I have arrived, Buzzards were in the trees above.
From the hide by the quarry a Jay, Blackbirds, Blue and Grey Tits and a pair of Robins came to feed. The Robins are interesting, if you didn't know you would think that the Robin being fed was a fledgling but no, it's the female of the pair of course because young Robins are speckled without the red breast. Males and females are identical. What is unusual about this is the submissive behaviour of the female who was begging for food from her mate with gaping and fluttering of the wings in the same way that a juvenile would behave. This female never comes to take food for herself but prefers to wait in the wings (excuse the pun) for the male to come and feed her as you can see.
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