Recent sightings from in and around the garden recently.

A female Sparrowhawk flew over the garden around 6pm yesterday. The singing Dunnock quickly disappeared.

A singing Wren and a pair of Long-tailed Tit were around the garden today and a Blackbird is still singing as I type this.

Great to see two pairs of Bullfinch from the lounge window late morning. Also a Collared Dove perched in the same tree and a Nuthatch calling.

A lot of House Sparrow activity on a house visible from the lounge with at least three males seen and a female. It's a double apexed house and they like to use them to nest with a colony around throughout the year.

Two Mallard flew along the river valley and a Blackbird could be heard singing prior to dawn.

Great Tit and a male House Sparrow seen on the ivy on the patio

Three Dunnock chasing each other around the garden today.

A female Blackbird is taking interest in the deepest part of the ivy on the shed wall and looking increasingly like she may be interested in nesting there.

A Mistle Thrush is also singing close by

After seeing two rats in the garden at the end of last month, I took the decision to take the feeders down until later in the year. Having spoken to a neighbour who has also seen them in her garden, it seems they are coming to feed from elsewhere as they were using a rat run and coming from along the close. I suspect the appearance of the rats is down to the fact that there has been quite a bit of drainage work going on recently. The rats seem to have moved elsewhere but not surprisingly very few birds are now visiting the garden.

There is also less frog spawn in the pond this year than in previous years.

Despite the lack of birds in the garden, Wren, Dunnock and Blackbird are heard frequently around the back garden and displaying Greenfinch and Goldfinch are visible at the front of the house.

Yesterday I saw the Song Thrush under the Magnolia in the garden, the first time I've seen one actually in the garden for several years.

Also two Blackbirds singing at dusk.

Frogspawn in the pond this morning.

Song Thrush and Dunnock are now singing daily from in and around the garden.

Today

Female Great Spotted Woodpecker on one of the fatball feeders
Pair of Nuthatch
Song Thrush singing in a birch at the back of the garden this morning and evening

This morning when I went into the kitchen to brew and there were five Dunnock on the lawn feeding. A record number for the garden at the same time.

No fewer than four new species over the last few days, with two of them heard only, so far.

In the early hours of Friday morning a female Tawny Owl was calling for at least five minutes. I looked out to see if it was perched somewhere where it was visible. Unfortunately it wasn't visible.

Then this morning a Song Thrush was singing from somewhere close to the house. Unfortunately I couldn't locate it, but if it continues to sing in the area, I'm sure I will find it!

Up to six Canada Geese have been flying along the Tame Valley most evenings over the past week.

Then finally a pair of Bullfinch returned to the garden this morning.

Now up to 29 species and two heard only

Within ten minutes of logging out earlier, a Grey Heron flew low over the garden. It seemed to think about stopping then decided against it and carried on.

Species 27 for the garden.

All water in the garden has now thawed. Still quite a few birds around the garden with one of the Nuthatches visiting regularly again after a short absence.

A pair of Dunnock are hanging about around the patio quite a lot and the male was singing yesterday. There have been at least two Dunnock singing in the vicinity of the garden over the last couple of days.

Two Mistle Thrush flew over the garden this afternoon taking my lockdown total to 26. Slow going!

Dramatic happenings in the garden yesterday when a Jackdaw grabbed another and they fought together for several minutes. Another Jackdaw looked on but a Magpie landed close by and started pecking at the bird being attacked. I was amazed when I went outside and the attack continued even allowing me to take some bad photos on my mobile phone. After a couple of minutes both birds flew off.

Some sightings from today.

At least 40 Starling in the garden just after midday clearing up all mealworms and suet pellets from the lawn.

A Sparrowhawk flew over fairly high too.

Four Jay again this morning.

A Feral Pigeon has been visiting the garden recently, quite a rarity in the garden these days.

Up to eight Blackbirds have been visiting regularly. Most of these are male, but one of the others is a particularly large female, which chases all the others away, even though she doesn't stay and feed.

A Nuthatch was in just a few minutes ago, I've not seen one for a few days, although it doesn't help when you're working most of the time!

Other than that, nothing new.

Whilst out filling the feeders this morning, a party of eight Long-tailed Tit arrived and fed within three feet of me.

Also a pair of Wren chased one another around the garden for a short time.

Four House Sparrow, a Dunnock and a Woodpigeon all visited the ivy on the patio.

A good variety of species visiting the garden again

Plenty of birds in the garden again today but they all disappeared when a Sparrowhawk circled high over the garden a couple of times.

Once the raptor drifted off, the birds quickly returned.

Now up to 25 species

A Starling was singing above my bedroom window this morning.

No change in the garden birds, but it was nice to see a male Greenfinch drinking from the smaller pond.

Very little to add over the past few days.

Still lots of the usual species visiting the garden.

I looked out of the lounge window yesterday and noticed five Feral Pigeons flying around. We rarely see them in the back garden, although they are always on the old mills just down the road.

Species 24!

Nothing new in the last couple of days, but a small increase in numbers of most species.

Eight Blue Tit in the garden today, the highest number I've seen at the same time this winter.

Also four Collared Dove and five Woodpigeon.

Three female and at least four male Blackbird.

Two Jackdaw had a scrap on the lawn yesterday, with one ending up on its back. It lived to fight another day.

This morning a male Blackbird hit one of the windows, but quickly flew off, none the worse for wear.

Also a Dunnock roosted in the ivy on the shed last night.

Two Grey Squirrel also visited the garden this morning.

I did a count of the number of species in or over the garden during the first week of this lockdown. So far I have seen 23 species. There are one or two hoped for species missing.

I looked in the pond today and there still seem to be a few tadpoles remaining from last year. This is an annual occurrence.

The only other signs of life apart from birds so far have been a couple of Grey Squirrels.

Highlights of the first week include the two Great Spotted Woodpeckers and up to four Jays on a daily basis.

I put plenty of food out this morning and this attracted at least 20 Starling into the garden with at least another 20 looking on.

A single Jay and and a single Magpie both visited and most of the regular species visited at some point.

Other than the Starlings, the garden has been fairly quiet.

Yesterday a Cormorant flew over the back of the house, which was a new species for my garden lockdown 2 list.

Today, so far

Nuthatch
Jackdaw
Woodpigeon displaying over the back of the garden
Plus a few dribs and drabs of the common species

A bit quiet birdwise as our new neighbours are checking their garden out!

Had a busy couple of days, so trips to the kitchen have been at a premium!

Still good numbers of the commoner species around and now up to 10 Starling coming down for food.

Still two Jay about and a Wren was in the garden on Thursday.

Two Robin in the garden today

A Grey Squirrel was also in the Garden on Thursday.

Two flyover Black-headed Gulls were an additional species today

Other birds in the garden today included

Four Blackbird, three of which were male
Goldfinch
Greenfinch
Magpie
Jackdaw
Blue Tit
Great Tit
Coal Tit
House Sparrow
Woodpigeon
Collared Dove
Starling
and three Dunnock

I'll be able to get a better idea of numbers at weekend.

This morning, so far

Two Great Spotted Woodpecker chasing each other around the back of the garden. Both birds came onto the fatball feeder in the garden, but separately. One was definitely a female, but I was unable to ascertain whether the other bird was male or female, from the view I had.

Also Jay and at least five Chaffinch so far today.