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

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.

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

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

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.

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.

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.

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

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!

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.

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!

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.