After the heavy rains the birds and animals arrive two by two..

this was great BB, love watching young ones being fed, i had 6 starling babys being fed today so you can imagin the noise,, was great to see, by the way first time ive seen two thrushes out together, mine always on own

They are noisy arent they Sanbaz and so funny busy eating then parent arrives and adopt the feed me feed me pose ..these thrushes have become quite used to us and will fly down for food while we are close by.

mine came today, ive started putting bananna out for him and blackbirds,, they love it

Lovely, lovely blog Ray/Jane. Some great photo's ...again!! You're patience rewarded. :-))

So you have posh birds Sanbaz can see ours migrating to Lancashire for banana ..

Thanks Pg we re often asked how do we get so close birds even come into our porch if we dont feed them !

lol BB, baz says they get better fed than him,, cheeky monkey

Know how he feels Sanbaz I cook most evenings as Jane far too busy with the birds .. I have to call her in for tea !

awww,, ive not got to that stage yet lol

Thats nice ..of course youre still at the loved up stage and long may it continue I m at the after the birds animals cats parrot .. you get whats left stage lol

Fantastic photos. I love Mistle Thrushes, dont see many of them though.

Another enchanting little tale with beautiful photos. Keep it up BB - love it.

wow Ray and Jane fantastic photos as usual.

Great blog... lovely photos...........

Beautiful photos! Your yard is truly a little paradise for these guys - mark of a job well done! Thanks for the wonderful blog.

lol BB, i guess i will get there one day hahah

Beautiful pictures you have a very interesting garden

enjoy your blogs B and so does my family

Great blog and photos as usual BB. Well done.

Fantastic ......Bonkers......What a brilliant set of photo's, and a lovely little tale.......made me smile...........

Thank you for the kind comments dont really have much choice but to embrace them all.

Jane ran out last night and stopped a sparrowhawk taking a fledgling .

She dropped the mealworms she was taking out
as she came back the blackbirds were sat in the porch hoovering them all up !

What a brilliant blog along with some fantastic photo's. Wonderful. Don't worry about Bas, he'll soon get to our stage of realism.

Great blog & photos as always.

Aye Toto but no rush is there ? we spend many years trying to do the right thing and many more asking how could we get it so wrong lol

Thank you Clarice always appreciate comments from a fellow bird lover.. been following springwatch ?

Loved your photo's my camera is always in the wrong placewhen I see things but will keep trying.
Big springwatch Follower 2

Very entertaining Bb and and lovely photo,s as usual,pleased to see you are a patient man who realised a long time back that babies come first when it comes to a feeding timetable...lol......

really good photo's bb , nice blog

So beautiful enjoyed the pics and the dialogue. They must trust you to allow you to get so close, whenever I have attempted to photograph my visiting birds they are so far away I have to remember what they were like as they are mere specks on picture LOL Sue x

Thank you always try to catch it Marann esp.Simon King sorry about Bill Oddie dont think he and Kate worked to well as reminded me of competing fledglings each trying to get heard above the other ..

He he Lincslass more resigned to it than patient lol

Thanks Mac.

Thanks Grannysue - putting in the pond last year has been such a magnet to them and if sit quietly will quite literally bathe at your feet.When feeding young they get bolder as food competition fierce.

I don't know how I missed this when you first posted it, but now I've seen it - thanks and more thanks, BB - not forgetting Jane of course!

I always love looking at your photos and this blog is great as usual! :-)

Thank you Spritz ..done the same myself esp if not around for a few days with your impending open garden you must be so busy.

Heres hoping the weather holds - easy to say relax and enjoy but your pics of garden and home show you have a delightful setting . Cant imagine any visitor failing to be impressed.

What a Lot of Fantastic Pics Jane/Ray ,The Blog is Fantastic :)

Thanks Jacque especially pleased that tree sparrows now fledged as our rarest sparrow and to add four to the numbers is a great thrill .. all this under a huge Rookery so they cant be that bad can they ?

I agree Ray :)

Just noisy!!

Thanks Jacque living in a rural location so many people complain about them and its still legal to shoot rooks on the grounds they are damaging crops.

If people took the time to study these intelligent birds and watch the little ones feed alongside such huge birds but go mad if a smaller Jackdaw arrives .. tells me who is friend and foe.

Spritz the boughs of the Rookery go over our roof but this is nothing compared to seagulls ..we used to live in town and rather listen to Rooks than nightclub revellers and seagulls picking up their discarded pizzas and kebabs at 3am !

Your so lucky liveing where u do :) id love to see many more Birds in my garden but iv had to stop feeding the Ground feeders now as MyYoungest Cat " Febe" has started to catch & kill them :(

We have 3 cats Jacque and keep them in during the breeding season as fledglings so vunerable . Cat lovers may think thats cruel but they are well fed and dont need small birds to supplement their diet.

My own cats were house cats b4 i lived here so i see no harm in keeping them indoors :) Infact i think its safer some times 4 their selfs not just the Birds :)

Aye Jacque our cats were rescue cats and one had its tail broken another set on fire ..then there are the gardeners who complain about cat pooh ..well at least they try to cover it !

Do they apologise for their dogs peeing on my front garden
- offered to do the same in their gardens no takers yet.

LOL :D

My cat Chevy never goes outside. He is an indoor cat. He doesn't seem to mind at all. There are just too many predators around here....coyotes, owls, eagles, hawks, cougar, etc etc. It is safer for him to be indoors. I've lost too many cats to the predators...mostly coyotes.

Sorry 2 hear about ur loses Gilli :/ I think keeping cats indoors keeps many gardeners happy cos like BB z they dont foul in peoples gardens & ar safe :)

Great blog and photo's, well done both of you! Well done Jane for catching the Sparrowhawk, what a shock! I'm sorry, but I had to giggle at the thought of the blackbirds going mad on the mealworms, I could just imagine their delight!

OMG not sure I d venture out too often with that lot waiting for me Gilli ..never thought about cats being predated upon

Thanks Craftnutter yes they are very cheeky and so many of them competition is fierce .

It's a fact of life around here BB. Coyotes are the worst for preying on cats.
Some of them that are accustomed to suburban areas can get quite bold and won't be chased off. One of my customers was out on her horse and was attacked by a coyote. She was fine and the horse was fine but the dog she had with her was injured trying to protect her.
I have another customer who was hailed as a hero for fighting off a cougar that was attacking his neighbours little boy. He single handedly pulled it off and killed it with a knife. The little boy ended up with quite a few stitches but is alive. The gentleman isn't very big and must have been running on adrenalin to have hauled the cat off.

Oh Gilli,tend to think of these creatures as being only out in the wilds.No wonder you keep them indoors under those circumstances !

LOL, BB....Kamloops, the last frontier!!

BB, only just found your wonderful blog. I get to expect your great photos but at the same time appreciate how difficult it must be to get such great photos and it must take lots of patience and time.
Blimey Gilli, never realised you had such predators around, amazing.

Thanks Dawn...so many fledging at the moment..hard to keep up with it all.Must be one of Wilkos best customers lol...stocking up every 2 weeks !

I think we need to look into bulk buying food BB, Arlene told me about one company, I think I might look into this. I'm getting a bit fed up with leaving Wilkos loaded up, with my knuckles dragging on the floor, lol.

Agree Dawn...we are going to look into it too....on top of all that Jane then says we need 15 litres of cat litter ! Lol

Oh right, the knock on effect. Best to keep them in though. As Jess is old now she looks with interest but doesnt bother - she can still catch mice though.

Bless her..............