Nathalie

Wasps are taking my mealworms at the back!

This bald great tit has been visiting the mealworms at the back. It is often accompanied by another one which is absolutely normal and to which it does the food solicitation fluttering. I wonder what has happened to it?

I have found a dead blue tit chick in front of a next door neighbour's house. Which made me realise that I have not seen the chicks much since I took pictures on the 6th. The main visitors to the mealworms are now great tits and starlings (which do excite the cat greatly!).
I have also found a dead young blackbird and a dead mouse in the cemetery (I guess it was my day for dead things...)

I went to my usual spot on the Thames this afternoon. The tide was still relatively low and there were about as many Canada Geese as yesterday. I saw a family with 5 goslings, not something I have seen there before, a pied wagtail, briefly, and a young gull (which I assume is a 3cy lesser black-blacked gull, but I still need to brush up on my gull i.d. skills).

I went to the Thames at lunchtime. The first thing that struck me was how low the tide was:

The second thing was how many Canada Geese there were, mostly resting on the exposed shore. I counted at least 75. (you can guess some of them on the above picture)
I saw

• my first 2 black-headed gulls back for this season,
• a heron mobbed by crows (it was right underneath trees where they nest, I guess they were not taking any chances),
• lots of rubbish (including some that a heron seemed to find very convenient as a perch - and probably a trap),
• cormorants splashing in the shallow waters,
• and a grey wagtail.

When I saw it first, I think it had just gone for a bath (left picture); it then spent ages preening itself and was looking much fluffier after a while (right picture).

The lime trees are starting to flower, soon the cemetery is going to smell like a giant herbal tea...

I have seen a male great spotted woodpecker this morning, pecking away on a grave. Only a moment earlier, I saw a squirrel having a go at a crow which was not that much impressed... It was hilarious, I so wished I had my camera with me.

Tits, blue and great, are continuing to visit the mealworms; the starlings too, but, thankfully, they are not coming too often as they hoover the mealworms in a few seconds. And the cheek of the youngsters! If we go to the window to chase them off, they just look at us: "Could we have more, please?"