Murder, Football and House Hunting

Arrived home from work last Thursday just as the light was going and at the end of the hard standing in my Back Garden was a Sparrowhawk with what looked like a House Sparrow in its Grip.  It took off as I gingerly opened the door and settled behind the trellis on next doors fence.  It glared at me between each bite of the poor sparrow and stayed there for about 10 mins then of it went to sit on top of the church scanning around for a pudding.

At work the Respite Home opposite my office has put a couple of feeders up (behind iron railings to stop the local knackers from pinching them) and its attracting quite a few garden birds.  Unfortunately they have put them in shadow so no good light but on the bright days last week was able to get a few moody, soft focus shots (my excuse for out of focus, badly lit pics).  This one I particularly like

Off to Big Waters at the weekend and a new record was set with the finding of the 11th Football in the area.  This one for those not familiar with Football-Watching is the Blue Umbro (with a definite hint of leucism).  Anyone spotting any of these balls please leave a comment especially if it is the Gola sponsored English World Cup Match Ball which there is no records of yet, not even one blown off course between its normal migratory route from Russia to Qatar

The Feeding Station was full of the normal suspects including about 20 Siskins who seemed to like feeding together whether it be on the ground (up to 10 within a couple of square feet) or on the moss side of a tree/stump

Also delicately place (chuck) a few morsels on a log and off they go standing in a line of 5 (yes I know there is only 3 on the pic but the others were just too out of focus (unlike the ones in the pic who are just slightly out of focus))

The Tree Sparrows were definitely feeding en masse also (note the others hanging around until the sparrows have finished)

The banks must be lending money for the mortgages again as this couple look as though they have got enough together already to lay out a deposit on a single room newish bungalow - there were a couple of new builds close to it but obviously they have not put together a big enough deposit yet

The residents Swans are now becoming very territorial, on Saturday 14 other mutes in different combinations of 1s, 2s and 3s tried to drop in but the male was up and at'em before they had completed their landing

Finally the Water Rails put in a few appearances in the Feeding Station with the assistance of Johns strategically place tidbits.