Another late posting.........
Since early winter we have been fortunate to entertain Goldfinches at our feeding station daily. We started with five and have built up to 33 counted on and in the immediate vicinity of the station. We are still regularly counting 20+ on the feeders and trellis.
Also, since the turn of the year we started with one Siskin which increased to 5 before and during the cold spell, but all females (we usually get both) except for one instance when a male visited briefly.
Other observations:
We have a recent rookery (3 yrs) adjacent to us in the Oak trees of the field surrounding the house and two years ago we witnessed an epic Rook fight (about an hour and a half) both contestants survived, though one was really beaten up.A couple of days ago saw a lone miserable Crow in the field. 5 others came down and harried it severely, it had a broken or dislocated wing and as it made its way to and through the hedge it suffered constant attacks. Nature in the raw................!
Also re Rookery for the last two years we have noticed that one (same) nest grows (and remains) larger than all the others. The interesting thing is that as it gets larger (this year) of the six nests until this week there are now only three. Last year all but this one disappeared and were re-built again. I wonder is this an Alpha/founding pair, any ideas?
David and Anne Lucas