Birds

So many birds and so much activity!
A lot of birds have come back from their winter hideaways to start their families in our more gentle climate. We've had a thrush singing almost non-stop for 4 weeks. He's been sitting on the top of the walnut tree or the old ash tree in the field and entertaining us with his powerful, repetitive tune. This week he's come a bit closer and sitting on the hawthorn tree behind the studio  - maybe a nest?
We've had pheasants - a pair, and now a couple of youngsters, after the peanuts and seeds I occasionally put out when the weather is cold, several great tits, robins of course - following me as I dig the veg plots, a pair of crows, lots of pigeons, and I spotted a goldfinch on the Korean Fir.
Today I say a green woodpecker on the walnut tree. We don't often see them, though we hear them a lot in the wood and flying over the fields. There are a lot of holes in the trunks of the old plum trees up in the orchard, probably made by great spotted woodpeckers. Haven't seen so much of them since we stopped putting out peanuts in feeders. We used to get them regularly and they also hunt for bugs in the bark of the now-dead dawn redwood. But there's not much bark left on that now - the remaining strips were blown off in storm "Doris" last month.
When the weather is fine there's usually a buzzard or two circling overhead, with a couple of crows mocking them! The buzzards can fly faster and higher than the crows but seem to tolerate them. maybe it's just a game for both species.