June sees the arrival of many young birds and one of those that you cannot miss are the Starlings, arriving in hordes, eating anything and everything they set their beady eyes on. The poor parents struggle to keep up with the demands but manage the noisy youngsters, demanding all the time.
Starling youngster on a branch
I enjoy watching the Starlings when they're young, they can appear so useless but, watch everything the adults do and learn quickly. They squabble constantly and it's costing me a small fortune keeping them fed.
Great Spotted Woodpecker sticking its tongue out at me
The woodpeckers are constant visitors now, I'm beginning to think they have young somewhere not too far away.
Blackbirds are common and regular visitors and seem to spend more time chasing each other around the garden than actually feeding.
Adult male Blackbird
Blackbird youngster
Young Blackbirds started to appear, again, a really cute bird often mistaken for a Thrush. This one was being fed in a Daphne bush on the patio.
The Tree Sparrows have started visiting the feeders quite often, great to be able to get a good look at them for the first time.
Tree Sparrow on a feeder
I started this month with the Starlings, they were still here and feeding on one of the wettest days so far and I managed to get a few good shots of the poor wee things soaking wet!
Soaked Starling on a feeder
I cropped the shot above in to show that gaping mouth, scary looking!
Starling in the rain, mouth wide - Horror shot!
The Siskins re-appeared today, they're gorgeous wee birds and feisty for their size, often chasing larger birds off.
Great Tits have also appeared, I'm going to hazard a guess that this was a pair, they turned up together and left together for quite some time.
Siskin female on a feeder
Siskin male on a branch
Great Tit dangling from the nut feeder
The woodpeckers were getting so regular now, one had even started blowing me kisses ;)
Great Spotted Woodpecker on the tree, blowing me kisses
Goldfinches started to appear this month, I think I first saw these birds many moons ago, near Helston in Cornwall.
Goldfinch on a feeder
June is definitely the month for the youngsters but it still came as quite a surprise when a Rook brought a young one to the garden. For a few mornings they turned up together and then disappeared again, maybe next year?
When a young Rook wants food, everyone knows it, loud, loud calls early in the morning and the biggest beak I've ever seen in the garden!
Both Great Spotted Woodpeckers were now calling at the feeders very regularly so I assumed they had young in the nest, it would be great to see them. The male woodpecker has that red patch at the nape of the neck and the female doesn't. Juveniles have an almost full red cap which then shrinks or fades as they mature.
Male Great Spotted Woodpecker Female Great Spotted Woodpecker
The Siskins also arrived, one or two at first but soon there was a regular group turning up, again, feeding young I guessed. Beautiful little birds and pretty feisty for their size often chasing off the others when they tried to share a feeder.
Male Siskin
Female Siskin
The House Sparrows also started appearing more frequently, again that time when young mouths need filling often.
Cock Sparra! Male House Sparrow on a suet feeder.
Now and again we get a surprise visitor, a surprise to us that is, they're in the area just not appearing at the feeders and maybe only when we're not around but, out the kitchen window one morning, I spotted a Grey Partridge sneaking along the fence.
Somehow I think I've missed the Chaffinches, I have a terrible habit of thinking they're just Chaffinches because there are so many of them here and reasonably tame so always around. They're beautiful birds and definitely not "just". One thing I have noticed is that there can be a quiet a variation in colouring and size in these lovely birds.
Male Chaffinch on the feeder
Female Chaffinch on the feeder
So June was a very busy month at the feeders as well as out on the surrounding patch generally, I'm going to group the youngsters together on their own page, just to show the variety that we are so lucky to see.
