99

Actually this one isn't 99 at all. 99 was a redpoll on the Nyger seed feeder, a first record for the garden too. The photos of it were blurry and misted being taken through a window pane, whereas this one of a male blackbird is much clearer. This is worth viewing large for the detail of the eye and the droplets of water on his feathers. There is a faint reflection of his bright orange bill visible on the watery slates of the roof.

The behaviour of the blackbirds has changed markedly recently. Over the winter the resident blackbirds were joined by wintering birds from the continent, and at times we had a dozen feeding in the garden. There are still extra birds around, but the males are becoming more territorial. This one was sparring with another male shortly before he came up to the gutter to take a few sips. Later in the morning a female was offering herself to a male outside the kitchen window, and he duly obliged. I don't know where they are nesting, as the nest from last year was concealed amongst the leaves of a Hydrangea petiolaris which at the moment is still leafless and providing no cover.

After Sue and Chris left to return to Somerset, Wifie and I visited Leighton Moss in the hope of ticking the 100th bird species of the year, there have been chiffchaffs and sand martins seen and a female marsh harrier is back - but we missed them all. We also failed to pick up the explosive song of the cettis warbler that has been heard along the causeway.

So 99 it is.

On a sad note, this evening we watched Jon Snow's Tsunami Diary of his visit to Sandai and other parts of the tsunami hit Japanese coast. The vast scale of the destruction and human tragedy was vividly reported. The dignity and resilience of the survivors and rescuers was conveyed more movingly than I have seen in other television coverage.