Bullfinch aggro

I've been a bit slow today and have been at my desk quite a lot.  I found out that G.'s funeral is happening on Tuesday so we've been having to arrange how we are getting to Cumbria by 1pm.  It looks like we will be driving up there together with Pip and Mary, which will be good fun, and we have been meaning to catch up with them for some while.

I also rang several people to let them know G. had died last week and spoke to friends who I had rather lost contact with.  I got to know G. in 1969 when we were studying for our degrees, although we were at completely different institutions, but in recent years I hadn't seen him, which I regret.

Late this afternoon I brought my camera outside after Helena had encouraged me to go out to the cabin saying how lovely it was in the sunshine. She was right. The sun was beginning to set over the hillside of Rodborough Common, but its light was still able to warm my face. I replenished the various bird feeders and then hovered inside the cabin with the big window wide open so that I didn't frighten the birds as they came to eat from the tray hanging in the rhus tree.

Various birds such as nuthatches, tits, blackcaps, robins and even a rather timid female blackbird, with a very spotted breast, enjoyed the sunflower seeds and the suet pellets.  But I liked the way the back light caught the wing feathers of this bullfinch as it was chased away by a slightly more aggressive member of its family. The hierarchy of feeding is interesting to watch. Nothing seemed to disturb the blackbird once it was standing on the tray, although it was rather slow to get there in the first place. Having taken its fill, it hopped to a nearby branch and then stood and watched all the other birds as they all took their turns.