Fit For Vinkensport

I wanted to go for a walk this afternoon but it was raining so I headed for the Longlands hide at Fishers Green as I had read on the Lee Valley Park website that coal tits had been seen there - something different to photograph I thought.

None of those but plenty of activity. Regular and melanistic pheasants and collared doves were at the barrel-shaped game feeder which was also attracting a large flock of chaffinches. These birds prefer to feed from the ground. The cock in my pic is in perfect breeding condition and his strong, seed-eating beak can be clearly seen.

Cock chaffinches sing over and over again to attract females and secure territory. The song is driven by testosterone. Finch sport or vinkensport,  competitions to establish the bird which sings the most times in an hour were started by Flemish merchants in 1596. They used to blind the birds with hot needles as they sing better and more frequently when not distracted. :( Today they're kept in dark boxes. Not my idea of sport.

While I was in the hide I watched an Easter bunny and a muntjac deer feeding in the remains of last year's millet crop which I think was planted specifically for wildlife.