A charm of goldfinches feeding

I knew there would be snow lying as I had seen it start to fall as I went to bed rather late last night. I'd been listening to the second day of the cricket match in Melbourne, which started at 11-30pm our time, and where the temperature was over 30 degrees C. Lucky people.

Bomble was very hungry this morning and annoyingly made far too much noise outside our bedroom, so I wasn't best pleased. I quickly fed him and then went outside to check the bird feeders and found that one of them which has a spring-loading feature to stop squirrels eating from it, had closed up with the weight of two inches of snow on its top.

The birds were milling around the garden quite frantically so I topped up the sunflower seeds and the suet pellets, spread a lot of loose seeds around the garden on the snow and then retreated inside to make tea. I brought my camera and started to film the birds through the patio doors. I took far too many pictures but have chosen this one as a blip as I do love the bright colours of the goldfinches. They were quite late to the feast but once they settle on to the feeders they are hard for other birds to shift. There was a lot of squabbling amongst themselves which I find unusual so the pressure of the cold must be getting to them.

I photographed several different scenes and eventually managed to open the door to poke the camera out, but it tended to put many of the birds off. I was delighted though when a flock of longtailed tits took to the suet feeder and then one of them came up to the tray close to the house where I was standing and fed from it looking me in the eye only three feet from my head. Only the robin is usually that daring.

I saw ten magpies, lots of crows, three blackbirds, pigeons galore, tits in abundance and the usual suspects of two nuthatches and two male bullfinches. A pair of woodpeckers ate from the suet feeder and then returned to try sunflower seeds. There were at least eight longtailed tits but it was hard to count them as they are so flighty. A jay arrived in the neighbours tree and looked on, but then spotted me when I moved my camera towards it, which frightened it off. A dunnock skulked in the undergrowth and a greenfinch joined the goldfinches briefly for a feed. Three robins flitted about and had a good feed, as they have learnt to eat from the feeders as well as browsing all the ground food. 

The sun is now shining and will probably melt the rest of the snow which was very slushy to begin with. The views across the valley are looking splendid and I'm glad I'm warm inside and about to have lunch. I will fill the bird feeders before too long as I feel responsible for encouraging them and as a thank you for all the pleasure they bring us by their continuing presence in the garden and the fields behind.