Blue Tit

Today was cold and still, but the blue tits were active - apparently they are particularly popular due to their perky acrobatic performances when feeding.

I've no idea if this is male or female - though it did spend a long time preening itself! Males have a brighter blue crown, but you can only see that under ultraviolet light, not much help to me much this morning...

As well as bringing a splash of colour to the garden, I believe they are great at getting rid of coccids and aphids, the worst foes of many plants.

And they're clever - I knew they learned to get cream from the top of milkbottles in the 1920s, but didn't realise it was because they are lactose intolerant, so wanted only the rich stuff at the top. Or that they had passed this information on over generations (until plastic bottles and supermarkets put a stop to it all).

Apparently they've taken to nesting in wall-mounted ashtrays which appeared following the smoking ban, and even create perfumed nests with lavender and mint leaves (though only in France, of course!).