A squabble of siskins?

I cannot find the collective noun for siskins, so I'm suggesting a squabble. They are feisty, aggressive little birds. Usually we see a few in February and I don't remember them being here as late as May before or in such numbers. (See Talpa's comment below - it's an ebert of siskins. You learn something new on Blip every day.)

I'm not keen on bird feeder photos, but I wanted to record the way our feeders have been taken over by these delightful birds. The bluetits, great tits and coal tits all sneak in for seed when they can. The chaffinches like the fact that the siskins are very messy, wasteful eaters, so they scoop up the excess seed that is thrown around. Goldfinches manage to feed with them. All the birds defer to the greater spotted woodpeckers. This is all happening outside our front door.

I did hope to catch a red poll amongst the siskins, but it was not to be. I was sitting in the car as it rained and the birds hardly noticed me. If you look in large you will see some jockeying in the pecking order!

More birds from today

This morning was our last photo class of the season and we showed 2 projects of 6 prints each. We saw some superb work, particularly from one of our group who thinks he holds the rest of us back. He is so creative and imaginative that he leaves us standing.

After the class we watched a female stoat moving her 11 babies from the nest at the base of the wall of the building to somewhere else in a nearby field. Amazing.

Arth had a bad day yesterday but is having a very comfortable one today. Hooray.