Male and female blackcap on the feeder

I came down stairs to make a cup of tea as a break from a session of printing and other preparations for my coming market stall. Whilst the water boiled I walked through to the back dining room with its sliding doors leading out to the steps down to the patio and stopped in my tracks. A gaggle of about eight long tailed tits were on and around the suet feeder hanging down from a long bracket attached to the wooden trellis just outside.

I picked up my camera which I’d deliberately left close by yesterday on the off chance of seeing some interesting birds in the garden or flying over head. By the time I was set up, which took only a few seconds, there was a kerfuffle on the feeder and I saw that two birds seemed to be squabbling. They then settled and appeared to be beginning to display to each other with their tail feathers splayed out while standing.

I started to take pictures as I realised that they were a pair of blackcaps, two of the four I’ve seen close to the house in the last few days.  They have reappeared after being absent from the garden for some months. What is odd is that they are normally quite shy birds preferring to mostly stay within the cover of vegetation. I watched them for some time as they came and went, but the throng of long tailed tits had dispersed with only a couple of individuals continuing to look for food on the feeder.

In the picture the male has a blackcap to its head while the female has brown cap.

The detail is rather imprecise as it is filmed through double glazed doors.