A delightful nuthatch

Somewhat of an emergency blip tonight. I have been slaving over documents and choosing words carefully. I hope to present the final draft of the report tomorrow and feel much relieved.

I had to wait at home as our new washing machine was going to be delivered at some point. It turned within a few minutes of the seven hour period when we were informed it might arrive! I then had to fiddle about with its feet and set the machine up ready for Helena to do the first wash.

I had a boiled egg and some toast with houmus and cream cheese at lunchtime. While I sat at the table I opened the back door and sat with my camera t the ready, while the rain drizzled and occasional flash of sunlight broke through the cloud cover. There are a lot of birds feeding at the moment and have spotted some of the the new youngsters fresh out of the nest with ruffled feathers and great energy, and they seem to fly in a rather ungainly way.

There are two pairs of nuthatches which are nesting at the bottom of the garden. I had been hearing a particular birdsong for the last few months that I didn't recognise and have tried to identify for ages. At last I found out it was the call ing of the nuthatch and I was so pleased. But now the singing and calling has stopped completely and i hadn't spotted them very often. But today there were two at the feeder at once and despite the gloomy conditions i couldn't resist blipping them. I 'm really pleased too that they seem to be less afraid when I am sitting by the open door and they keep their eye on me for safety but don't rush away as soon as the grab a seed which they used to do. I particularly like it when they take a sunflower seed and then go to a nearby branch I have set up beside the feeder and proceed to hammer away with their beaks at the seed held in their claws, still upside down. Then they go back for another seed and start all over again.