Feed me! First magpie fledgling of 2026

 The first fledging of the year in the garden yesterday - a very demanding magpie, with two harassed parents that were feeding it with worms and insect larvae collected from our neighbour's lawn. 

Looks like these birds have only fledged one offspring this spring, but they have been battling with crows and squirrels that have been predating their eggs and nestlings. Usually they raise two or three fledglings in their spring brood.

Wood pigeons: the mating game

 The wood pigeon breeding season in our garden never seems to end, but it reaches a peak in spring. Show-off parabolic flights, ridiculous chasing, bowing and tail-fanning courtship rituals, bouts of violence between rival males - all part of the endless pageant of ornithological entertainint when I look out of the window.

Here are a few pictures from a recent performance.

A seemingly disinterested female looks on while rival males slug it out with wing blows, until one is knocked off the fence ..... but wait, he's not deterred ...

.... he circles back, swoops so low over his rival that he's forced to duck his head, sees his opportunity and descends on the female ...

.... who is taken by surprise while his alarmed, outflanked rival looks on ..

.... but she bats her assailant away with her wings...

----- whereupon the outflanked bird seizes his opportunity 

... and so it goes, most days in March and April