The Harbills Are Away

Our cabin on the Edenhall Estate

As a slight divergence from our normal post, we cannot resist a mention of our rather blissful holiday in the Eden Valley. There were no vegetables and, contrary to our own garden, not a sparrow in sight.

There was however, a stunning log cabin set on the River Eamont.

The River Eamont

We saw: jays, an otter, a kingfisher, a sparrowhawk, a songthrush, a grey wagtail, oystercatchers, a 2lb brown trout (brilliantly caught by Billy)...

And, a red squirrel

Bi-no-diversity

Much as Muffin's demise was distressing, we have recently noticed a resurgence of birdlife in the garden; we've been having regular visits from songthrushes, bluetits, goldfinches and greenfinches, to name but a few.

When Springwatch announced their garden biodiversity survey (the Bioblitz), we felt that we were the ideal participants and so this Sunday, armed with camera, binoculars, clipboard and a plethora of reference books we set up camp in the garden.

It started well with a sighting of a sparrow.

Passer domesticus

And then there were two!

Passer domesticus

Later on we set up our camera aimed to capture the greenfinches that we had seen the previous day. And lo and behold, what was this we saw?

Passer domesticus

Another sparrow.

So, we decided to focus our attention on the bird feeder. Surely this would bring some variety...

Passer domesticus

The Harbills decided not to upload their results to the Bioblitz website.