Special visitors

I feel very lucky now that the birds have returned to the garden. At the moment I share it with the 'Chip Chip Gang'. This is a flock of about twenty or more house sparrows, not very pretty birds as their plumage is various shades of brown, but they are very entertaining.

They are called the Chip Chip gang because they sit together and have a conference in the honeysuckle, or in the hedges across the road so that all you hear is 'chip, chip, chip, chip'. Occasionally they will all stop at the same time and a few minutes later, they will all start again, almost as though someone was giving them a signal.

From time to time the parents leave their young in the garden under the plants so that they are out of the sun because they seem to know they are safe if I am around. Then they all share a communal bath in my water lily tub but so far, I have been unable to get any good picutres as they are very shy at the moment. The picture above is of a youngster who was left on the bird table for an hour or so this morning when I returned from the farmer's market. The back door was open because I was washing lettuce and vegetables at the sink and I suppose Mum and Dad thought I could keep an eye on baby while they went off with the rest.

There is also a little hedge sparrow who spent all day yesterday just pottering around the garden picking insects off the plants and the wall. These are the same size as the house sparrow but a more speckled brown and they are insect eaters. They are also more solitary than the house sparrows who prefer the company of others. The hedge sparrow has a beautiful song which is totally different to the 'chip, chip' of the house sparrow.

The little blue tits were shown where to find the peanut hanger by their parents, so they too are regular visitors as is the great tit. The most amazing thing about this cheeky bird is the way he has worked out how to get a whole peanut out of the squirrel's nut box. I couldn't believe it when I saw him do it. He could see the nuts through the perspex and tried pecking them through that, but then, to my utter amazement, he popped his head in through the gap and helped himself to a whole peanut! Anyone who says birds have no brains don't know what they are talking about.

This morning there were other visitors too, a garden warbler dropped in and the most wonderful sight of all were the gang of long tailed tits. These can be heard coming as they always travel in a small flock whistling to each other continuously. They methodically 'work' all the trees and hedges as they travel and all came into the garden whistling then cleaned the honeysuckle and roses of any little insects including greenfly and other aphids. These little birds always make me smile and I feel blessed that they pop in and clean my shrubs.