4.
day screaming from the chimney pots.
FEBRUARY: Pied wagtails. Two Siskins sat on
the bird table. Bitter weather brought Red-
wings. For the first time I saw Chaffinches.
These had been conspicuous by their absence.
Presumably they had been about but for some
reason escaped my observation. A Jay drew
attention to itself by its noisy call.
During the Winter a few Sparrows became adept
at hanging on the bags of peanuts, the others
sitting on the ground below waiting for the
pieces dropped by the Tits and Greenfinches.
MARCH; Bullfinches appeared in the fruit
trees and after ten minutes
observation were persuaded to
move reluctantly on to a
neighbour's tree!
APRIL: Chaffinches were now back in force and
with the advent of Spring numerous songbirds
could be heard. I recognised only a few songs
so most remained a mystery. One at dusk with
a most beautiful song my husband would like
to think was a nightingale but of course it is
quite unsubstantiated.
MAY: The Goldfinches appeared to be nesting
close by. Gold crests in a front garden in a
neighbouring road. Dunnocks disappeared,
having been with us all Winter. The Starlings
and Sparrows produced their first broods,
greedily and noisily consuming everything I
put out for them.
JUNE; I at last identified as a Chaffinch a
songbird that had been eluding us for weeks.
We had heard this bird in Hornchurch but had
never been able to get a sighting. Baby Blue
tits and Great tits left their nests with a