Garden Wildlife UK

oops, forgot the three male Chaffinches and Wren.

Today was a very good day for me. I took a trip out in the sun. I saw the usual tits robins but 2 which i have not seen in person before until now. I was very happy to see my first ever kingfisher although i was too fast for me to get a photo at least i have now seen one for real. The other one which i did get a picture of but you will have to forgive the image quality due to a heavy crop. Any ideas on the bird?

Got a video of one of those before John. It is grey wagtail.

I agree with Willpar. The yellow wag has a yellow breast not just the tail end.

Watched in puzzlement 2 magpies digging into a piece of bare ground: they were giving little hops every few seconds but refused to be deterred. When they left I nipped out and sure enough - ants.
Fascinating to watch them gritting their beaks and suffering (presumably) the stings although the ants were black not red. The protein obviously outweighs the pain .

Do you think the ants were really stinging? Maybe the magpies were just doing a a bit of hip hopping

Hi Placi, two trains of thought here. The magpies are eating the ants or after the eggs. Another one, they are disturbing the ants on purpose and agitating them. Ants will squirt formic acid,and it could be the magpies are using this to get rid of parasites.

Just had a Chaffie on a seed feeder containing sunflower hearts. Not quick enough with the camera. Will keep my eyes peeled and the camera handy.

Now that's a thought ..... formic acid - hmmmmmm. Something else does that too, can't think what it is that avails themselves of a free pest remover ??

But secretly my preference is the hip hop thingy <<<< is that it

Been walking around with a crooked neck for the past week from looking skywards. Today I had my reward, no less than 10 swallows spotted working their way inland. That is the most I have seen for a first spotting of the new season.