As you might have seen from my last post I have been watching birds! Not exactly bird watching in any real sense but as we have been driving around, walking and cycling all about our little village I have been noticing the birds more and more.

Now I don’t know if it’s just me but there seems to be a bit of a resurgence in the number of species.

I used to bird watch when I was a kid – I had the eye spy books on both British birds and their eggs! I have forgotten most of it, never really paid it much attention after hitting puberty!

But when my oldest son was starting to show an interest in wildlife I thought it would be a good way to fan those flames, and it rekindled an old love for me.

This was a few years ago and when we tried it seemed we saw very little variety, just sparrows, thrushes and blackbirds. That didn’t really interest a five-year-old much and it got dropped a bit.

However this year I have noticed a change. We have seen all kinds of the kind that I used to get excited about – especially the more colourful ones. We have seen pied wagtails, chaffinches, goldfinches, blue tits and even a few woodpeckers. Today, while out cycling, at the top of the hill we saw a large bird of prey soaring and being mobbed by crows or ravens. I couldn’t tell you what it was – I would hazard it was a buzzard – but was big!

I wonder if there are any ornithological experts out there who could tell me whether this is really a trend or is just I am opening my eyes properly for the first time in a long time?

All pictures are from pixabay.