Cold Autumn Skies

Nuthatch

Great Tit

Blue Tit

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And a busy busy bird feeder. As well as the above we get long tailed tits, jackdaws, greater spotted woodpeckers, rooks, collared doves, wood pigeons, wrens, stacks of house sparrows and starlings, dunnocks, greenfinches, chaffinches, goldfinches, siskins, pied and grey wagtails, blackbirds, fieldfares, robins and sparrowhawks. While obviously none of these is rare, numbers of certain species (eg sparrows) are down and need all the help they can get.

The Importance of Log Piles

Everything but the bird feeder seems to have quietened down with the cold weather. However, a gentle poke around our very modest garden log pile turned up this frog, hunkering down for winter (you can be sure I covered him up again). The logs were packed with invertebrates, too. Lots of amphibians shelter underneath planters and in stone walls/brick piles. It's best not to be too tidy if you like your wildlife.