On closer examination of the photo I noticed his tail looked out of the ordinary. He seems to have lost most of those feathers and the one remaining one appeared to be very jagged.
I would guess he has had a narrow escape recently.
It was great to see five Greenfinches visit the feeders the other day. At least some have survived the attack of finch disease.
I didn't have a tree to plant last Saturday but I did get round to planting a bush I had bought a week or so before. This is a Skimmia japonica. Its mass of berries on such a young plant attracted my attention as well as the evergreen leaves. It went in a section of the front garden where there are mainly deciduous plants.
This is not a very large growing variety so it won't try to take over the whole garden. After I had planted that I noticed the catkins on the corkscrew hazel. They are as advanced now as they were last February and some of the buds are more advanced than they were then.
I think birds, plants and I are all becoming confused by the changing weather patterns. One day at zero and then eleven degrees a few days later.
You are not on your own John, I'm confused.
ReplyDeleteIt's a very confused, or is that confusing, world these days Adrian.
ReplyDeleteGood choice of plants John. I noticed that my Corylus contorta (aka. Harry Lauder's Walking Stick) is doing exactly the same...should produce catkins in 'late' winter! You may need a male AND female Skimmia to ensure continuity of berries.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the information Frank. Now I will have to find out how to sex a Skimmia ;) I couldn't remember how early the Corylus had produced catkins last year except for a photograph I took last February. Though most of its leaves have dropped there are a few relatively new ones.
ReplyDeleteNot seen many Greenfinches around lately John. They are obviously all visiting your garden.
ReplyDeleteHello Roy. This is the first time I have seen more than a couple at a time for quite a while.
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