Whilst having an early morning cup of tea and watching the birds a very grey Great Tit arrived, probably an old aged pensioner like me. I thought it might be worth taking a photo of it, by the time I had got my camera it had gone and didn’t return. The next couple of days I kept my camera on the kitchen table, the O.A.P didn’t come back, I took a few photos for practice. This morning I left my camera in its bag. Four baby rabbits came onto the lawn and a Magpie kept sneaking up behind little Bugsy will ill intent but when Bugsy turned round the Magpie backed off. I thought this has got to be worth a shot but my moving spooked the Magpie. I’m glad that I kept my camera on the table because a House Sparrow came to the station, we seldom get Sparrows nowadays so I wanted to photograph the rare event. Imagine my horror when I discovered that the poor little bird had a sheep tick under it’s chin. I know how much blood it takes to fill up a tick so I hope Cock Sparrow can cope with that loss. I did see a Wren with a tick on the back of it’s neck sometime ago, I doubt whether such a small bird could have survived that. A couple of Greenfinch were a welcome sight as we rarely have them visit, in the past we would average nine per day.

John Pointing, 19th April 2024