Even a magpie can look attractive when seen from the right angle. The light makes this one's wing feathers take on a deep blue colour. Fortunately, they don't come too often and scoff all the food!
A group of starlings are regular visitors. Sometimes there can be as many as six at a time. They, too, prefer the fat mix to the other food on the table.
This shows one of the immature males tucking in. He has the black feathers but not the yellow beak of the mature male. We wonder when these birds, which were hatched in 2005, get to be mature enough to produce their own families. Is it during 2006? Does anyone know? If so, please tell us by sending us feedback.
A newcomer this year is Lucien, the pied blackbird. We call him Lucien as we thought he was leucistic - ie he has patches of white feathers on him. (Later we found that this term is reserved for birds whose colouring is pale all over.) He has been with us for about two months now and we are hoping that he will produce some chicks as we are interested to see whether any of them will share his unusual feathering.
Finally, we are frequently visited by a mob of long tailed tits. Sometimes as many as a dozen of them descend on us, taking advantage of both the table and the fat feeder at the bottom of the garden. They are gorgeous birds and are constantly on the move.
We have never seen an LTT's nest but a neighbour has told us that last year they nested in a hedgerow down the lane about half a mile from where we live. Perhaps if we are lucky, we will catch sight of one this year.