Garden birding

As I write, this post, Storm Katie is starting to subside after a night spent battering Thanet. Heavy rain has been replaced by sunshine and shadow as huge white clouds speed across the sky. I'm off out fishing this afternoon, wind speed predicted to have dropped to a mere 23 mph, veering westward, in the process.
However, as I have been neglecting my garden observations in my recent, angling biased blogging, it is time I made an attempt to redress the balance. The garden feeding station still provides the main focus of my records, although there has been a small, but very definite, movement of Chiffchaffs through the garden in the past few days. Early on Friday morning, as I was getting the bivvy dried out - draped over the decking railings, there was a significant passage of Chaffinches passing overhead. Locally, Greenfinches have started their courtship displays and their resonant "wheezing" can be heard as a couple of males proclaim their territorial rites. Common Buzzards have been a feature, in favourable conditions, yet I have still to record Red Kite. Chris Hindle, over at Reculver, has already seen several this Spring, so they are on the move.

The garden highlight has been been the presence of a female Brambling, first seen on Saturday morning as I fed the birds in my aviary. This morning she was joined by a male and I managed to grab a few images through the glass of the kitchen door. They are a species which I record during both annual migration periods, although birds in the garden are encounters which brighten the dullest of days.

Always a pleasure when they turn up in the garden - and that's not too shabby considering it's taken through double glazing!