March Movement in Self Isolation.

I was beginning to feel as though my casual assertion that March would bring some Redpoll and Siskin to the garden, was rather rash, but on Monday, I was alerted by a burst of "see-you" calls eminating from the rush of birds dissolving into the apple trees as I approached the feeders to top them off.

Back in the kitchen, a few minutes later I saw two female Siskins settle onto the niger feeder - head down in their typical fashion, one bird only visible by the tip of its tail poking from the rear of the metal tube. They were joined by a Goldfinch for a nice comparison - each species beautiful in its own idiosyncratic way. One a gaudy splash of contrasting colour, and the other a muted arrangement of complementary grey-green and black, highlighted with lemon.

They didn't stay long, and by the next day the main attraction was again the Reed Buntings - seven males huddled about the foot of the bird table, gleaning scraps that fell from the feeders as the Great Tits messily poked through the seed cache.