Great White Egret
We had a flock of tits pass by this afternoon, spending some time taking sunflower hearts from the feeder. A few took suet pellets, a few had a go at the fat balls. Nothing showed any interest in the nyger seed. In the past we have attracted a lot of birds – mainly goldfinches – with nyger seed so we will persist.
The passing flock was approximately six Great Tits, four Blue, two Coal Tits and a solitary Long-Tailed tit. It was nice to see, and the Coal Tit is another species for the list. They are lovely little birds. Meanwhile, the robins are still posturing. I may try another feeder at the far end of the garden to see if they can both feed.
Little Egret at Aldeburgh
I made crispy sweet potato fries today, as the recipes call them. They weren’t crispy, though they were close, and they weren’t fried. They were baked at 200° C and they were better than the usual floppy rubbish you get served when eating out, or when using frozen ones. We had them with cheese and onion pasties, red cabbage (yes, we have had plenty of that once I remembered it) and mange tout peas with mint.
I’m beginning to enjoy cooking again. Julia bought me a gingerbread kit and ingredients for Christmas and my sister bought me books of scone and afternoon tea recipes. The only thing that worries me is the expanding waistline.
Little Egret – Blacktoft Sands
It’s likely to be sweet potato soup tomorrow, using all the inconvenient off-cuts. They need to be roughly regular in shape to avoid burning all the thin and/or pointy bits. Crisp is good, burnt is less good.
Pictures are egrets. As a result of global warming they are becoming quite common in the east and midlands. It’s nice to see them, but I have mixed feelings about their spread.
The waistline problem is a definite downside of home cooking. At last you get something which is exactly as you like it, but then you can’t eat it.
Do you get siskins visiting? They were the birds most fond of nyger seeds when we used them in our garden.
We get siskins in winter (in Nottinghamshire) but not generally as a garden bird – they stay in the high canopies of conifers and alder trees. According to BTO “it is less commonly found in central and eastern England than in other areas”.
I looked up mange tout peas. They seem to be what we call snow peas here. I had not thought of mint as something that would go with them. Rick and I will have to try that.
We have two species of goldfinch here, the American Goldfinch and the Lesser Goldfinch.
https://myodfw.com/wildlife-viewing/species/finches-grosbeaks-and-house-sparrows
Interesting article. Yours are much golder than ours,, which are really fawn with red faces.
https://www.arkwildlife.co.uk/blogs/sean-mcmenemy/a-real-charm-of-goldfinches
Your goldfinches have their unique beauty, too. A group of goldfinches is called a “charm of goldfinches”. I like that! 🙂
They are always a joy to see, being bright, melodic and (in bird terms) well behaved. 🙂
Good to see your new environment
It’s no New Forest, and we will miss the Peak District but it has a lot going for it.