Thursday, 11 February 2010 - Birds in the snow

We've had a snowfall overnight which has continued this morning and there's now just over an inch of the white stuff lying over my garden world.  There have been lots of visitors to the bird table this morning.

This is a baby starling and I like him so much that I'm posting another photo of him with his back to me turning round.

I hadn't seen much of my little robin for the last few days, but he's been here most of this morning taking advantage of all the good things on the bird table tray.

 

Here is the same robin a moment later stretching up so he becomes tall and thin - funny isn't it?

A male chaffinch arrived on the table and with his head feathers slightly raised he looks like a punk - very cute in the falling snow.

One of the regular blackbirds who visit the garden since I have the bird table here and well-stocked with tasty titbits.

There is a lot of folklore surrounding the magpie. A rhyme which I’ve shown below, was used to tell fortunes in the eighteenth century and then updated in more modern times with the use of bus tickets. The numbers on the top of the bus ticket were added together and then divided by seven. The remaining number was then used with the rhyme below to see what fate had in store.  l still can't get a really decent photograph of a magpie – but here’s this morning’s attempt, while he was sitting on my neighbour's garage ridge tiles.

One for sorrow

Two for joy

Three for girl and

Four for a boy

Five for silver

Six for gold

Seven for a secret never to be told

Eight for a dream and

Nine for a wish