An unexpected garden visitor

Blackcap are a species that are becoming increasingly more common as an overwintering bird in the UK. Their presence in the winter has been recorded for a few years now but it is only recently that we have learned that our wintering birds are not are summer individuals but in fact continental ones that come from Germany and such places to take advantage of our milder winters.

Recently they have started making use of feeders, particularly fat balls, and their presence is increasing in winter gardens. I only ever saw my first winter Blackcap last January when a male passed through the garden for all of 30 seconds.

Today I was treated to much better views though after I noticed what I thought was a strange coloured House Sparrow feeding on the fat ball feeder. It suddenly dawned on me that this might be a Blackcap and after racing upstairs and grabbing the binoculars I was able to confirm that it was a nice little female that had paid me a visit. She stayed around for quite a a few minutes and alternated between sitting in the Hawthorn with the Sparrows to going back to the fat balls until she was scared off by a passing cat.

These are the birds that Valentine's Day is made for.