Romance under the bushes

Finally a photo of Billy the Goldfinch, not at the feeder. I have to admit, even I was getting fed up with seeing photos of Billy with the only difference being a left side pose or right. There's still no sign of a mate. I know I call him a HE but did you know that in fact there is no way to tell a male and female Goldfinch apart unlike most other bird species. See, this blog is full of useful info although I can't think of a single scenario when knowing that could be useful. Redfoot's been back again. Today she was busy burying nuts. She would take them from the feeder then nibble the end of, does that stop them sprouting? Then off she goes to bury them. She started off very close to the feeder but after a couple of hours she was right at the top of the garden burying them in the bank. She obviously likes to spread them about. During all this Bernie turned up but she kept herself well hidden in the bushes. She did well too as she found a stash of peanuts which had been buried there earlier and wolfed them all down. So it was quite lucky that Redfoot didn't spot her. The Jays have been here in force today. I think I saw 5 of them at one point. There is still one that stands out from the others. He is so much braver than the others or should I say tamer? No, can't really same tame yet but who knows. When Winter comes and food is scarce you never know what could happen. It's quite exciting just thinking about it. The new Mr and Mrs Blackbird are still around. Both of them are quite timid and only come in to my garden when the food has run out next door. Today New Mrs Blackbird plucked up the courage and picked up some old cheese from beneath my feeder. She flew off with it but then spotted me at the window and panicked. She dropped the cheese and flew straight into the hedge. About 5 minutes later New Mr Robin appeared from beneath the hedge, flew over to the cheese, picked it up and then disappeared back under the hedge without eating any of it. Obviously the romantic in me hopes she was waiting for him under there and he dropped it between them and they ate it together all romantically.