Ah yes, Readers, it’s that time of year when the garden is suddenly full of babies – starlings and sparrows in this case. I’d have loved to have sat and watched them, but sadly the Genetic Basis of Adaptation calls (Topic 3 in my biology course). Still, the fledglings are adorable, with the way that they just sit around waiting for their parents to stuff their beaks full of caterpillars or at least suet pellets.

I particularly liked the very fluffy dude on the left. It looks as if he’s got his head wet trying to drink from the pond.

And here’s poor, hard-working Dad….

And a less-than-patient starling, waiting for breakfast….

But at least so far the youngsters appear to be intact – the cat that prowls around has the disadvantage of being white, so s/he’s easily spotted, the sparrowhawk hasn’t been around, and although there were two jays doing laps of the garden yesterday they seemed to be more interested in one another than in murdering anything. Long may it continue! After all, sparrows and starlings are both Red List species, so they need all the help they can get.