Dear Readers, I think of starlings as being fairly opportunistic birds, but when a whole flock of them zoomed past my office window yesterday, I was surprised to see them feeding on the seeds on the cabbage palm next door. I have written about this plant and its attraction to pollinators before, but I have never seen birds feeding on it. However, in a way I’m not surprised – I’ve had goldfinches and sparrows feeding on my Buddleia, so it’s clear that birds are learning to take advantage of a whole range of non-native plants. Funnily enough, I’ve never seen birds feeding on my teasel, which are meant to be the crème de la crème of bird food, but then again, birds, like people, are individuals, with their own preferences and culture.

A little digging about on the interwebs turned up this Youtube video, of starlings feeding in a cabbage palm, presumably in Kensington Gardens, so it seems that plenty of other starlings have realised that this is tasty food.

It’s a short post today, as I’m shortly heading off for my big adventure. At the moment I’m not sure what I’m going to do about blogging while I’m away: there will be a lot of travelling around, and I’m not planning to take my laptop. There might be a chance to post a few photos and notes on what’s going on, but that will depend on wifi availability. So, I might just post some of my greatest hits, or I might put up the equivalent of a ‘gone fishing’ sign. Watch this space!