A garden year tick and some excellent raptors!

Although I've seen a few during exercise walks, Siskin hasn't appeared on the garden list this year - and not for four or five years. Although these photos were taken through the office window, they reveal a handsome male in all his finery.

Neighbour Peter e-mailed to say he'd twice seen Hobby over the fields north of our gardens: I'm almost certain I did too, but was in the middle of a phone call and couldn't check. I did, however, watch a beautiful Red Kite circling around the same area until it was driven off by corvids...