As I am away on holiday the Editor has allowed me to write about birds this week! Since childhood in the Yorkshire Dales when I learnt about garden birds and then curlews, lapwings and other waders, I have been fascinated by birds and their behaviour.

This year my wife has fed the birds in our garden in Kidderminster regularly. We knew we had the ordinary garden birds - blackbirds, robins, wrens, blue tits, great tits, chaffinches, starlings and the occasional song thrush. This year we have seen many greenfinches, a return of house sparrows and during the winter 20 siskins at a time. The highlights have been goldfinches that have fledged six chicks with their beautifully patterned backs before acquiring their striking red, white and black adult heads and two pairs of bullfinches producing two fat, drab, dusky offspring. Although fully-fledged and independent we cannot tell yet if they are going to gain the gorgeous plumage of the cock or the more restrained shades of the hen. The cocks and hens are models of married life scarcely ever seen apart but there is no doubt who wears the trousers. If the bird table is too crowded for her liking the hen takes the action while her mate just goes on eating! We have been delighted by occasional visits from nuthatches, greater spotted woodpeckers, sparrowhawks and a jay. Since roof repairs we have unfortunately lost our own breeding swifts but still hear their aerial screams from May to early August.

At Easter we visited the Lake District where after a lovely stroll round the southern end of Haweswater we discovered the RSPB observation point for watching the only pair of golden eagles in England. We arrived to be told no eagles had been seen but there were ring ouzels as compensation. As we were leaving the male eagle arrived on cue and posed for us in a small tree providing splendid views through the RSPB telescopes.

Nearer to home one of the Worcestershire Wildlife Trust Reserves has been even more exciting than usual. A pair of avocets, the symbol of the RSPB, set up home there in early spring. I observed their courtship on one visit and then they hatched four chicks. Delightful fluffy balls on long legs that soon are able to wade in shallow water and try to copy their parents feeding habits with their upturned bills. How they cope puzzles me as their beaks do not initially have the upturn essential for the sideways sweeping movement through the water that collects their food. The parents were assiduously protective frightening off other waders including the diminutive littler ringed plovers that surely posed little threat. They have been very successful - three chicks are now fully-fledged, handsome birds flying strongly preparing for the journey south.

R.T.