Birds

BIRDS

Chaffinches were common and would sometimes hop into the hostel looking for crumbs. They would sit at the window admiring their reflections, or sometimes attacking them, thinking they were rivals.

The best bird was the blackbird which would come to the window in the men's dorm, sit on the sill, and tap on the glass. Usually around 6am, unluckily for the hostellers. Once someone got up it would go away. It also was a mean whistler and had mimicked the first bars of the Colonel Bogey March which was actually a bit spooky. Hostellers coming up through the trees would think someone was watching them and winding them up!

A fledgling Great Tit appeared one day. I tried taking a photo at the same time as holding it:

 

Then I got Cynthia to hold it.