I'm back "birding"

I'm still enjoying watching the predominant creatures in my environment - the wild birds.  The first swallows arrived earlier this week, and a pair of Gold Finches are regularly visiting the niger seed that now hangs in the Courtyard Garden, instead of under the apple tree.  On Monday as I sat relaxing in the courtyard, I at last identified a Coal Tit on the fat slab.  For years I have heard reports about them, but now I have actually identified one for myself.  The remaining item of "bird news" is two sightings of a Barn Owl leaving the owl box on the oak tree bedside the track during darkness, but this doesn't yet confirm a possible nesting pair.

I'm so sorry to have been absent for so long, and I really appreciate your enquiring phone calls as to my well-being. The main problem has been a difficulty in gaining reliable access to the Internet, coupled with a lack of energy, but I hope both problems are now behind me.