A Winter Wonder

For the last three days we have had a visit from a male blackcap into our garden to feed on the fat balls and drink from the water bowl. We surely associate blackcaps with spring and summer rather than the middle of winter so it is bit of a wonder to have one in the garden in winter. We have actually had blackcaps on three other occasions this winter so there are a number about.

Another point about this is that all of these blackcaps have been males, not one female and over the years I would suggest that the vast majority of blackcaps we have had have been males.

These wintering birds are not the ones we see in the summer, however, they are birds from much farther north who migrate south to us rather than go all the way to Africa like our own summer  birds do.