Blackbirds

Remember how I said they were bald in autumn? Clearly, they all recovered.

They are less companionable than the tits but far more companionable than the robins.

The males subsing - they tend to be very, very well hidden and the song is very very quiet.

When they are very anxious, they make loud alarm clucks. When they are wary, they cluck gently.

Sometimes they whistle. This seems to be part wariness and part a kind of query.

They do not sing throughout the year. the robins do. And in winter I also hear wrens and sometimes the dunnocks, but not the blackbirds (except subsong).

Their wariness of me varies considerably. The juvenile male and one of the females seem the most tolerant... but on the day I took these pictures, two adult males were tolerant and there were two females.

I am very fond of them.