The arrival of our little friend, The King of Winter; The Wren.

Wren, Troglodytes troglodytes
In Holland, the Wren is called Winterkoning, which translates as King of the winter. I've heard people call it the Winter Wren here as well. This is the time that it starts to look to gardens for shelter and for extra food, now that there is a shortage of natural food. It will scurry about in the undergrowth, looking for food fallen from your birdtable or feeders and for Invertebrates which haven't found their winter 'home' yet.
They might be very small, yet they do weigh twice as much as the Goldcrest; Ireland's smallest bird.

pied Wagtails, Motacilla alba





Chaffinch, Fringilla coelebs
Female. Who has just eaten some berries, I think, considering that she has something red in her beak. hawthorn most likely.

Male

Juvenile Jackdaw, Corvus monedula



This lovely brown eye is a sign of age. At first, as fledgling, these would be blue, and the brown is the immature in-between stage.

Compare that with the typical white eye of the adult