Shoots are pushing up through the earth and buds are popping -- spring is coming to Petrin. On my daily walks I hear a lot of beautiful birdsong. Over the past week I've taken some pictures of birds I've spotted on the hill. This European robin (Erithacus rubecula) was singing his heart out:
Every morning at 5:00 and again in the evening around 7:00 I hear a male blackbird (Turdus merula) that sits on an adjoining roof and sings for hours. Today this female was too busy searching for worms to care that I was taking her picture:
And here's a nuthatch (Sitta europaea) that was climbing headfirst down a tree trunk:
Greg took this picture of a noisy, active Eurasian Jay (Garrulus glandarius):
There are a number of red squirrels in the park:
And just the other day I saw two different species of butterfly. Peacock butterflys (Inachis io) apparently spend the winter in buildings and trees, and I saw two of them on April 3:
I also saw several of these butterflies which I'm not able to identify:
Every morning at 5:00 and again in the evening around 7:00 I hear a male blackbird (Turdus merula) that sits on an adjoining roof and sings for hours. Today this female was too busy searching for worms to care that I was taking her picture:
And here's a nuthatch (Sitta europaea) that was climbing headfirst down a tree trunk:
Greg took this picture of a noisy, active Eurasian Jay (Garrulus glandarius):
There are a number of red squirrels in the park:
And just the other day I saw two different species of butterfly. Peacock butterflys (Inachis io) apparently spend the winter in buildings and trees, and I saw two of them on April 3:
I also saw several of these butterflies which I'm not able to identify:
