The Beast From The East

Well its too bloody (windchill -7) cold for me too go out birding, so I just kept an eye on the back garden and there has been lots of activity, plenty of Blackbirds, Blue Tits, Sparrows, Starlings, Dunnock, Wren, Robins, Magpies and a solitary FieldFare which has been in the garden for the last two days now.

 Shot through the double glazing so quality is not as it should be.

Far from being a social bird this FieldFare has been guarding the bits of apple that I put out as if its life depended on it (and well it may), as soon as a Blackbird or Starling went anywhere near the apple he was on it fighting off all intruders, the only company he would tolerate was the Sparrows as I assume he knew they were not competing for the same food.
The only time it took flight was if I stepped outside to top up the feeders or if the Magpies dropped in.
The Wren was busy looking under the coping stones on my Barbi wall and frequently found a juicy morsel.
Blue Tits checking out the bird box and feeding on the sunflower hearts.
Starlings were giving the fat balls some welly, Blackbirds were attempting to pick up the bits from the fat balls that the Starlings were dropping but the FieldFare was relentless in scaring them off !