Oh, the taste of the sweet nectar

Thank you for your fascinating posts in response to my blog last week, with tales of all your Blackcaps, Bramblings and dog hair!

I've got story after story lining up to tell you, but they will all have to wait because the Blackcap saga got even more interesting for me today.

For once again 'my' Gingercap reappeared, merrily perching on the bird feeders and scoffing sunflower hearts and clinging to the fat ball feeder. Every time I looked out, there she was.

I was just wondering how much one Gingercap could eat before bursting, when I realised there were two. They had a little scuffle at times, but both seemed very happy, and they were certainly adept at using the bird feeders. They've done that somewhere else, I thought to myself.

And then up pops a male...

Only he proved to have very sophisticated tastes indeed. No dry, husky seeds for him - oh no! What he was after was the cherry blossom, hopping from flower to flower, daintily sipping...

What a connoisseur. Now I've never seen that before!

And with that, who should come barging in but the lager louts of the blossom world.

This one tried to hide from my camera, but there were petals flying everywhere as they tore apart the blossom to get at the nectary.

I've said it before, but who needs to go anywhere when nature is there to enthrall right outside your back window?