As I look out of the office window, there's a constant stream of birds, especially coal tits, visiting the webcam bird feeder here at The Lodge. Where have they come from and what are they doing?
It's been noticeable for the past two weeks. Are the birds migrants, newly-arrived here and need of a square meal?
Probably not. Coal tits in the UK usually stay put, keeping close to the area they hatched in. That means the birds I'm seeing are probably all local, maybe even all hatched from tree holes and nestboxes at The Lodge.
In that case, why the sudden appearance of coal tits on the feeder? I'm guessing that the reason has something to do with the time of year. It might be a time of plenty for many birds at the moment, and the weather is mild, but somehow they know that things could be very different in a matter of weeks.
It's amazing, considering that many of the birds I'm seeing will have hatched this spring - they've never lived through a winter before, but they know they need to prepare for it!
The view from my window is limited - I can see the feeder if I peer around the corner of my computer monitor - so I can't really see exactly what the birds are up to. But yesterday, I spotted a coal tit flying down and shoving a sunflower seed into the ground.
All these industrious little birds are probably doing the same thing - grabbing seeds, flying off and hiding them. There must be seeds everywhere! I've found them in a variety of locations before: rammed into doorframes, keyholes and tucked into buddleia plants. Will they remember where they've left them? I suspect not, but you never know...