Are you mesmerised by the beauty of this exotic-looking bird? Head to your local park or woodland at the moment and you stand a good chance of seeing one!
This is a jay, a member of the crow family, and this is a busy time of year for them as they search for acorns to stash away for winter. One jay can collect as many as 4,000 seeds in a season, but they aren't always very good at remembering where they put them... The acorn crop has been quite bad in some parts of the UK this year, so the clever and resourceful jays will need to work harder than usual.
You can see this photo by Nigel Blake - and many more - over on RSPB Images.
We have Jay (and occasionally a pair) who comes almost every day to our woodland garden; he always takes a long dip in our recently constructed pond/waterfall area which has also encouraged a Grey Wagtail to venture by as it heads further south for the winter. The Jay has made himself quite at home, enjoying the water feature and is a pleasure to see as he can look so comical after his bath; I have uploaded photos of him under my user name so check out the bad hair day - or should I say wet feather day !
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Regards, Hazel