Autumn is a lovely time, with abundant natural food for birds and other creatures. It is a time when both juveniles and adults are fattening themselves up to withstand the rigours of winter. We supplement this bounty with peanuts and sunflower seed hearts. The Great Spotted Woodpeckers and Nuthatches are particularly fond of peanuts, which they take away and deposit in cracks and crevices in tree trunks. Meanwhile the Jays are busy planting acorns all round the garden.

We tend to mix peanuts with sunflowers. The Nuthatches discard the sunflowers, scattering them on the ground until they find a peanut. Wasteful in one sense, it does provide a constant supply for the ground feeders and brings in Crows, Magpies, Jackdaws, Collared Doves and Woodpigeons, as well as the tits, finches and thrushes.

Ring-Necked Parakeets have now completely moved into this area and are dominant on the feeders. They do appear to have difficulty in extracting the seeds and nuts, their bills not being an ideal shape to enter the holes in the feeder.

We saw our first Redwing of the season on our lawn on 5 November. It was a single bird and did not stay long, but we are sure it will be back as the Holly berries are abundant this year.

CHRIS BRADING