Birds singing in the sycamore trees

We arrive back in time for the spring and the St Patrick’s Day parade at Courtmacsherry, a very special event indeed, attended by hundreds with great effort put into costumes and bands.

Birds returned to the peanut feeders soon after I filled them, first, the goldfinches, then the coal tits, great tits and blue tits, then chaffinches in pairs, then the troop of long-tailed tits I had hoped would nest in the garden and stay with us for next year. A small party of siskins arrived, hanging upside down on the feeders as usual, the black caps of the cocks resplendent against their lemon-yellow breasts.

The birds in our garden are as numerous, colourful and diverse as those seen in Jamaican and Cuban gardens on our recent travels.