Flocks of birds have been arriving in the garden

The birds in my garden are slightly different this year, writes Dick Warner

My birdwatching at this time of the year tends to be a very lazy affair. There’s a comfortable chair beside the kitchen fireplace which gives me a perfect view of the feeders hanging from a branch outside the window. I can sit in the warmth with a cup of coffee and watch birds to my heart’s content.

Most of the usual species have turned up over the past few days but I have noticed some differences. There are no siskins yet and the house sparrows and the goldfinches are arriving in twos and threes rather than in big flocks of 20 or 30 birds.