The Birds and the Bees

On bin duty this morning discovered two flying fatalities lying within about 3 feet of one another.

First is (I think, but please feel free to correct as it seems to have awfully long legs) a pre-fledgling House Sparrow that has fallen or been pushed from it's nest high up in the eaves of our house (a sparrows nest already spotted inside the cavity of some cracked render at the verge at least means I have an excuse not to go up a ladder); Second is (again I think) a Red-Tailed Bumble Bee.

Both House Sparrows and Bumble Bees have declined numbers due to habitat loss etc, though both seem to exist in pretty large numbers in our garden at least: A recent Garden Bird Watch for RSPB revealed a squabbling population of up to 24 sparrows seen in the garden at one moment in time.

Justification if justification were needed for me being a bad gardener and DIY merchant combined!

Postscript: Ceridwen has kindly identified the Bumble-Bee from this blip as being a Red Tailed Bumblebee; Mr John supplied a far better title to my original one - Thank you to both!

Post Postscript: Sat at my computer this morning saw a bird coming and going out of my holly hedge and went to investigate: This revealed three fat little blackbird chicks looking close to fledgling their nest, and from the look of them, siblings to the dead chick found 6 feet away from them this morning. Thought it was a bit big for a sparrow. See here on Blipfolio.