Charming

I had a welcome day at home, as Chris was teaching a course on identification of ground beetles and had borrowed the car to get there. It gave me a chance to catch up with some report writing and gardening, both of which have been overlooked in recent weeks.

While he was preparing his lunch, Alex spotted a small charm of goldfinches on the patio and called me through to the kitchen. I suspect it's a family group, as there seemed to be about four. The boldest two stayed for some time, busily feeding on the seed-heads of the common knapweed which has accidentally established itself in the cracks between the paving slabs. We normally chop it down as soon as it's finished flowering, but I can see we might have to leave it for a bit longer this year!