Sunbathing.

Been another one of those summer days that make you want to emigrate. Starts off nice until you've had breakfast and then rains constantly for several hours. We eventually decided that we would cut our losses and go to the cinema (to see the new Harry Potter film - which I was not impressed with as the story was dominated by romantic chick flick comings and goings). Needless to say, it didn't rain while we were inside.

Caught this little lady when I got home. She seems to be quite young and she was hanging around the garden in the late afternoon sun. The behaviour you see here, unsurprisingly, is known as sun bathing. Different birds do it in different ways. Some ruffle their feathers up while others stretch out their wings but the aim is basically the same, to catch as much of the UV light as possible. It keeps their feathers in good condition, converts the available UV into vitamin D and helps keep any parasites that live on the birds at bay.

Wonder whether I should check her out tomorrow before I make any decisions about the weather!