Photo competition

[kevboab]

Hmmm. Could it be from one of the many corvids ?

[Rosie]

It's not from a bee-eater is it?

[gavin]

Not a bee-eater (this is local) nor one of the many corvids (they're too smart to eat wax in quantity!).

[kevboab]

This is rippin ma knittin now. Swallows/martins?? Finch ??

[gavin]

Not them nor their close relatives. Apparently there was one individual doing this, then a family of them at it last summer. I can't see why they would want to - stupidity presumably and maybe a sweet tooth/bill wanting the remnants of the honey on the frames? I can't imagine that there was much brood remaining. There are boxes stacked outside after comb was cut out for pressing for heather, and the birds have taken to sneaking into a building where there are more. Numpties.

To save your knitting further distress I'll give you the answer before I turn in tonight, unless someone gets there first.

[Mellifera Crofter]

... starlings?

[kevboab]

Sparrows??

[gavin]

Close, kind of.

Next one will get it I think. Maybe.

[kevboab]

Robin?

[gavin]

Ah! I said that a bird in the same family would do it. Blackbirds and robins are both thrushes. 'Twas blackbirds.

Presumably they have been well and properly fed at a bird table nearby, otherwise surely they would have succumbed to anorexia by now.

For your prize I'm wondering about sending you the pellets?