Wildlife Update April

Duncan Sutcliffe has sent me the list of birds and other creatures spotted in and around Fort Royal Park in April 2007. A good list this month, because of the extra activity of the nesting birds, the extra care of the wildlife watchers and the large numbers of visitors swelling the popularity of the park.
Bat
Blackbird
Blue Tit
Coal Tit
Crow
Dunnock
Feral Pigeon
Goldfinch
Great Spotted Woodpecker
Great Tit
Greenfinch
Herring Gull
House Sparrow
Magpie
Mute Swan
Robin
Song Thrush
Starling
Wood Pigeon
Wren

For a change, the pictures are taken by me in Fort Royal Park. The bird is a carrion crow: I think there are only two inhabiting the park, though a flock of rooks comes through occasionally, and I have seen jackdaws there in the past, but not recently. I don't know anything about insects so it isn't on the list: I photographed this one to show how good my camera is at closeups, and because it kept still better than the birds. It was on one of the bottle banks, which explains the odd background.
Finally an appeal. I haven't got a good picture of it yet, but there is a sparrow-like bird that has been around all year in Upper Park Street, particularly active around 9 in the morning this time of year. It has white underwings which show on its tail when resting and are very noticeable in flight. It always flocks with the sparrows. Do sparrows have mutations like this? You don't need binoculars to see it, and I'm sure the residents, including me, won't appreciate them either!