Siskin sawn.

As we live in a strict equal opportunities household it was no surprise to nip home at lunchtime today to discover Mrs D furiously recycling old roof battening with the reciprocal saw out back, creating piles of kindling for the stove.
No surprise given her enthusiasm for the project, which can sometimes get a little out of control.
This should be obvious to anyone who tries to negotiate the gloom and cobwebs in the loft at Dempsey Towers…where did all those loose floorboards go?
All that drying old wood had been resting on them.
But floorboards it turns out, also make great kindling.
Which is a surprise too, certainly to anyone who tries to traverse our loft now.
But the real surprise was that for all the growling of the saw and clatter as the battens transformed from dusty old planking and tumbled to the ground as oven ready kindling, not ten feet away a fine male Siskin was singing.

The first one to call in this spring as passage begins to pick up, it was a classic glowing canary yellow example, which soon dropped onto the sunflower seeds and stuffed its face for five minutes, completely ignoring us.
Why are Siskins so much bolder than other finches?
They often let me walk to within a few feet when they settle onto the feeders here.
This one was even ringed (metal on the right leg) so it’s not as if it hasn’t had close encounters with human beans before….