Blue Tit
Within the UK this much loved bird can easily be seen in our gardens and woodland eating insects, caterpillar, seeds and nuts.
A blue head and wings streaked with white a green back and yellow front make this colourful small bird very distinctive.
With three and a half million breeding pairs and 15 million birds in total there is no shortage to see.

Cuckoo
The Cuckoo can be heard all over the UK during the Summer arriving in late March or April and departing in July or August.  The BBC programme Today on Radio 4 in the morning usually makes a feature of when the first Cuckoo of the year is heard.
They eat insects, particularly hairy caterpillars and it is believed that between 13,000 and 27,00 pairs breeds annually.
The cuckoo is a blue grey bird with a white underside with line or bars across, about the size of a dove.

Mallard Duck
The mallard duck is a UK resident with an estimated 100,000-130,000 breading pairs with 527,000 over wintering.  They are the most common and wide spread of our ducks and can be seen just about anywhere with a wetland habitat, even in our towns and cities.
They eat a variety of seeds, berries, plants, insects and shellfish and, although it is not recommended, bread from children.
The male duck has a dark green head, a yellow bill with a grey body and purple chest.  The female is predominantly brown with an orange bill. 

Nightingale
The nightingale arrives in the UK in April and sing until late May or early June leaving again by September.  During this period they can be heard singing during the night and despite the name also during the day.
It is estimated by the RSPB that during the breeding season some five to six thousand breeding pairs populate the south east of the UK. 
The nightingale is a small bird slightly larger than our robin and plain brown in appearance.  The birds eat insects.

Song thrush
The song thrush sings throughout the day up until dusk then, when most of the other birds have fallen silent they may start again.
This is a popular UK resident but declining in numbers.  Although at present the RSPB estimate that there are some 1 million breeding pairs.  They eat in our gardens worms, fruit and to the delight of the gardeners snails.
The brown of the song thrush gives way to a speckled chest giving it a distinctive appearance.

Tawny owl
The tawny owl is not large, about the size of the pigeon, with a rounded body and head.  It is reddish brown in appearance with a slightly lighter underside.
In the UK we can see them, if we are luck, at night hunting small animals, birds, fish, frogs, insects and worms. 
The estimated 20,000 breeding pairs are resident in the UK. 
The tawny owl is a fictional character in The Animals of Farting Wood by Colin Dann but was first immortalised by William Shakespeare in Act 5, Scene 2 of Love’s Labour’s lost. 
The well known call of the bird is made up of the female “tu-white” and the male “tu-whoo” combining in the song.

Yellow hammer
The yellow hammer is a resident of the UK with the exception of the far north of Scotland which it visits during the Summer. 
With a distinctive bright yellow head and underside, brown / chestnut back streaked with black it can be most easily seen in open countryside, bushes and hedgerow eating seeds and insects.
Due to its recent decline in numbers it is now on the RSPB Red List.