To get to eye-level with this lively brood of mannikin chicks, I climbed up onto the water tank in my garden in Zambia and sat watching them for hours. Just a couple of weeks after hatching, they clearly had minds and personalities of their own. The adults lay an amazing number of eggs and they are very careful about choosing a nest site – often setting up next to a colony of wasps for protection from predators.

Watercolour. 15x40cm

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