Nice soft light and good to have some sky detail in the BG, Stuart. May have been nice to have more of the second bird but nice interaction between the two. Small crop from below may reduce the weight of the shaded area beneath the leaves.
I agree with Tony´s comment. In a perfect world, it would be great to have both birds in the frame. I like the action a lot and the raised feathers of the head. :)
Good input from Tony and Juan. I really like the clouds in this one, adds a lot.
The left bird is angling away from us a bit.
I agree with Tony about the weight of the leaves in RLC. I tried a version where I lightened the mass a bit, but significantly reduced the contrast, it seemed to reduce the 'mass'. I might try that, as I found cropping up at all made the image seem a bit pinched.