Friday 10 July 2009

Food Glorious Food

The weather has been very variable of late. Heavy downpours of rain with sunny intervals. No matter what the weather the birds still have to eat, only taking shelter during the heaviest rainfall.

Food Glorious Food

As normal, most of the birds go about their daily lives with little fuss. The one guaranteed exception being the Starlings who spend as much time arguing as they do eating.

From MIDMARSH JOTTINGS


Compo, the scruffy looking Blackbird, still visits several time a day always collecting as much food as his beak will hold. His feathers still stick out in all directions but he seems to cope perfectly well.



The Magpies also visit several time a day. The juveniles are now feeding themselves. As usual they are very wary and this is often the view one sees of them.

Magpie in Flight

During one of the short sunny intervals I managed to spot a couple of Blue-tailed Damselflies at the garden pond. This time one obligingly settled on a lily pad which gave me time to photo it. The only other insect life about was a hoverfly resting in the sunlight.

Damselfly and Hoverfly

10 comments:

  1. Compo must be getting quite a following, wonder what has caused it. Great macros, off out fly hunting this pm if it stops fine long enough.

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  2. An enjoyable post - both photos and video and description.

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  3. Good shots of the garden visitors John.
    Amazing how much food they can cram in their beaks.

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  4. Great shots John and what a variety of visitors to your garden.

    I'm rather fond of Compo - definitely a Blackbird with character!

    (Trying to catch up on my fav blogs - will be back to normal in a week or so :) )

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  5. Thank you Tricia. In fact there are two Compos. The second one is not quite so scraggy. Maybe they will look neater soon as there are odd feathers appearing near the feeders. It looks like the moulting season is under way.

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  6. Poor old Compo, he certainly looks as scruffy as his late namesake! I love the Magpie in flight photo and also the lovely damselfly, they really are such beautiful, delicate creatures.

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  7. Thank you Jan. I think the Blue-tailed is about the smallest of the damsels which visit my pond.

    The Magpie always looks so ungainly in flight. That long tail seems completely wrong for good balance. I must admit I was pleased with the flight shot as they rarely hang around once they have spotted me and I've been trying for ages. I normally end up with photos empty of Magpie!

    At least I can recognise Compo, otherwise all male Blackbirds look the same to me.

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  8. Oh Gosh John... you've set me a challenge now! I've got a relative of Compo up here. I'll need to get photos now ;-)

    Great posting with fascinating pics.. love the dragonflies :-D

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  9. Hi Shirl. I have two scruffy looking Blackbirds though the second is not up to Compo's standard! I keep trying to get a photo of them both at the ground feeder. I wonder if this is a general problem with Blackbirds?

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Thank you for visiting. Hope you enjoyed the pictures. Any comment, or correction to any information or identification I get wrong, is most welcome. John

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