Any Puddle Will Do

We often see Blackbirds and House Sparrows taking advantage of puddles down the lane as bathing areas. I try to get the occasional photo but usually by the time I have zoomed in and pressed the shutter the birds have flown, as with this Sparrow:



Today one particular male Blackbird was made of hardier stuff and watched to see how close we were going to get:



We stopped a short distance away and Mr. Blackbird concluded it was safe to carry on:



I don't blame him as the temperature was about 24C with a strong warm breeze. Once we started to approach again he watched us ....



... until we got too close for comfort. He then flew a short distance away. Once we had passed I looked back and he had returned to finish his disturbed ablutions.