Wings for Wednesday

It has been abysmal lighting conditions here for photography for most of the past couple of weeks or so. Thick dark clouds have meant having to up the ISO rating to Winter levels so may recent photos are very grainy. This is a pity as so many young birds have been visiting the garden recently.

Amongst the corvids visiting have been this young Magpie


and for the first time Carrion Crows.


Great to see a group of young Blue Tits regularly visiting the nut feeder:


Of course there have been plenty of young Starlings about:


I haven't spotted any young Goldfinches as yet but there are about five adult regulars:

The White Stuff Returns

Last night I had the camcorder set up just in case there were any firework displays to let in the New Year. I was not disappointed as there was a beautiful display from a house not far away and I could watch it through the front room window. Fortunately Bobby takes little notice of the noise after the first couple of explosions and goes back to sleep. I had to use manual focus which I got wrong so here is a short extract from the five minute display.



Yesterday morning had been the first time for about ten days we could return to our usual route for the early morning walk - no snow, no ice. This morning I woke to the return of the white stuff. Not a lot as yet and quite pretty to look at


though I am not sure the garden visitors took quite the same attitude.

Dunnock:

Robin Redbreast:


Great Tit:


A Carrion Crow used its heavy beak to sweep aside the snow by moving its head from side to side so as to find any seeds left over from yesterday.


Well, here we are, a new decade - but quite honestly it doesn't look a lot different from the last one ;)

Some of The Usual Visitors

It is so hard to find a time when there are birds flocking to the feeders which coincides with reasonable photographic weather conditions. Over the past few days the largest flocks have been of Sparrows, both House and Tree. As there are only a few perches on the seed feeder they normally wait either on the cables above the feeders or in the safety of the dead brambles next door until they spot an opening. There can be up to two dozen of them milling around at the same time.



At one stage I though the Tree Sparrows had stopped visiting but closer observation usually shows two or three mixed in with the House Sparrows. The Tree Sparrows have a distinctive large black spot on each side of the head and smooth chestnut coloured feathers on top of the head.



Constant visitors include the Greenfinches and the Goldfinches.



First thing this morning I was watching a Magpie. It was bouncing across to the ground feeder, choosing a seed, bouncing to the edge of the lawn and part burying the seed. Then it would repeat the process. It was only making a half hearted attempt at burying the seeds and I think the other birds will soon find them. Normally all the other birds keep well out of the way while the Magpie is feeding but today a Blackbird decided to stand on the weather cover above the video camera and out stare the Magpie - which it succeeded in doing.



A rarer visitor is this Carrion Crow which glided in to see if it was safe to find a bite to eat but in the end decided to try somewhere else.

Black is Beautiful

It is always great to see the colourful birds like the Goldfinches and Blue Tits visit the garden. But there are others, less showy, which visit from time to time. I often have Rooks drop in, especially when I start putting out the fat balls. This morning it was the turn of a Carrion Crow. It appears to be totally black but closer inspection shows different shades of black and dark greys.






To my eyes it looks just a beautiful in its own way as any other visitor. Before the introduction of wheelie bins, when rubbish was put out in black sacks, they were regular visitors on refuse collection days tearing great holes in the sacks to get at anything edible. These days I normally only see them in the fields mixing in with the Rooks.

Feeding , Fluttering and My POM

FEEDING

The visiting birds seem particularly hungry these days. By the end of the day there is virtually nothing left over in the seed tray. The pair of Goldfinches continue to visit, sometimes singly but usually together.



A particularly welcome sight which took me completely by surprise was a visit by a pair of Siskins. The first I have ever seen anywhere, never mind in my garden. Suddenly there was a brilliant flash of colour as they came in to land. First they landed on the shed cables. One stayed there a little longer whilst the other sampled the peanuts.





After a short while they both moved over to the Nyger seed feeder where they spent several minutes tucking in.



That really brightened up what was ending up as a damp and dismal day. The light was so poor by this time, about 5.30 p.m., that I had to up the ISO speed quite a bit.

Sometimes you get the more unusual view of a bird like this one of a Starling which was determined to reach the bowl of seed without going right inside.




FLUTTERING

The Jackdaws are now regular visitors but like the Rooks are easily scared away, like this one just taking off from the lawn.



The Rooks don't stray far and soon swoop back to try their luck again.



This Crow was making off with what looks like a tasty morsel from somebody elses garden.



Once again I was removing insects from the kitchen. This Bumblebee (I think an Early Bumblebee) is one of the largest I see around.

From MIDMARSH JOTTINGS

MY PICTURE of the MONTH

This is a purely subjective choice. I took a photo the other day just to see what it would turn out like. The Sun was shining on the water running down the pond waterfall and the colours of the old lichen at the bottom of the water were showing through. I really was pleased with the result which looks to me like a piece of amber which has started to melt.

Mixed Bag and a Puzzle

Just had to take this rather uninspiring photo of the Sun first thing this morning as it was the first I had seen of it for over two days.



Once the Sun had burned off the low cloud which had blocked it out since Wednesday then things began to look a lot brighter like the patterns on the head of this Great Pond Snail.



Even last years left over seed heads on the Buddleia made an interesting composition.


The Magnolia bud I had photographed a few days ago is now fully open.



On our afternoon perambulations I spotted a Crow flying around with what looked like a beak full of sheeps wool. Finally it settled near another Crow. I assume this was intended as nesting material but there was no sign of a nest anywhere nearby and eventually they took off and disappeared into the distance.



For a while now I have been trying to get a half decent photo of these ducks. Haven't the foggiest what breed they are. They are bred locally and live on a large pond on the edge of the property. Their dark colouring has been difficult to capture. At first I thought they were all black but sunlight shows subtle blue and purple with some dark green on the side of the head.



In another part of the village is this magnificent 'tree house'. Well not really a tree house but it would make a lovely hide to spot the birds visiting the field which backs right up to it.



On a limb of one of the Ash Trees we pass I saw what to the naked eye looks just like a black lump stuck on the side of the branch. I couldn't see any detail until I tweaked the photo a bit. I assume it is a fungus of some sort but have no knowledge in that direction at all.



Now the puzzle:
As usual Squirrel Nutkins was grabbing as much as s/he could from the peanut feeder. When it spotted me it leapt on the fence top and started to race down the garden as usual. This time it stopped half way, came back, went down on the ground and then in a flower container. There it picked up one of the pebbles and made off with it. Now why would it take a pebble?
a) to smash open acorns
b) to sharpen its teeth
c) to throw at Bobby when he gets too close
:>)
or some other sensible reason?

I tried Google and Yahoo searches and the only mention I could find of Squirrels taking pebbles was on SQUIRRELWEB.



New one for me: 6.30 pm and on the lawn was a male Yellowhammer - such brilliant colours. Never seen one in the flesh before but it was unmistakable. As usual the camera had been put away and the bird didn't stay for long. Here's hoping it will visit again.

New Lens - New Birds

I have been patiently waiting for a new lens to arrive which it duly did today. After fitting it and making sure it worked properly I turned to the kitchen window to try it out. Of course the best laid plans.... the heavens opened, the wind blew the rain straight at the window, result - couldn't see a thing! Fortunately those clouds blew over fairly quickly, the window dried and the birds returned to the feeders. I couldn't believe my eyes. For over a year I have been trying to attract Goldfinches without luck but today that changed. One lone Goldfinch was tentatively trying out the niger seed feeder and after a few attempts it settled down to some serious eating.



Next came a Thrush which sat on the cables above the feeders with a Robin along side but as I took their photo the Robin flew off right in front of the Thrush and it also left. That was the first time I had seen a Thrush in the garden for over a year. Luckily I later spotted it amongst the branches of a tree and got my photo.



To cap that along came another bird which I have yet to identify positively. It is hard to see the top of its head but I think it could be a Goldcrest. Another fairly fuzzy photo shows a yellowish stripe right on top of its head. Here are two views of it:



It seems to have such large eyes for the size of its body.

The rest of the time I took photos of the regular visitors - Robin


Chaffinch


Rook


Starlings on the lawn


And finally another newcomer for me was a group of Crows which immediately took off as soon as I picked up the camera but I managed one shot:


I am delighted with the results from this new lens. All hand held. Quite a few are small crops from large pictures. What was I using? - the Canon 70-200mm f/4L IS USM. An image stabilised lens which has made a lot of difference to the hand held pictures taken by this wrinkly. I had read fantastic reviews of the quality of its optics written by many users so I took the plunge.