A New Visitor

As I said yesterday the Blackbirds are increasing. I counted thirteen on the ground this morning. Later when Bobby went down the garden some of the Blackbirds flew into the tall Leylandii and out flew a Song Thrush which landed on a branch in the Sunshine looking a bit miffed.



As I was photographing the thrush I spied what at first I assumed was another sat high up on a branch. On examining the photo later I am pretty sure it is my first sighting of a Redwing. I am going by the pale lines above and below the eye and a slight reddish colouring under the wing.


If my identification is correct then that is a new visitor to my garden.

Yesterday the ground feeders spent most of the daylight hours stocking up with any available free food...



... and a lone Rook was helping itself to a fat ball.



Although it was only -2C last night the constant low temperatures have frozen the earth so those which normally feed on earthworms and such like are completely reliant on the seed put out for them.

As the Sun Rises the Temperature Drops

It usually happens this time of year. As the Sun rises and burns off some of the cloud cover the temperature drops a few degrees. At 7 a.m. when we went walkabout it was about -1.3C and two hours later with the Sun streaming through the window it is -3C outside.



Between Christmas and New Year when temperatures were reasonable for the time of year the number of birds visiting the Birdy Bistro dropped and the feeders were hardly being used but since the temperatures dropped again the seed had been vanishing at an alarming rate.

Starlings, House Sparrows and one Tree Sparrow (round the back of the feeder)


There was little light when I went through to the kitchen first thing this morning but some birds were already tucking in to any scattered seed. The numbers of Blackbirds visiting seem to be increasing daily. Last week they averaged six or seven at a time.This morning I counted twelve!

After breakfast I scattered some more seed mixed with some suet treats which are always very popular.

Male Blackbird:


Female Blackbird:

Starling:


At the same time I changed the frozen dish of water for a fresh one:


It has been difficult taking crisp photos as the light has been poor where the birds are feeding in the shade of the building.

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 ;)

Happy New Year .. Partial Eclipse of the Moon .. Squirrel Flicks for Friday

Sending one and all very best wishes for 2010

As well as tonight, New Year's Eve, being a Once in a Blue Moon event (the second full Moon in the same month) there was also a partial eclipse of the Moon at about 7.21 p.m. which could be seen from Europe. I had hoped for the clear skies which were forecast for much of the UK but it has been very cloudy most of the day. In fact there was a light snowfall an hour or so ago. Near the allotted time I took the cameras outside in the hopes of being able to photograph the event. I had no idea how much of an eclipse it was going to be. Fortunately the clouds cleared enough to see the Moon and the Earth's shadow only touched a very small area near the bottom right of the Moon.



 This is one of the first pieces of video I took with my first camcorder. An old 8mm Samsung job bought from the local branch of Cash Converters. This video was hand held so is a bit on the wobbly side and shows a Grey Squirrel which used to visit my garden nearly every day.



A really big THANK YOU to all who have visited my blog during 2009. When I started it in mid January I had no idea which direction it would take me or whether anyone would visit to see what I had been up to. The experience has been an eye opener, meeting so many new friends and seeing so many great blogs which I try to keep up with. I wish you all a great year ahead.

Heron Poem

Much relief this morning after my yearly check up following major cancer surgery six years ago. Once again given the all clear. I asked how long the follow ups would continue and was informed it would be for a minimum of ten years and probably longer. It is nice to know that you are not just abandoned but continuously monitored.

On checking the comments this morning it was great to receive another of Glo's (of Porcelain Rose) poems.

A heron named Harry was wishing

He’d learned the fine art of ice fishing,

For here and beyond

There was ice on each pond,

With nary a fishtail a-swishing.

He saw a few holes, which was thrilling!

Perhaps they were left from John’s drilling.

He had to admit

That his beak wouldn’t fit

And to foot the whole bill would be chilling.

He stood on the edge looking wistful

Pretending his mouth held a fistful ~

An instinctual drive

He decided to dive ~

Upended and stuck in the midstful!

Brilliant Glo and thank you so much.

No Fish Dinner Today

As I was standing by the sink in the kitchen a large grey shape glided across my view. The local Heron had come to pay a visit to see whether fish were back on the menu yet. Fortunately for the fish, and unfortunately for the Heron, the pond is still frozen over.



It stood there for a while keeping one eye on the pond and the other on me. In the end it decided there was no free meal and took off.



A bit on the blurry side but gives a good impression of just how long their wings are. From this photograph it appears to me that there is a double layer of feathers under part of each wing.

It must be very difficult in the weather conditions we have been experiencing for birds such as Kingfishers and Herons to find the food they need.

Once in a Blue Moon

This month is one of those rarer times when a full Moon can be seen twice in the same month. The phrase 'Once in a Blue Moon' appertains to its rarity rather than the colour of the Moon. On average, there will be 41 months that have two Full Moons in every century. The next full Moon is on Thursday, New Year's Eve.

After my previous session where I finally managed to photograph some features on the Moon's surface I decided to see how the Panasonic camcorder would cope at night. Its 70x optical zoom helped to get close in. In fact I didn't need the full 70x. There was a faint halo which the camcorder didn't pick up but you can see the thin cloud which was zooming across the Moon. I did find out why telescopes need to be motorised to track heavenly bodies. Even in the short time this video clip was taken you can see the Moon drift across the screen with the motion of the Earth so I had to adjust the camcorder to bring the Moon back to the centre of the shot.



Today as I was topping up the feeders just before it got dark I noticed the Moon was showing clearly so I fixed the Sigma 170-500mm lens on the 50D and used a hefty tripod to see what I could see.

This is the untouched full photo: ISO 800 1/400 sec @ f8 zoom is just off the full 500mm ...



... and here a different clipped shot with the colour changed to grey scale.



Well - that's got that out of my system so with luck we will be back to photos of our feathered visitors next time.