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As it had been a few weeks since I’d visited “The Eyes” a visit was overdue, so I made my way there on Saturday morning.

The weather wasn’t too bad, a little overcast but enough light for photography.

I’m always hopeful of seeing something unusual or scarce even with the knowledge that taking a decent photograph of it would be a challenge; it’s a good job I’m always up for a challenge!!

Even though the temperature is dropping and we’re well into Autumn there are still a few insects, moths and butterflies around.


Comma (Polygonia c-album)


Micro Moth


Garden Spider (Araneus diadematus)

A quick look over the first viewing screen showed a large expanse of mud and no increase in water levels. Strangely I thought we’d had quite a bit of rain recently; obviously not!

As I walked along the path to the John Morgan Hide I came across a yellow fieldcap mushroom.

I then spent some time crawling around on my hands and knees still with my camera bag on my back trying to take a photo.


Yellow Fieldcap (Bolbitius titubans)

Note to self: take that dam bag off before you get on your hands and knees to take photographs!

After that I made my way to the John Morgan Hide holding my back.

I made myself comfortable in the hide and although there wasn’t a lot of bird activity it was very pleasant just to sit there and watch the comings and goings.

A couple of Black-tailed Godwits were around and one landed in front of the hide so that was useful.


Black-tailed Godwit (Limosa limosa)


Black-tailed Godwit(Limosa limosa)

There were a number of Canada Geese on the water a minimum of 150, then another large flock flew in. I’ve read on the Woolston web site there were 460 at one stage.


A small group of the Canada Goose (branta canadensis)

Not the most popular bird to populate the water.

Over on the far side of the pool there was a group of about ten Common Snipe and a couple of Black-tailed Godwits.


Common Snipe (gallinago gallinago)

I don’t know how far it is to the far side of the pool but it is a reasonable distance, so the above is a very heavily cropped photo; I think they call them record shots.


Teal (Anas crecca)

After a while I had a bit of a wander and found some more interesting fungi.


Young Shaggy Parasol Mushroom (Chlorophyllum rhacodes)


Old Shaggy Parasol Mushroom (Chlorophyllum rhacodes

Many books and websites state that this is a good edible mushroom, but the Shaggy Parasol has been known to cause serious illness in some people and so picking it to eat, intentionally or otherwise, should be avoided.

Chlorophyllum (formerly Macrolepiota) rhacodes, the Shaggy Parasol, is a fairly common mushroom found mainly in or beside woods and hedges.

I also found a small inkcap mushroom and unfortunately they can only be identified properly by microscopic study and as I neither possess a microscope or the knowledge the identification is a guess.


Glistening inkcap (Coprinopsis micaceus

Thanks for reading

Andy

I went to my hide on Saturday and things were very slow, the only thing that went quickly was time, tempus fugit and all of that.

After topping up the feeders it took some time for anything to come to them but as it happened the first bird to arrive strutted in and it was a male Pheasant, which was closely followed by a female.

When I’m in the hide I can generally hear the Pheasants before I see them as they make a strange noise whilst they are wandering about and I don’t mean the alarm call.


Male Pheasant

I think the plumage of the male pheasant is stunning but not many people comment about its iridescence, I suppose if it was less common more people would comment.

The only other birds that visited the feeders were Blue Tit, Great Tit and Robin.


Blue Tit

The Blue Tit was on high alert as soon as it heard the camera shutter however the Robin was unperturbed.


Robin

While I was sat in the hide with my mind wandering between this and that I noticed a spider just outside hides window and close enough to take a photo with the 180mm macro lens.

I’m not certain which spider it actually is but I think it is a Common Orb-Weaver.


Common Orb-weaver Spider

Shortly after it’s mate joined it and I think they had an amorous encounter.


Common Orb-Weaver Spiders

Having read up on these spiders the larger one of the two is the female and she spends most of her time if not on the web very close to it.

Apparently the male has to approach very carefully otherwise he may end up as lunch; the female of the species is deadlier than the male! In this case he survived to live another day.

Thanks for reading.

Andy

Although there has been a bit of a lull in bird activity over the last few weeks and a distinct lack of water in No3 Bed, there are still plenty of things to see and photograph.


Small Tortoiseshell


Speckled Wood


Red Admiral

The birds do seem to be building up again with a few waders on show, plenty of waterfowl and still lots of butterflies and other insects around.


Black-tailed Godwit

The above is a pretty rubbish photo but I only had one chance at it as they zipped past the John Morgan Hide; c'est la vie and all of that.


Common Snipe

A bit distant a group of ten Common Snipe on the far bank of the centre pool opposite the John Morgan Hide.


Canada Geese

A small group of the hundred or so Canada Geese cruising on the water of No3 Bed.

The trees are laden with berries and acorns are plentiful.


Elderberry


Acorn


Himalayan Balsam



I'm not sure what the above plant is but it's quite colourful and deserved to be photographed.

So yes there has been a dip in the birds, it is Autumn and there is still not a lot of water in No3 Bed. However there is still plenty to see and to capture our attention if you only care to look.

Thanks for reading.

Andy

Again nothing special around however there was a pair of Pied Wagtail in a nearby field.


Pied Wagtail

A couple of Robins spent most of my stay at the hide chasing each other or attacking anything that went near the feeders.


Robin

Visitors were Greenfinch, Goldfinch, Chaffinch, Coal Tit, Blue Tit, Great Tit.


Blue Tit


Goldfinch

I spent some time trying to take some in flight shots of the small birds with a modicum of success. Its one of the real bonuses of the digital age being able to take 100's of photos and it costs you nothing only time.

It was very hit and miss and being honest more miss than hit. The light wasn't brilliant and to get a reasonable shutter speed I had to use ISO 6000 and f4. The other thing to think about is the depth of field which is probably only about 1cm at the small distance of the hide from the feeders
with the 500mm lens.


Great Tit


Great Tit


Blue Tit

I also paid a visit to Redesmere and there are always photo opportunities there and some very nice ice cream from the van that is usually there.


Gulls squabling over bits of bread


Mute Swan


Looks a bit like a Greylag but it may be crossed with a Canada, whatever it looks a bit odd

Cheers

Andy

Nothing special around the hide, just the usual suspects, although a Great spotted woodpecker has visited on a few occasions.


Great Spotted Woodpecker

In the past I've not seen many Coal Tits but there has been one visiting the feeders quite regularly.


Coal Tit


Coal Tit

Sparrows appear to be in short supply and I've not seen a Tree Sparrow for some time, House Sparrows appear quite plentiful around the area but are only occasional visitors to the feeders.


House Sparrow

Many of the birds aren't in particularly good condition after breeding and most don't look particularly attractive and certainly not great subjects for bird photography.


Goldfinch


Blue Tit

There has been plenty of Pheasants around, male and female filling up on the seed that falls from the feeders.


Female Pheasant


Male Pheasant

Apart from Goldfinch there has also been Greenfinch and Chaffinch visiting.


Greenfinch

I don't get many Wood Pigeons dropping in but this one did and I only just managed to keep the whole of the bird in the frame.


Wood Pigeon

Last but not least the small Wren has been dropping in and did pose nicely at least once.


Wren

Well thats the catch up almost complete just last weekend to say something about.

So thanks for reading.

Andy

I’m very conscious of not writing anything since the 21st July and it isn’t due to not getting out anywhere, just idleness: so here goes.

27 July – at the Eyes.

Looking back at the photos that I took on the day, they were mainly insects and butterflies, however there were two birds that I managed to photograph, a Moorhen and a Lapwing and neither were worth showing.

The highlight of the visit however was getting a few pics of a White-letter Hairstreak butterfly; certainly a first for Woolston Eyes.


White-letter Hairstreak

Lots of insects around as well, Ladybirds including Harlequins, Hoverflys and different Bees.


Hoverfly (Epistrophe melanostoma)


Seven-spot ladybird (Coccinella septempunctata

03 August – Stratford-upon-Avon

Butterfly Farm

According to their website it is the largest tropical butterfly display in the UK with 250 species of butterfly from 20 different countries. There are in the region of 1500 free flying butterflies at any one time.


Unknown Butterfly - watch out for butterflies with damaged wings, you still find them even in a butterfly farm


Unknown Butterfly


Swallowtail Chryallis

In the flight area there is also an Iguana and some birds, Cockatiels and Chinese Painted Quails.


Iguana

I spotted the Quails running around in the vegetation but unfortunately didn’t get a photo of them.

There are also displays of Arachnids and other insects.

Well worth a visit if your in the area.

We also went to Ann Hathaways cottage which was interesting and there were a few opportunities to take some photos in the garden.


Ann Hathaways Cottage - an example of a frame within a frame


Sweetpea

A visit to Holy Trinity Church in Stratford-upon-Avon was interesting and I did take a photo of the organist just to try the camera at a fairly high ISO of 4000, hand held.


Organist – 1/60th sec f5.6

This organist was extremely good and the music being played was excellent.

I was also pleased with the quality of the photo!

I don’t know anything about cars but when we arrived back at the hotel this car was on the car park and I couldn’t resist taking a photo or two.


Car1


Car2

While we were in Warwickshire we also visited Coughton Court a National Trust property. The gardens and the house itself were very nice and there was an excellent display of sculptures in the gardens.


The stairs


Water sculpture


Shield

18th August – Woolston Eyes

Again no rain and very little water in the pools at Woolston, so another morning of macro photography and insects.


Snail


Hoverfly


Ladybird


Flies

23rd August – Woolston Eyes

Pretty much the same as the previous week although there were some birds around even though the water was still extremely low.


Hoverfly (Sphaerophoria scripta)


Green Sandpiper


Shelduck

I paid an overdue visit to "The Eyes" this morning, hoping to see some Black-necked Grebes and give my new camera a good try out.

When I reached the first viewing hide I was quite surprised to see how low the level of water actually was. There were a few birds on the almost dry pool, Black-headed Gull, Tufted Duck with chicks, Gadwall and Coot.


Tufted Duck

After that I went to the John Morgan Hide and spent the rest of the time in there.

There were plenty of birds around but I didn't see much in the way of Black-necked Grebes.

Black-headed Gull, Tufted Duck with chicks, Gadwall, Shelduck, Mallard, Moorhen, Coot, and Cormorant.


Tufted Duck with an unusually large brood of 15 chicks


Shelduck


Moorhen on the run


Lapwing


Magpie

The highlight of the day was a Common Sandpiper on the scrape.


Common Sandpiper


Common Sandpiper


Common Whitethroat

So the new camera had a reasonable work out and I'm quite pleased with the results.

Thanks for reading.

Andy

I would have liked to have got out with the camera on Saturdau but unfortunately I had other things to do like buying new glasses and various other things.

I did however get out to my hide on Sunday and there were plenty of young birds around including Wren, Goldfinch, Greenfinch.


Wren


Goldfinch

Others included Blue and Great Tit, Chaffinch, Robin, Dunnock, House Sparrow, Pheasant and even a Wood Pigeon dropped in. There were also plenty of Swallows on the wing and quite a few Butterflies, mainly Commer Small Copper and Large White.


Pheasant

The photograph of the above Pheasant shows the nictitating membrane (from Latin nictare, to blink) which is a transparent or translucent third eyelid present in some animals and birds.


Wood Pigeon

Before I left I thought I'd have a look around in the undergrowth to see if there were any insects to try a little macro photography with. I got some nice photos and a near miss, the focus just wash't right.


Red-headed Cardinal Beetle


Red-headed Cardinal Beetle
So close and yet so far the above could have been quite a good photo.


Possibly a Shield Bug


Possibly Wood Gnat, Anisopodidae - Sylvicola

If anyone can confirm the Shield Bug or the unknown it will be appreciated.

Thanks for Reading

Andy

I paid a visit to Woolston Eyes on Saturday in the hope of capturing some shots of the Black-necked Grebes but as it happened I didn't manage anything worthwhile as far as they were concerned. However I did get some reasonable shots of Great crested grebes with a chick.


Great Crested Grebe


Great Crested Grebe

All the usual culprits were still around, Gadwall, Teal, Pochard, Coots, Little Grebe, Canada Goose, Greylag Goose, Moorhen, Cormorant, Buzzard flying over and many more birds were around.


Reed Warbler


Coots

I was expecting lots of really good photos especially with the light being extremely good but for whatever reason the quality wasn't as good as I'd like.


Pheasant

I know I had the 1.4x convertor fitted to the 500mm lens and Canon 7D which does reduce the quality somewhat but even so they were not nearly as good as what I was hoping for.

I'll have to some experimenting to see how to increase the number of savers.

Thanks for reading.

Andy

I can’t remember why I didn’t go out on Saturday as I don’t think it was raining or poor weather I think I was just feeling out of sorts with myself.

Anyway it wasn’t bad on Sunday morning so I I went to my hide for a few hours and all the usual suspects were there including the Mistle Thrush that were around the week before.

Great Tit, Blue Tit, Goldfinch, Chaffinch, Greenfinch and Robin were all present in abundance

And I also had a brief visit from a Great Spotted Woodpecker


Blue Tit/b]


Chaffinch


Great Spotted Woodpecker

Thanks for reading.

Andy

As my wife had gone off somewhere for the day with her mother and sister I had a free last day of my holidays and visited Woolston Eyes in the morning and my hide in the afternoon; a full days wildlife and bird photography/watching, that’s not happened for some time.

The weather wasn’t bad overcast but with some sun breaking through, the light does make a massive difference to the quality of the photos.

There were plenty of birds on the water all the usual suspects, Mallards, Gadwall, Pochard, Canada Goose, Greylag Goose, Mute Swan, Little Grebe, Great Crested Grebe, Black-necked Grebe, Cormorant, Black-headed Gull and Lesser black-backed Gull, many of them with chicks.


Shelduck with Chicks

For once the Black-necked Grebes were just about within photographing distance particularly on the south pool and they had chicks so that was quite good.


Black-necked Grebe

My shot of the day was of a Lesser black-backed gull with some poor chick that it had snaffled!!


Lesser black-backed Gull



Lesser black-backed Gull


In the afternoon I went to my hide and it was a case of all the usual suspects, Dunnock,
Great Tit, Blue Tit, Goldfinch, Greenfinch and Robin quite a few of which were fledglings.
Only a stones throw form the hide were also a group of Mistle Thrush.


Mistle Thrush


Robin


Goldfinch

Thanks for reading.

Andy

After our visit to Lake Vyrnwy we made our way up to Grassington in the Yorkshire Dales to meet up with my old photo buddy and good friend Barry and his wife Jenny who were spending the week there.

We stayed at Ashfield House which is tucked away just off the main street and very nice it was to. There is a lovely garden round the back with a feeding station for the birds so a couple of photo opportunities there but nothing exciting visited the feeders; there were however some very nice flowers.


Poppies


Garden Shed

Just to make it a little different the above photo of the garden shed did receive some treatment in Photoshop and HDR Efex Pro.

The annual Grassington Festival was in full flow so there was plenty to photograph on the streets and around the square.


Pandora Pink


Spacemen

When the women went off to do whatever it is they do best, Barry and I had a wander around the village to take a few photos.


Hill Top Fold


Buttercup Meadow

Jenny wanted a few photos of their new puppy Henry playing in a wildflower meadow.


Henry


Henry

I did get some successful shots, even if I do say so myself!!

Cheers

Andy

We had a few days away at Lake Vyrnwy and stayed at the Lake Vyrnwy Hotel. I’ve never visited the area before and I was hoping to see and photograph some different birds to those that I see at my hide and at Woolston Eyes. Birds that are known to breed in the area include Peregrine Falcon, Pied Flycatcher, Redstart, Siskin and Wood Warbler.

The hotel was built in the 1880’s for the dignitaries and VIP’s that visited the area while the dam was being constructed for the new reservoir. The hotel although getting on a bit now was nicely decorated and clean, the food was good and the staff were very pleasant.

The view from the hotel over the lake is stunning particularly at dusk.


Sunset over Lake Vyrnwy

I think the lake runs more or less east to west and is just over 4 miles long and has a road that circumnavigates it, 11 miles or so.

The dam is constructed a the east end of the lake and approximately 1,000 metres (3,300 ft) from the dam is the reservoir's straining tower. Standing 30 metres (98 ft) from the shore its purpose is to filter or strain out material in the water with a fine metal mesh, before the water flows along an aqueduct for 68 miles to Liverpool.


Straining Tower

There were plenty of Swifts, Swallows and House Martins flying around the Hotel and I did spend some time pointing the 500mm lens through the hotel window trying to get some photos but with no luck whatsoever.

There were quite a few Flycatchers in the trees and shrubs in the hotel gardens along with Chiffchaffs but again no photographs to show for the watching.

I visited the RSPB hide near to the dam which has some feeders and while I was there Chaffinch, Siskin, Blue and Great Tit, a family of Nuthatches and a Marsh Tit were frequent visitors to the feeders.


Marsh Tit

The feeders are situated only a few inches from the glass window at the front of the hide which is fantastic for getting close up views of the birds but not so brilliant for photography; however a short zoom lens is sufficient for a frame filling photograph.


Siskin

There are a couple of other hides on the north side of the reservoir which were quite comfortable and empty when I visited, perhaps that was due to the fact that there appeared to be absolutely nothing on the water including Mallards. There are also quite a few view point scattered around the lake.

Although I didn’t see a Peregrine, I did see a few Buzzards and a female Hen Harrier flying over.

The lake is quite remote and is probably a 30 – 45 mins drive to towns of any size but we did manage to get to the coast, Aberdovey and Tywyn (Towyn) both places are quite pleasant and the sun shone!


Jackdaw at Aberdovey


Tal y Llyn


An interesting flower display

Thanks for reading

Andy

A friend from work asked me if I’d like to take some photos of his daughters horses and as it was a subject I’d not attempted before I was keen to have a go.

The weather forecast for the day was a little dubious but as it turned out everything was fine, generally overcast but with some sun breaking through.

As I say I’d never photographed horses or anyone riding them but I had looked at some equine photographers web sites so I did have some ideas about what was required.


Ted

Sarah however was a natural and knew how she wanted to pose with the horses.
Unfortunately you can’t instruct a horse on how you would like them to stand, so as with all animals it’s a bit hit and miss as to the shots you may get. Just like humans they blink and move their heads just as you press the shutter button.


Sarah & Faith

The hardest part of the shoot was trying to get a shot of the two horses running together which we did quite a few times. I did get some passable shots but I wasn’t 100% happy with any of them really. They didn’t run at the same speed and sometimes they veered off at different angles so not something you have a lot of control over in an open field.


Ted & Faith on the Run

Last but not least we did some shots of Sarah riding Faith in the manège it seems that they ride around the edge of the area so the fence is always going to appear in the shot.


Sarah & Faith

Although they haven’t made a decision on which photos they want, overall they seem happy with how things went and the shots that they’ve seen.


Composite of Ted & Faith together

I went down to the hide on Sunday and i was amazed how much the vegetation had grown in just two weeks, consequently I had to spend 45mins weeding and pulling up nettles and that was just so that I could fill the feeders!!

After I’d filled the feeders it did take some time for the birds to come in but the first Yellowhammer of the year paid a visit.


Yellowhammer

A wren visited a couple of times and posed just long enough to get a few decent photos.


Wren on a branch


Wren on a perch

Other visitors included Blue Tit, Great Tit, Blackbird, Greenfinch, Dunnock and Chaffinch.


Greenfinch

I also shot some nice photos of a Robin feeding a chick.


Robin chick


Feeding time

Last but not least I had a short visit from a Rabbit, I'm sure there are lots of them around the hide but generally I don't see them.


Rabbit

Close to the hide I also spotted four adult Lapwing with two chicks.

Lapwing chick

Thanks for reading

Andy

I visited “The Eyes” on Saturday hoping to take some photos of the Warblers that were really obliging two weeks ago but unfortunately not this time.

I did see Sedge and Reed Warbler but they mainly confined themselves to the undergrowth or they were some distance from the hide and certainly not close enough not to have to do some serious cropping on the photos. It was the same with the Reed Buntings but I can get better shots of these in the garden when they visit the feeders.


Sedge Warbler


Reed Bunting

There were also two male Ruddy Ducks that you don’t see very much of these days. Considering they were quite distant it’s not a bad photo really and you do get some appreciation of the habitat.


Ruddy Duck

A pair of Swans with five cygnets also looked regal as they passed by.


Mute Swan with Cygnets

Many of the trees and shrubs are in blossom and none more so than the Common Hawthorn, I couldn’t pass it without taking a photograph.


Common Hawthorn


A foaming fountain of flowers

Many of the Willow Catkins are turning to seed that’s looks a bit like white candy floss and helps the seed to disperse on the wind.


Osier Catkins turning to Seed

Even if I didn’t manage to take any good bird photos, it was still a good day with plenty of interest and lots of other things to photograph.

Thanks for reading.

Andy

Unfortunately no photography this weekend as my youngest daughter who suffers from an illness called Cushings had a 6hr operation on Friday to remove her pituitary gland and subsequently she hasn’t been very well. So hospital visits and worry has put paid to any thoughts about photography.

Cushings is caused by a tumour attached to the pituitary gland; this causes the body to produce excess Cortisol which can cause many physical and psychological problems.

This was her third operation to deal with the problem and hopefully her last but as the pituitary regulates quite a few things including the production of hormones she will have to be on medication to replace them for the rest of her life. There may also be the requirement for radiotherapy another not so nice thing although at least it is painless whilst being delivered.

Somehow I think the road to recovery may be a bit rocky for quite a while yet!

Andy

On Sunday morning I went to Woolston Eyes in the hope of improving on my previous Black-necked Grebe photographs but as usual I took all the gear ready to shoot anything that moved, stood still or just wafted in the breeze.

As I crossed the footbridge to the nature reserve I couldn’t see anything on the bund below apart from some ducks in the distance.

As I walked along the track to the first viewing screen and hide I could see a group of visitors looking at the Mink trap on the bund and I had a glance over as I passed them but I couldn’t see anything.

As I reached the end of the track to turn onto the meadows I was hit by the wonderful smell of wild garlic or Ramsons.


Ramsons (Wild Garlic) in flower

I usually take the right hand path that leads to the hides but I thought I’d take the longer route and took the path to the left.

I’d only walked a few yards and I could see a Buzzard circling on the thermals overhead and quite low down so well worth shooting a few frames.


Buzzard

There were plenty of butterflies on the wing mainly whites and Peacocks so I took a few photos of whatever I could get close to. Most of them were in poor condition with ragged wings and it makes you wonder how they actually fly when they are so badly damaged.


Peacock Butterfly

After walking through the small patch of trees I know there is an area where there are a few clumps of Cowslip that I wanted to try and photograph.

I’d put the 5D on the 500mm lens as I was hoping to improve the quality of the photos of the birds on the water and I had the 100mm macro lens on the 7D. With hindsight I should have changed the lenses around and then back again later but I think I was being a bit lazy.

Anyway I set everything up and started to photograph the Cowslips with the 7D, I also used a reflector to bounce the light back into the shadows in the hope of improving the pics.

I also used the reflector as a white background in some of the photos, which are best I’m not sure.


Cowslip



Cowslip

On the meadows there was also another plant that looked interesting and at the time of photographing I didn’t have a clue as to its identity. However since then with the help of Elizabeth Maddock and John Blundell it’s been identified as Ribwort Plantain.


Ribwort Plantain

I then moved on to the Rotary Hide in the hope of photographing some Black-necked Grebe. There were five on this pool but nothing ventured over to the hide side of the pool apart from a couple of Gadwall. After an hour or so I gave up and moved on.

I went to the John Morgan Hide next and was quite surprised to find it empty, There were plenty of birds on the water, mainly the usual suspects, including Mallard, Shelduck, Gadwall, Pochard, Canada Goose, Mute Swan with chicks, Black Headed Gulls, Lesser Black Backed Gulls, Great Crested Grebe, Moorhens and Coots.


Mallards


Shelduck


Black headed gulls

After a while an Arctic Tern appeared on the scrape and gave quite a nice flying display and posed long enough on the scrape to get some reasonable shots.


Arctic Tern


Arctic Tern

After that I visited the Tower Hide as some nice photographs of warblers and buntings have been taken from there.

I was in luck a and got a few reasonable shots


Reed Warbler

Time flies when you are having fun and home time came round very quickly, it’s a pity time doesn’t seem to pass as quickly when I’m in work!

Thanks for reading.

Andy

As I drove down to the hide I wasn’t expecting to see any birds other than the usual suspects which is just as well as I didn’t, so I wasn’t disappointed.

However it was a lovely day, the sun was bright, there was next to no wind and the birds were singing and in the words of Larry Grayson, “Oh what a gay day”.

There were quite a few birds at the feeders and plenty flying over along with dainty butterflies flitting from flower to flower.


Small White Butterfly

Butterflies included Large and Small White, Peacock and Small Tortoiseshell, birds flying over included Gulls, Kestrel, Buzzard, Wood Pigeon, Lapwing, Crow and Buzzard and probably plenty of others that I didn’t see while my eye was to the viewfinder.

There were a constant supply of finches visiting the feeders, Greenfinch, Goldfinch and Chaffinch.


Chaffinch


Goldfinch

House Sparrows both male and female dropped in and also Dunnock although it kept to the undergrowth and didn’t show itself very well.


Female House Sparrow

Male and female Pheasants also strolled in to have an easy feed.

There are always plenty of Blackbirds around but generally don’t tend to visit the feeders or at least not while I’m there; however there is always the exception and one did drop in.


Female Blackbird

Blue Tits were also back and to, to the feeders along with Great Tits and the obligatory Robin.

While I was sat in the hide I could hear a bird calling but couldn’t see it then I eventually did, it was a young Great Tit. It could fly a little but it was still being fed by its parents.

So I got a few photos of this cute young bird with its fluffy feathers.


Great Tit Chick on my camera bag


Feeding Time


Feeding Time

Hope you enjoyed my writings and the pics..

Cheers

Andy

When I haven't been able to get out or I have an hour or so to spare, I take some photos of the bird action in the garden or of whatever flowers I have available. If I were pretentious I'd call it my "garden project."

The birds certainly enjoy bathing in the tray of water I've put out for them.


I didn't think a bird could turn it's head as much as this Chaffinch has


Chaffinch drinking water

I've not shown the abpve photos because I think it's good photograph but it does show a nasty fungal infection that this Chaffinch has on its feet and legs.


Dunnock cooling off


Starling having a dip

Thanks for reading.

cheers

Andy