Tuesday 28 February 2012

Not much to report from this afternoons patch visit, everything is a settled and as uneventful as the weather at the moment, that being windless, mild and overcast.

All I can report is that the pair of COOT and three pairs of CANADA GEESE on the lakes are preparing for nest building, their territorial behaviour is increasing daily now, any of the MALLARD or MOORHEN that show themselves are soon seen off. There was no Cormorant today here, the first time in a week.

COAL TIT, LONG TAILED TIT, BULLFINCH, TREECREEPER, and GOLDCREST all showed well, but the light wasn't very good for a photo of any of them. A SISKIN and two FIELDFARE flew over as I walked the empty Tree Nursery, and a REDWING was seen briefly in the tall hedge behind my sky watching seat, where the only birds seen going over on the sky watch were two HERRING and four BLACK HEADED GULLS. Nothing else to report at all really, but at the end of February things do tend to quieten off a bit on my patch, especially with the benign weather.

The chance of a couple of photo's cropped up when I got home, albeit in some very poor light. This Siskin came down to my garden Feeders, also the Long Tailed Tit pair, which have been frequenting my garden for a few weeks now, I wasn't going to put their photo up, having done so many of them recently, but I know you love 'em  :-)
Male Siskin, a shame all the metal work of the feeders is in view!
I did get a shot of it away from the feeders, but the light was worse here, making for a very grainy image
Long Tailed Tit, these images are suffering from the poor light, nice though  :-)
Long Tailed Tit

9 comments:

Rohrerbot said...

Glad you did. Really excellent closeups on these birds. There are 3 shots that are difficult with the camera....the flight of a bird, the general closeup of the bird with lack of detail.....and then there is perfection....the kind I like....the detailed one where you can see the lines of the feather either still or in flight. I always try to shoot for those but they are 1 in a 200 shot at times. I have more bird posts coming up. Today is garden stuff. Hope all is well in your world.

Warren Baker said...

Getting everything in your favour is such a rare thing in itself Rohrerbot, but thats what makes photography such fun.

ShySongbird said...

Lovely to see the Siskin, Warren.

I hope the nest building at the lake is successful.

It has been dreary here all day today, the forecasters had promised wall to wall sunshine...not impressed!

Phil said...

It was exciting for a while Warren, but now that the weather has settled we are back in waiting mode I think. It will all be worth it though!

Warren Baker said...

Phil,
yep, it will all be worth the wait, this time next month i'll be looking for Swallows :-)

Warren Baker said...

Songbird,
Those forecats are just a guide :-) You cant take 'em too seriously !!

Unknown said...

Super Siskin and Long Tail tit image. Had a siskin visit my garden for the first time last week but flew away before getting any images.

Ken. said...

Warren.
Nice garden photo's. Love the L/T/Tit ones, especially the one where it is giving you the eye.

Anonymous said...

That opening statement is bang on, Warren.