Random Mix for WBW.

For this weeks edition of Wild Bird Wednesday a few random images taken in the garden and elsewhere.

Male House Sparrow staking his claim above the feeder.

Juvenile House Sparrow getting to grips with the food larder.

Starling ... probably wondering why the feeder is empty!

The ultimate 'shake down'.

Swallow .. checking out the wind direction.

A young Grey Heron doing what it does best ... standing very still.

And finally ... it's time to fly away!  FAB.

Feeder Friends.

A few images of two of our regular garden visitors, the Starling and House Sparrow, sharing one of the feeders filled with suet with meal worm pellets.

 A male House Sparrow sharing with a Starling.

Two juveniles happily gorging themselves. At any other time of the year the Starlings rarely allow anyone else to occupy the feeder.

"I'm sure someone is watching me through that window".

"I've got it all to myself so time to get stuck in".

All these shots were taken 'through the window' with the 450D and 70-300mm lens. For this months images of Birds, Butterflies and Odonata please check out my photo blog.  FAB.

Linking to Camera Critters, Saturday's Critters and I'D-Rather-B-Birdin'.

Surprisingly Quiet.

A Starling perched above the feeder and for once it was not very vocal.

Both images were taken through the window yesterday afternoon as they tend to disappear as soon as I open the door to the patio! FAB.

Hanging On.

Over the past two days activity on the feeders has increased with a few juveniles turning up with their parents so I couldn't resist the opportunity to capture some of their methods for 'hanging on'.

The adult Starling is a past master when it comes to reaching any part of a feeder containing suet pellets.

The juvenile Starling also made it look easy using its strong toes.

A juvenile Greenfinch, in its streaky garb with just a flash of yellow, grips the clothes line very tightly while hoping its parents might offer something to eat but it was out of luck.

Another juvenile with a streaky breast but this time its a Goldfinch applying two different grips to ensure it can reach into the seed feeder.

And finally the best acrobat, the adult Blue Tit, who shows how easy it's done one handed. 

Wishing everyone wherever you are a great wildlife watching weekend.   FAB.

Linking to Saturday's Critters, Camera Critters and I'D-Rather-B-Birdin'.

Garden Friends.

I feel slightly ashamed to admit that so far this year I haven't spent much time attempting to photograph any birds visiting the garden. One major reason is that until very recently apart from the regular Robin and nesting Blue Tits there has been a distinct lack of activity around the feeders.
However, the recent change in the weather and with species now needing to top up their reserves during the breeding season the situation has dramatically changed.

Collared Dove on sentry duty.

So during a lull in the rain showers today I spent a little time with my garden friends. 

I failed to cut back this long established Clematis montana last year but I recently thinned out all the dead wood so now we can appreciate its delicate blooms while they last. Very close by are a number of feeders but at the moment everyone's favorite appears to be the one containing the suet pellets!

 

After many months with no sightings at all (my fears were that their local nest site had been removed) the House Sparrows have returned. 

During the past few weeks just a single female was seen but today there were several very noisy males and females with their youngsters gorging themselves on the available larder.

Anita told me she had seen several spotty Robins flitting about the Hawthorn but while I was outside only one of the regular adults paid me a welcome visit.

 

Another species now appearing on a daily basis is the greedy Starling. Up to five individuals, all in their glossy coats, dropped in during my time outside. I guess I'll be refilling this feeder now on a daily basis!

Other species seen today but not yet photographed were Goldfinches, Greenfinch, Carrion Crow, Magpie and Ring-necked Parakeet. 

The main small border is starting to brighten up with different Geraniums opening on a daily basis. Iris 'Jane Phillips' is still holding up well and the Astrantia is just showing above the verdant foliage together with the many heads of self seeded Aquilegia 'William Guinness'.

After one of the afternoon showers a very worn out Specked Wood decided to alight on one of the falls of Iris Jane Phillips.

Yesterday a Holly Blue passed through the garden.

A Blackbird walked directly beneath my chair and took the opportunity to pick up any seed that had fallen to the ground amongst the ornamental grasses.

I also spent some time sitting on the raised patio at the end of our small garden surrounded by some of the potted treasures I have nurtured over the years while watching the comings and goings at the nest box in the Birch that provides much needed dappled shade during most of the day. (Watch out for a future post on the nesting Blue Tits).

One of the adult Blue Tits taking a brief break from gleaning small insects from the Hawthorn in the centre of the garden.  FAB.

Patch Birds.

A few images of some of the recent regulars seen on my local patch just to keep things ticking over.

Coot out for a stroll.

  Mallards on the move.

Grey Heron.

Female Linnet (Shame about the background)

Willow Warbler.

Male Blackcap.

 Common Whitethroat high amongst the blossom

Starling checking out a possible threat from overhead!

 A Roe Buck watching the 'watcher'.

Carrion Crow just strutting around.

 

Canada Geese enjoying a feed around the 8th green at Horton G.C.

 Speckled Wood alighted in the garden.

And finally (through the window) a Starling eying up the freshly filled suet feeder.

N.B. This is a scheduled post and I should be back live sometime over the weekend.

Who are you looking at?

As soon as I decided to create this post I prepared myself for comments from some of my regular readers who will say "this species is a pest" on account of its abundance, rowdiness and tendancy to devour any food with incredible speed. Well, I like watching Sternus vulgaris; they are inquisitive; males often have a large reportoire of  20-70 different calls; they also have a remakable ability to accurately mimic not just other species but also various other environmental noises......mobile phone ringing tones, car alarms etc.,     

.....and this individual provided an opportunity for some eye to eye contact while I was eating an ice cream!

Even the youngsters can be quite talkative.........FAB

Back from Norfolk and Suffolk.

We are back  from a two week camping trip to windy Norfolk and Suffolk where we saw 111 species and I added Little Gull, Nightjar, Woodcock, Grey Partridge, Golden Oriole (heard only), Stone Curlew, Pectoral Sandpiper plus Pink Flamingo (of unknown origin!) to my 2010 year list which now totals 154. We enjoyed many walks and had a handful of sightings of flying Bitterns and numerous encounters, albeit at some distance, of Marsh Harriers including watching food passes plus Nightingales feeding their newly fledged youngsters. 

To keep things ticking over, while I put together a series of posts of the locations that we visited, here are a few images.   

Pied Wagtail (Motacilla alba)

Pied Avocet (Recurvirostra avosetta)

Black-headed Gull (Chroicoephalus ridibundus).

Apart from Woodpigeons these gulls were the most numerous and noisiest of all the species we saw!

Herring Gull (Larus argentatus)

Working boat leaving Walberswick.

This was my first return visit to this location for many many years so I took a series of shots along the river, including the famous ferry, in the hope my friend Steve in Cape Ann, MA. who has a particular passion for his local waterfront will be interested but he'll have to be patient while I sort through all the images for a future post.

Barnacle Geese (Branta leucopsis).

This shot was taken at Pensthorpe Wildlife Park where breeding has been very sucessful this year. 

Immature Coot (Fulica atra)

Juvenile Starling (Sturus vulgaris)

Ox-eye Daisies enjoying the the sunshine (we did have some!)

After two weeks of neglect and dry weather the garden is in urgent need of attention and I need to get out and about locally but I hope to bring you some more sights from our holiday very soon......FAB.