Birding through a clear eye.

Today I made my first outdoor sortie for a wander around Horton Country Park following the cataract surgery to my left eye on Tuesday. The Surgeon has dramatically improved my distance vision so it was quite an experience to be birding without wearing any spectacles. 

Pied Wagtail

A Pied Wagtail in one of the paddocks who couldn't decide whether to sit in the sun or the shade from the fence!

Still good numbers of overwintering Redwing moving between their woodland roosts and feeding spots in the horse paddocks.

Great Tit

I watched any number of Goldcrest flitting through the vegetation in Pond Wood without any chance of a photo but at least this Great Tit was far more obliging.

Every now and then the bird song died away as this Kestrel made a few forays along the woodland edge.

I'm linking to GOOD FENCES with this final image of a Blue Tit perched on one of the dilapidated woven hazel fences.

Blue Tit Breeding Update.

During a break from gardening over the weekend I managed a few quickly taken shots to confirm that our pair of Blue Tits are now actively feeding their tiny youngsters inside the nest box.

On most visits with a juicy meal both the male and the female flew directly into the box and then reappeared more often than not with the usual 'poop' sack which they drop as far away as possible to ensure that there is no evidence near the nest site for predators to find.

Waiting for a call from inside the box before entering with another meal. As the chicks grow the frequency of visits will get very frantic.

I thought one of the pair was just topping up its own internal reserves from the fatblock feeder but it actually took some of this mixture into the nest box.

While all this activity was going on one of the Ring-necked Parakeets perched high up on sentry duty but was fortunately looking in totally the wrong direction .....

.... and the Pigeon just sat on the garden fence totally bemused.    FAB

For more images from around the world please look in on WORLD BIRD WEDNESDAY.

Window Watching.

Misty days plus snow and ice around my local patch has meant that very little wildlife has shown itself for any photos. Despite the cold weather I was delighted to catch brief views of two Goldcrests busily feeding within the woodland, so hopefully they will survive. The Corvids (Crows, Jackdaws, Magpies and Jays tend to dominate the landscape at the moment. Blackbird, Song Thrush, Wren, Robin and Dunnock scour under the hedgerows for food. Flitting through the treetops were Blue, Great and Long-tailed Tits, Goldfinch, plus Nuthatch and Great-spotted Woodpeckers calling as they move from bough to bough.

Over recent days most of my wildlife watching has been through the windows (which need cleaning!) so here are a few images of the regular visitors to the feeders.

 Coal Tit, Greenfinch, Woodpigeon, Starling and a female Chaffinch which is very rarely seen in the garden.

 Collared Doves waiting patiently.

 House Sparrows and Blue Tit.

 Dunnock.

 Ring-necked Parakeets - the ultimate acrobats.

Grey Squirrel - The opportunistic seed scrounger.    FAB.

Precarious Pigeon

While waiting for the "Evening Geese Flight" last month my attention was drawn to this ungainly individual attempting to manouvre itself through a tangled Hawthorn to reach the 'larder'.

As the light was poor and the scope was already set up I took few digiscoped shots using my pocket compact camera.

Eventually ..... success.    FAB