Toft Birds

I took Phil's Olympus camera for a walk today as my Fuji is quite hard to manage with a very stiff painful forefinger. Quite a bit of territorial behaviour getting going among the birds yet the trees by the old railway had a flock of more than 150 Redwings still here before departing north. Although it was quite cold there were obviously large numbers of gnats in the air by the stream.

Summer Leys Birds

A few birds from Summer Leys reserve including a family of Bullfinches, which was great as they are a bird so rarely seen now.  

West Stowe Country Park

We took a walk round West Stowe Country Park yesterday in very dull lighting. The Greylag and Canada geese entertained us; I was interested how similar the plumage was between the two species. The area of the bird feeders was very dark so the shutterspeeds were slow and ISO high. One Bluetit had a very interesting eye abnormality. Great to see Coal and Marsh tits together.

Birds at our Feeder into the Light

We had some fun photographing birds on our feeders with the sun almost directly behind them showing of the wing feathers. These were taken at 1/2500 of a second and still not quite stopped the motion and focus not always right on the eyes but I love the patterns the wings make.

Strumpshaw on a Windy Day

 We spent a very windy day at Strumpshaw Fen so there were not a lot of birds to see. The Heron came obligingly near and the birds on the feeders in the woodland kept us happy for a while in the afternoon. It was good to photograph March Tit and Nuthatch along with more common species.

Birds in the Blossom

Last time we visited Wicken Fen the Blackthorn was still in bud so I was keen to revisit before all the petals had blown off. There were not so many birds around this time but this Bluetit and Female Reed Bunting obligingly perched just right