Bradgate Birds etc

Final few from the Bradgate trip - mainly birds that I enjoyed for various reasons - the Jackdaws intent on removing ticks etc from very patient Fallow deer, pictorial views of Peacock and Pheasant, water-level views of Swans etc.

Through the Kitchen Window

I decided to leave the seed heads of the Evening Primrose that are outside our backdoor a little longer and was rewarded yesterday with these Goldfinches feeding on the heads - plus a visiting 'black' Grey Squirrel.

 

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.

Second Visit to the Red Squirrels Isle of Wight

We made a second visit to the Red Squirrel location that we enjoyed so much on our first day and were rewarded with beautiful light and equally beautiful subjects to photograph. My favourite image is with the light through the background trees

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.

Tallin - Estonian Open Air Museum

The Estonian Open Air Museum spans 72 hectares of very attractive forest bordering the sea just outside Tallin city centre. Established in 1957, the museum showcases 68 farmhouses assembled into twelve farmyards from North, South and West Estonia. I visited the 18th-century rural/fishing village, which comes complete with schoolhouse, a fire station, inn, church, etc, together with interesting toilets and inquisitive red squirrels