some of our common friends

and one not so common but what a garden visitor... and one or two some of us may perhaps prefer not to have

(again still stuck in October 2012)

A nutty time of year

"Well the weather outside is frightful..." 

Some from the archives I never got around to posting...

Blue Tit – 'cheeky chappie'

Jay – the first rays of sunlight

talk about seeing the whites of their eyes; in the original you can see the detail in the iris – for identification purposes!

everyone likes Long-tailed Tits

too many Chaffinch about with bumblefoot

Reed Bunting

Nuthatch

(name that tune, answers on a postcard to....)

There is a 'Jay' in January

Albeit one I photographed last autumn! I just never got around to posting these, (I was busy archiving and deleting nonsense, of which there was a great deal... a bit like the internet, some interesting stuff but 90% rubbish!).

Anyhooo, as usual, years in the making and hours and hours spent twiddling my err, thumbs (arthritis). 

(As always double-click the image for enlarged slide show)

The first image, not great but I liked the way half the bird was in sun and half in shadow... a perfect example in one photo of the variation in plumage created by the light; it's breast a 'warm-pink' and back a 'grey-pink'.

The second image again taken on an overcast day and so we have a dull 'grey-pink'. I watched this character burying its autumn booty, here underneath some moss. Normally the Jay is an elusive creature and you do well getting a glimpse... did I mention all the hours sitting around doing nowt? This amiable fellow(ess) spent a couple of minutes hopping around just in range of the lense although I'd have preferred it a bit closer.

Photos 3 and 4 speak for themselves and I was there at the right time. Did I mention all the hours sitting around doing nowt? (Also partly why the posts on here diminished, I was spending days and hours sat waiting for this rascal... which first began around 2008 I think). The last two photos were captured just as the sun was setting and the sunlight cast a warm orange glow across everything. What do they call it 'the magic hour', morning and evening? I also couldn't believe my luck as this Jay sat there cocking it's head, I do believe at the sound of the shutter noise as I rattled of some photos, and the two images seem to capture this 'listening'. 

If you half close your eyes or squint at picture four you can understand why Jays are pink: amazingly a perfect colour for disappearing into the autumnal background colours – I don't know about the rest of the year! And sadly recently I have only caught the odd glimpse of the Jay despite the fruitless hours spent over the last four weeks or so. All in all worth the effort and I hope worth the wait for the post. 

Soon be spring... did I say this weather is driving me mad? I feel a roadtrip coming on... anything to get away from this bloddy awful Lancashire weather. 

Bits and Pieces (again)

I have been somewhat remiss in not keeping up-to-date, but days pass and become weeks and I'm sure you don't want to be bored with the same old subject. Anyhoo here are a selection of images from recent weeks from me on me travels. A Linnet at Knott End is enclosed as I have seen several reports of Twite, yet I have seen non, but I have seen Linnets – but no sighting reports of Linnet and thought it odd. On 20 October over at Eagland HiIll I saw my first influx of Pink Footed Geese estimated at about 6,000 and the sky was full of skeins of about 150 dropping in, hence the photos, taken as always as the light was failing. A Sparrowhawk flew past hunting the hedgerows and about 2,000 Starling were flocking before moving on to roost in Blackpool no doubt.

On my local patch I came across a buzzard being harassed as they so often are, sadly I haven't seen it since and those wing tips are so distinctive. Autumn is the time for reaping the nut harvest and windfall, this Jay was reasonably obliging while a Great Spotted Woodpecker has set about stripping the bark off one of the trees.

The Pied Wagtail I caught just taking-off along the esplanade at Knott End (on a very miserable day, but the flat light produced an almost monochromatic Japanese print effect) and included the Chaffinch as the colours of the bird reflected the colours of autumn and the moss and lichen on the branch.

Out and about...

Newton Marsh has not produced a great deal recently other than the usual suspects, Wigeon, Teal, Shelduck, Mallard, Coot, Moorhen and two Mute Swans, a couple of Curlew and singing skylarks and the exception, an old friend from December, a Merlin. The water appears to be too deep for the waders or indeed the dabbling ducks and I am not convinved the additional man-made features as enhancement has actually helped, it seems to be holding too much water and not draining properly; perhaps in time the 'improvements' will show benefits. There is certainly a lot more traffic to the Waste Disposal Site and contractors to United Utilities Site appear to be creating a disturbance forcing the birds deeper towards Freckleton and away from the east end. Perhaps as the days grow longer, earlier and later visits may produce something 'interesting'.  This fleeting glance of a Merlin, on a grey day was short lived as it was disturbed by a passing wagon. On one visit it appeared to be 'bath day' as about twenty wigeon were busy calling to each other while all taking a bath, splashing and preening.

Merlin

Male Wigeon

Male Wigeon

Female Wigeon

Female Wigeon

Female Great Spotted Woodpecker – tree hugging

Female Great Spotted Woodpecker

Starling

Pied Wagtail (female)

Siskin (female and male)

Siskin (male)

Jay

It always surprises me how Great Spotted Woodpeckers know where you are and always disappear around the other side of the tree – not quite this time! The tendons in their feet must be amazingly strong the way the grip the bark – unlike my arthritic hands – make you wonder if they suffer the same in time. A couple of 'common birds', those we so frequently overlook – fewer Starlings have been visiting the garden recently but a pair of Pied Wagtails have been regular visitors, especially during the colder and harder weather. I was surpsrised to see these Siskin, a first for me, and outwitting Jays to get a photo is a major pre-occupation taking a great deal of patience, time and suitable weather conditions.