Friday 27 March 2009

A shower that passed over as I walked home from work proved to be the last of the afternoon, so my walk was dry, but it felt cool in the still gusty wind. The birds were more evident than yesterday, but that wasn't hard! The first birds of note were a NUTHATCH, a pair of BULLFINCH, a COAL TIT and a pair of LONG TAILED TITS all in a large spreading Blackthorn tree that grows in the smallholding area. Whilst in the wet woods, I looked for the brood (s) of Mallard, but didn't find them, however there is a lot of hiding places amongst the trees so they may still be around. A GREAT SPOTTED WOODPECKER drummed, and in one of the tallest trees in the wood a MISTLE THRUSH sang loudly.

The footpath that leads from the wood to the lake area provided a good photo opportunity, when a pair of GOLDCREST let me get close, a little further on a GREAT TIT scolded me harshly - no doubt I had stryed to near to his nest site.

Nothing much at the lake, the usual CANADA GEESE, MOORHEN and MALLARD, with Bullfinch's calling from the surrounding vegetation. I walked back along the path, to the woods and crossed into the tree nursery, which still holds nothing at all since being emptied of trees. I did keep an eye on the sky though, while heading for Migrant alley, just in case a the first Swallow flew into view. Swallows were my main target as I sat on the horse jump and scanned the sky, a PHEASANT called and ruffed his feathers somewhere behind me, and a pair of LITTLE OWLS ''yapped'' loudly at one another from the nearby copse. Once more a SKYLARK was heard singing, and as I scanned to find the 'dot' that it was, being so high up, I saw the first LAPWING of the month fly past my view, the first in fact since the 8th Feb. Not much happened in the next 20mins or so, until a familiar 'hirundine' type trilling was heard overhead, I saw a small black dot and thought ''a swallow''! However, once getting my bins onto it I saw it was just another SAND MARTIN. Who am I kidding, 'just' another Sand martin ? This is only the 3rd spring record I had! The Swallows will make their appearance shortly............


Above and below is the Goldcrest I found along the footpath.
Below is a few pics of the SISKIN and BRAMBLING that continue to feed in my garden. I took the photo's through the window, so they are a bit grainy and out of focus.

Above: Male Siskin


Above: Female Siskin, and a headless GREENFICH



Above: Greenfinch with head back!


Below is the Male Brambling







16 comments:

Adam said...

Great shots today Warren - lucky to have Brambling and siskin on the feeders.

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Josh Jenkins Shaw said...

Nice one with Sand martin, I still havnt seen a sand martin this year, fancy trading one for a swallow!!

Greenie said...

Warren ,
Really like the Goldcrest shots .
They never seem to sit for me .

ShySongbird said...

Lovely photos Warren. I particularly loved the Goldcrest, really beautiful shots.

Ken. said...

Hi Warren.
What a great collection of photo's you took today. I especially like the first one of the Goldcrest. Well done mate.
Apart from the birds you photographed, you also saw a lot of other good species.That's a great patch you have got yourslf

Tricia Ryder said...

I do enjoy your "bird walks" Warren - such a good commentary I can hear the birds singing.

Great pics of the Goldcrest - how did you manage to get it to stay still to have it's picture taken!! Glued it to the branch?

lee said...

Love your photos Warren,send us a Sandmartin over.

Simon said...

Wow, fantastic shots of the Goldcrest Warren!

Kelly said...

The Goldcrest is incredibly cute. He's just a round ball of feathers and you photos are so crisp. Did you use a digiscope to capture them?

Mike H said...

Hi Warren

Realy great photos again.The Goldcrest pictures are really good. Can I ask what equipment you were using for them ?

Mike H said...

Hi Warren

Realy great photos again.The Goldcrest pictures are really good. Can I ask what equipment you were using for them ?

Mike said...

Cracking shot of the goldcrest Warren and the Bramblings a great spot, nice one.

Warren Baker said...

Thanks for all the kind comments on the goldcrest photo's.
Mike, I took the pictures on my Cannon EDS 400 camera, with a cannon EF 90-300mm lens. I was lucky that the Goldcrest came within 3 feet of me!
Kelly.
All my photo's are from the above equipment,I dont digiscope, I'm too lazy to carry all the heavy gear!

Phil and Mandy said...

lovely goldcrest photos mate

Monika said...

Your goldcrest looks almost identical to our golden-crowned kinglet, so much so I thought they might be the same species! Turns out they're just close relatives.

Anonymous said...

I just can't get over those gold crests. They are quite the awesome little birds.