He called her down from the nest with a deceased gull as his prize.  He displayed for her and  she then sat on it and wouldn’t move as he seranaded her, I think he looks very Phantom of the Opera.

Very Henry Moore. 

A few days ago hubby left me at our local wild life reserve while he had a few errands to run. I thought I would be warm enough but I should have bought a coat, so at the end of the day when the drizzle had set in and my body temperature had really started to tumble I waited for him in the shelter of the entrance.  Nobody around just me and the birds.. I took a few snaps as you do, the lights gone, but the camera still works, so go on then. A lovely looking blue tit. 
My favourite long-tailed tits. A lovely robin red breast. And then here he comes, a great big fat grey squirrel.  Hanging off the fat balls he was.. So funny.

They were so pretty, I would love to see the weed dance where they pass a piece of weed to each other. Fingers crossed eh. 

Time ticks on doesn’t it. It feels like weeks since I wrote a blog post.  What have I been up to?  Well, I’m currently getting to grips with an Open University course on photography, which of course is great fun but time consuming.  I never have enough time to read all that I would like to, but I think that is the problem of an enquiring, education is a life long journey, eclectic kind of mind.  There have been almost continuous daily jaunts to our local wild life reserve which hubby and I find very satisfying.  For me it gives me everything soothing in life that I need, coupled with a goodly amount of exercise and a passionate response to learning in the photography and wildlife/birds department, along with enjoying mucky clothes and boots and finding new friends  who are nearly as crazy as I am – it’s a heady combination and I am loving it completely.  I think hubby just likes the peace and quiet and the satisfaction of getting the shot, oh and the cake, all home made from the very good cafe.   It is a real buzz, who would have thought it.  Mind you, it was always there wasn’t it, the trips to the zoo and wildlife parks, the feeding of the birds, the photography, the allotment with all the wildlife, some welcome, some not!  It was all just a build up wasn’t it, to becoming a full time birder.

There has been no crafting of any degree, the only crafting is taking place in trying to learn more about the art of photography, with varying degrees of success, mainly they are just snaps still, but happy snaps and I really don’t mind. I have the sparks of a longing to take a sock to knit to the hide one day, but its just so busy at the moment with all the birds starting to pair up and nest and then I have the woodland walks planned just as soon as my mono pod comes, which is tomorrow..  maybe I’ll tuck a sock in my kit and do a fast ten minute knit while I have my lunch.

Today I saw a Tree Creeper, not just a Tree Creeper, but a Tree Creeper with nesting material in its beak.  I have wanted to observe a Tree Creeper for so long and they are practically impossible to see.  Fortunately I have very good new found friends who are both knowledgable and don’t mind sharing information and are quite capable of telling me to shut up as I come bounding up the path – I would never have seen this beautiful bird without help.

Enjoy. 

So cute. adding a processed image, just because I can. 

Even land locked as I am I’ve always adored seagulls and love watching their acrobatics in the air. I’ve watched them drop mussels to crack the shells on stony beaches but had forgotten about that behaviour, its not often I get to a stony beach that also has the combination of an abundance of mussels.  So as I was watching these seagulls a couple of weeks ago and had noticed that they were dropping things a fellow photographer told me they actually catch the stone/mussel in mid air.. Catch!  Of course they immediately stopped performing and I didn’t witness the behaviour.

Until yesterday. 

I managed to get lots of shots of seagulls carrying stone/mussels and dropping them but not an actual sequence… until I eventually did get a sequence..

Before I show you there are two different breeds of seagulls that I saw doing this, so they must have taught each other and they fly up and perform it with such gusto, that they are obviously enjoying the game.  They drop catch, drop, catch, drop catch several times before coming down for a breather.  Who knew seagulls enjoyed games…

Enjoy. 

‘Well caught!’

The volunteers were checking the nest boxes today at Brandon Marsh and I idly pointed my camera in their general direction when blow me, out popped a Barn Owl. Wow.

I don’t think I will ever capture a Barn Owl in the wild again, I was so lucky.

I was in my usual happy trance like state as I was bird watching, sat in a hide, sun on my face entranced by the gorgeous shovel ducks sifting through the mud when I occasionally noticed a flutter to my left.

so I had a look. Do you see anything?Now do you see anything?

A pair of Long-tailed tits bringing moss to make their nest deep in the middle of hedge, in a few days when the leaves sprout, you may well not even see this.  They were very amusing to watching bringing in nesting material of moss and other delicate objects, I think the last photo might be the tastiest of grubs to give to a mate. 

And the pair are very fastidious as to how the moss should be arranged, a great deal of effort is spent rearranging the moss.

They were almost impossible to photograph being so quick. I’ve learn’t to back button focus to try and capture these beautiful little birds.

I’ll keep trying, I’d love to get a nice clean shot of one of these little beauties.