Thursday 30 December 2010

Our Brambling!

I've never had so many attempts at photographing a visiting bird as this! Every time I moved the camera up to my eye it would fly off, that is until I finally caught it unawares!
He had been visiting the garden for at least an hour before I managed to get these

From left to right goldfinch, brambling, great tit and another goldfinch


 While I was waiting I took a few more pics of some of today's garden visitors

oh look the siskins have stayed around!

tree sparrow and blue tit

collared dove

and just for comparison this is a chaffinch!

Tuesday 28 December 2010

The return of a winter favourite

The siskin are back! at the moment we only have a couple of females, the male usually appears a bit later on, so I am hoping we will get at least one of those too!
Siskins are pretty small birds, they never seem too nervous of humans, I have stood within inches of them watching them feed in the past.
Once on a family walk in my childhood, I found a bone lying on the ground amongst some leaves, goodness knows how I spotted it but I did! My mother and I took it along the our local museum in Taunton, where they identified it as a siskins pelvis. I had never seen a siskin at that time but I knew what they looked like as my favourite book was my 'Observer book of Birds' and the kind lady in the museum showed us a stuffed one that was in the very large collection of stuffed birds in the museum!
It took quite a few more years before I saw a living one, but now they are one of the birds I look out for every year in my garden at this time of year and this morning they arrived!

Monday 20 December 2010

Tuesday 7 December 2010

I want to get to there but I can't walk on this!

This is where I wanted to be.


But I need crampons to walk on this!
So I will have to enjoy the snow and frost from my garden for the time being and hope that the sun melts the ice a bit so I can walk the dog later!
 

Monday 6 December 2010

My foggy views

This is the track from our house which leads to a half mile long single track lane whch in turn takes us to a country lane and a further quarter of a mile of compact ice before reaching the relative safety of the clear main roads.


So best not to dwell on getting out, much better to enjoy what is around me here, even in the fog it still looks wonderful!




Sunday 28 November 2010

Squirrel silhouettes


Tonight as the sun was disappearing I stood at our window watching a couple of grey squirrels playing chase through the trees

Saturday 27 November 2010

7-30am

First snow of this season, I'd forgotten how quiet snow is, Sun hadn't risen at this point but I'd been awake for 2 hours lying in bed listening to the silence!




 totally pristine snow but not for long


I'm off for a walk!
 but you will have to visit beyond my garden gate blog to view today's sunrise!

Friday 19 November 2010

Pheasant Shoot

Not too many years ago we used to have the shoot on the Common every year, but nowadays the only pheasant shooting done is with the camera and this morning we enjoyed a visit from Percy. Any pheasant visiting our garden is called Percy after our first regular pheasant visitor which was named Percy by our then young children!
This is our current Percy which, as I am writing this, is still eating the dropped seeds under our feeders.


Isn't he magnificent
Such stunning plumage



Monday 15 November 2010

Sunday 14 November 2010

Off to roost

Loved the way the sunset lit up these flocks of Gulls flying back to their evening roost.



We enjoyed yet another dramatic sunset tonight. had to share it with you!