Not so much, needle in haystack!

More can't see the bird for the trees.

Spent a great deal of time today trying to capture Blackcap. They are a very common species in the forest, but my are they hard to photograph. I joined Chris G on the lower part of the Nagshead reserve, he had already got some cracking shots which no doubt will appear on his site (see links).

I think Chris would agree that we gave it a good go, indeed I can honestly say that my back and legs are killing me now. However the best shots didn't come my way. Here is my best effort.

Not great I know. Have you ever listened to one of these little beauties in full song, very similar to the Robin but so much more melodious.

We also spent time trying to crack another common but difficult bird the Wren. Spending so much time in amongst the bracken and brambles rather than high in tree branches makes this even more difficult to get a good shot of than the Blackcap. Here's my best effort of the day.

Good job it's not all about good shots on this blog, but also about how and where. We couldn't get close, not without a hide and patience.

A nice shot though was this of the Dunnock, or as I like to call it, the Hedge Sparrow.

A hard and tiring day, with little to show for it. The weather was beautiful though wasn't it?

Please Sir i want more.

Went back to look at the yellowhammers briefly. I just love them.

They are just so friendly and obliging.

Once they get used to you being there they just go about their business.

Think that these were a pair, as they never were far away from each other.

Also present was a willow warbler, another little brown job (LBJ) with a beautiful song.

This little character was catching insects and flies in the air, couldn't manage to capture that though

The butterflys are out in force now, these are two I've captured over the last few days, sorry about the quality but they were taken with my 600mm lens, not ideal for the job.

This first one is a male orange tip.

This is a Peacock.


This time of year is great isn't it?