Thursday 3 December 2009

A Mixed Bag.

I have been mostly housebound over the last few weeks, as have most of us in this area, due to the awful weather. Monday however was such a great day I had to make the most of it so I shot off to the forest and spent a couple of hours at the arboretum. I wasn't looking for anything over sexy, just run of the mill small stuff. I wasn't disappointed there were lots of the little stuff that challenge ones photography skill because of their speed.

There were a pair of critters who weren't moving anywhere at speed. Two fat little Squirrels were out looking for food as soon as it was down.



I cannot recall ever having seen such porky little Grey Squirrels. I was amazed to see this one looking quite so fat.



A female Bullfinch came close, it would appear that she is suffering with the same feet problem as I've seen in Chaffinch, I believe it's a mite of some kind. Only the one foot seemed affected.






Both a male and female Great Spotted Woodpecker came down, this is the female.



Yet again Nuthatches were dashing back and too.



Stars of this particular show were two Jays, they came down and hung around for long enough for some lovely shots.





You can't help but love all the birds, These are common but nonetheless great to watch and photograph.
Great tits.




Dunnock.

Chaffinch.


Blackbirds.





There were other shots I took but I'll save them for another post. As usual click on the pictures for larger versions.