Fun at the Feeders.

As a wildlife photographer I constantly strive to get images of birds in their "natural" habitat. However, sometimes its fun to get them at feeding stations. Garden feeders produce a regular source of birds. I saw a few during the period of snow, the meadow pipit was just one example.

Recently its been back to the "run of the mill" birds. My female Blackcap keeps visiting though.




and occasionally I get a pair of Goldfinch, like today for instance.

Starlings have been visiting occasionally, I love the colours of the Starling, unfortunately the light today was not brilliant so it does not show the beauty off so well.

Earlier in the week I went into the forest. There are a couple of places where the birds feed on feeders. One such place is New fancy view another is Cannop ponds. The feeder station at Cannop has unfortunately been ruined by the Forestry commission, who in their wisdom took down the tables that had been placed there by members of the public and have replaced them with a huge monstrosity of a table. In doing so they have also cut down the small trees and bushes that surrounded the old tables thus creating a vast open area which is not condusive to photographers needs and requirements. It has also caused the Great Spotted Woodpeckers and Jays to think twice about coming to feed.

Dont get me wrong, birds still come to feed. In the recent weather they have needed to. However the place does not hold the appeal that it used to. That's not just my opinion either. I spoke to a number of people who agree with me. I just wish the Forestry would consult with people before they make the sweeping changes that they seem to love doing. Talking of meeting and speaking to people I bumped into my friend Bob Bushell, he's been having some problems with his camera and has bought himself a new Canon 7D. I'm looking forward to seeing some shots from him when he starts to use it. I've loaned him my 300mm lens too as he's thinking of getting one. There should be no excuses now Bob. Visit Bob's website from my links and see for yourselves.

Here are a selection of the birds that I managed to photograph over 2 days at both places.

First off the Coal tit.

A sweet little bird that hardly ever seems to stop. One has to be very quick to snap them.

The Blue tits visit the both sites in large numbers, they are coming into summer plumage and starting to look lovely.

Likewise the Great tit.

A less frequent visitor is the Reed Bunting. This is a male coming into summer plumage with his jet black head almost complete.

and this is the female looking her best.

The stars of the show were some Long tailed tits who came to visit. I love these birds so much.

So beautiful with their incredibly long tails.

I have some more images to sort through so there may be more to follow.

As always click for bigger versions.