Birds in the Garden

We have a lot of birds visiting the garden, and I had decided to try to photograph them not on the feeders. But it is so difficult, as that is where they like to be. So I have not stuck to my new rule, and here are a few pictures (actually quite a lot of them) of birds I have seen in the back garden since the lockdown began.
 

The long-tailed tits are just adorable.

I am also very fond of the nuthatches, although in this pose he reminds me of an angrybird.

Blue tits and chaffinches are also frequent visitors, as well as the great spotted woodpecker.

I have also photographed some birds in the hedge next to the feeder.  I really think they have some sort of queueing system, waiting there until they can swoop in. What is difficult is focussing on the bird. If I leave my camera on auto-focus, I often get a really nice photo of a twig or leaf. But to manually focus you have to be really quick, or the bird is off.

I did not know what this bird was at first, but have found out it is a dunnock or hedge sparrow. We get quite a lot of them, and house sparrows. I am still trying to photograph a tree sparrow.

This is another bird where I had to get out my book. It is a female chaffinch.

In this photograph they are queueing and social distancing.

The goldfinches are some of the cheekiest birds in the garden.

Finally the rooks who don't often come down to garden, but have been very busy building nests a squawking in the large trees near the road. I feel a bit sorry that they don't get much admiration.

I am still on the look out for new arrivals - swifts, swallows and housemartins.  And also wonder that I have not seen a greenfinch. 

And as for the tawny owls in the barn, there was much more coming and going last night, so we think that they may have hatched and the parents are feeding.

Just a reminder that there is still plenty of time left to join in my Ginx Woolly Linx party for April. Click on the photo above or at the top of the page to find the party. I would love to see what you have been working on this month.

Some New Birds on the Block

Down in Cornwall again, and spent much of the first day indoors, sheltering from Storm Dennis. And surprisingly there seemed a very different selection of birds to look at from my kitchen window. The normal groups of tits were all there (blue, great, coal and long-tailed), but there were a large number of finches. At one point I could see six gold finches, and they seemed like quite an argumentative bunch. But they also seemed to like sitting in the bushes and on the fence posts near my birdfeeders, which helped me in my aim to get a few more natural looking photos.

The River Tamar was very flooded yesterday, so perhaps these birds had had to leave their normal territories. Today the river is back within its banks, and I have not seen any sight of the finches. I slightly wish I had made a bit more of their appearance.

Apart from the goldfinches, there was also a few of this bird, which I think is a siskin, and chaffinches. I also saw a grey wagtail, and then a grey heron down on the pond. I didn't manage to photograph these, but it was nice to see the heron fishing in the pond.

 I wonder who will turn up next.

Just a reminder that there is still plenty of time left to join in my Ginx Woolly Linx party for Feburary. Click on the photo above or at the top of the page to find the party. I would love to see what you have been working on this month.