Garden Visitors

 While I was sitting in the conservatory a few days ago watching a Blackbird feed its chick I thought I would take some pictures of the other birds that come into our garden. Unfortunately, we don’t get the range of birds that we did Blue Tits, Great Tits, Greenfinch, and other small bird even Chaffinch are all absent. The images here were all shot through the double glazing so some are a bit soft.

This Sparrowhawk flew into the garden while I was watching a Blackbird feed its chick.

It put everything up for a while however they soon returned when it flew off.

The reason I was in the conservatory, Blackbird with lunch.

One of the Blackbird chicks.

Female House Sparrow.

Male House Sparrow showing off to a female.

One of the House Sparrow chicks.

The most prolific bird in the garden is the Starling.

There are dozens of them.

This chick can’t make its mind up as to what it has caught.

This one has caught a beetle while the adult looks on.

And then this happened. I have never seen a Starling sit like this before and it was sitting like this for a while. I don’t know if is some sort of threatening or defensive posture.

Chick begging for food.

I have captioned this “walk this way”

Collared Dove.

Jackdaws.

Take off.

Crow.

Magpie with dodgy eyes.

This Magpie seems to be ok.

More from early afternoon.

 It wasn’t only Hare that I found on my early afternoon walk, here are a few of the other things that I spotted.

Harlequin Ladybird on gorse.

Chiffchaff.

Willow Tit.

It’s not often I have caught one singing.

My first Blackcap of the year (I have taken some better pictures of a few different ones lately).

Kestrel.

Lapwing, I like the way you can just see its head above the crop.

Collard Dove.

My wife and I…

 … drove up onto the Durham Moors over a week ago to see some Wheatear so imagine my surprise when we went on our local walk a couple of days ago and came across not one but three males in a horse field less than a mile from home.

Male Wheatear one of three.

I know it’s a rubbish picture but I wasn’t expecting to find these so close to home.

This is what I was hoping to find on our walk, Brown Hare.

Chiffchaff were singing from nearly every hedgerow.

Collard Dove one of a pair.

The other one.

Linnet have returned to the gorse bushes.

This Curlew was in the same field as the Hares.

Clara Vale & Far Pastures

 A visit to a couple of hides yesterday produced some canny birds. The light was rubbish at Clara Vale but as the morning wore on it got better, by the time I reached Far Pastures the light was great.

Female Kingfisher

Male Yellowhammer

Female Yellowhammer

Stock Dove

Collard Dove. I haven’t seen many of these at Clara Vale.

Wren looking for insects in the damp grass.

Pheasant giving me the eye.

I wouldn’t normally take pictures of Grey Squirrels (American Tree Rats) but when they pose like this I thought why not.

One of my favourite birds the Nuthatch at Far Pastures.

Again, at Far Pastures a Long-tailed Tit.