In the Garden

In my garden I have 5 nest boxes that were all successfully used by Blue Tits. Consequently the garden is now full of the sounds of chirping juveniles, along with a good number of young Great Tits. As they aren't cute for long I decided I needed to get some shots, quite easy really as they are queuing up at the many feeders I have around the place. Getting the right pose is the tricky bit, as they don't keep still for more than a split second. Anyway I managed to get some decent images along with a few other species, although with the camera and lens set up I had, some of the species were a bit on the large size to fit in frame. I had to do a few head and arty images just so I could get the shots.

Juvenile Blue Tit

Juvenile Great Tit

Male Bullfinch

Female Bullfinch

Female Blackbird

Male Great-spotted Woodpecker

Stock Dove

Magpie

Juvenile Magpie

Winter Thrushes

I awoke on Sunday to see a strange bright light in the sky, I vaguely remembered it as being the sun and had to put aside any festive chores to make the most of this rare occurrence. Wiping the dust off the camera, I headed to a holly tree that was laden with berries and was attracting a lot of Redwing. A few good hours were spent getting some nice seasonal shots. A Fieldfare feeding on fallen apples was a bonus on the way home.

Redwing

Fieldfare

Blackbird

Snowy Blackbirds

I have ended up with several hundred images of Blackbirds in the snow.  This wasn't my plan, I had hoped for Fieldfare and Redwing shots but thanks to a couple of aggressive female Blackbirds they didn't get a look in, they and other Blackbirds were chased away every time they attempted to land. Even after spreading the apples over a larger area there was one bird that spent  more time and effort guarding them than it did feeding, at times it was the only bird on the ground, with at least 15 other Blackbirds wanting to feed.
I think it must have been to the Mistle Thrush school of fruit guarding!