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

Azure-winged Magpies

Another species from our trip to Extremadura last year is the Azure-winged Magpie. A really smart looking bird that I had been hoping to get some good shots of. When we arrived at the hide it was very gloomy and raining, the first shots taken were not very good at all. Fortunately after an hour or two it started to brighten and the shots improved. Eventually having full sun on them.

Like our Magpies at home they are quite difficult to compose in the frame, their tails always being a problem and to have the whole bird in the frame makes them quite small on these web images, so I did a few close ups of head and shoulders so you can see how smart these birds are. There are more on my website.

In Flight

Whilst I'm out working on certain subjects, I try never to miss the opportunity to grab some flight shots of any incidental species that might pass by. These images are some I have taken over the last couple of months.

Lapwing

Raven

Grey Heron

Shelduck

Magpie

Cormorant

Magpies

Whilst photographing the Jays I have had a pair of Magpies coming in to feed, I think their beauty is quite overlooked as they are not the most popular of birds. I'm posting a few shots here to try and show how striking they actually are.