and a yellow breast. They're confident and acrobatic little birds - often the
first to arrive on a feeder and the last to leave. They love peanut feeders
and fat balls.
I've become quite a keen photographer, particularly of birds. I own a Canon EOS 40D digital SLR, with a 18-85mm zoom, a 75-300mm zoom and a 500mm F4 telephoto. That's a big beast. I've also got a Canon 1.4x teleconverter (extender, in Canon-speak) and a macro extender.
The pictures below are small versions of some of my favourites. Click the relevant heading to go to larger copies of the photos.
| Blue Tits are little birds, with a characteristic blue cap, a black eye
stripe and a yellow breast. They're confident and acrobatic little birds - often the first to arrive on a feeder and the last to leave. They love peanut feeders and fat balls. |
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| Coal tits appear like a cross between a Great Tit and a Blue
Tit. They have the black and white markings of a great tit, but are about blue tit sized. They are quite timid. Their major characteristic feature is the white stripe on the back of the head. |
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| Long tailed tits are tiny birds, noticeably pink, with black caps and
a white stripe on their heads. Funnily enough, they have very long tails. They fly around in excitable flocks, making a very characteristic "clicking" sound. |
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| Bramblings aren't particularly common, and I've only ever seen one to my knowledge. Here it is. | |
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| These photographs are of a male chaffinch, which are beautiful, sparrow-sized birds. Females are rather drab in comparison. | |
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| Green finches always appear more yellow than green to me, with a clear wing stripe and a large bill - used for eating seeds. |
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| Spotted flycatchers are pretty rare - they are red status
of conservation importance, the highest priority. We've had them nesting
in the garden on and off over the years, and this year we were lucky enough to have them back. I think this one is the adult male. Note how upright he's sitting on the overhead wire, his very noticeable tail shape and his streaked breast. |
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| Stonechats are amber on the conservation importance rating, which means that they remain under threat. This male was hopping around near the beach at Minsmere, and allowed us pretty close. Note the insect in its beak. |
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| Another rare one, on the red conservation status list. These
were all at Minsmere. The two photos of the bird in the reeds is the same
bird - the one on the right shows it with a fish in its beak. It was quite a way away and sufficiently well camouflaged that I couldn't see it with the naked eye. The ones below are of birds on the wing. One day I'll get a sharp one. |
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| A juvenile grey heron at Minsmere in November. | |
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| The smallest grebe, seen at Minsmere. | |
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| Jays are the most colourful members of the crow family, most often seen in woodland and identifiable by their white rump. They are famous for burying acorns, and I have heard it said that they're responsible for all the oak trees in Britain. |
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| One of a family of three which were flying around by a field near my home. I believe this is a juvenile, perching on a power line. |
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| Marsh harriers are fairly common at Minsmere, where this photo was taken. | |
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| We had a small family doing some nest building in March 2009. This looks like the male. |
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