Long-tailed Tit babies

 video taken with iPhone 4S + Leica Apo Televid 77 with 20x eyepiece

Green Woodpecker feeding

video taken with iPhone + Leica Apo Televid 77 with 20x eyepiece

Small Tortoiseshell

video taken with iPhone

Swallows

These young Swallows were lined up on our garden fence this evening. Their parents came to feed them, depositing insects in the waiting beaks in mid-air refuelling manoeuvres.

video taken with Canon Powershot A640 + Leica Apo Televid 77 with 20x eyepiece

Garden Birds: The Movie

It's cold and windy outside, so I thought I'd try digivideoing some common garden birds through the bedroom window. It's not come out too badly, but there's no soundtrack.

The stars of the show:

00:00: Goldfinch and Greenfinch are enjoying some sunflower seeds together when

00:10: they're joined - briefly - by a Coal Tit

00:14: another Greenfinch turns up

00:18: a Great Tit and Blue Tit arrive simultaneously, then more Blue Tits and Great Tits

I'll have to try to film the Marsh Tit that's visiting every day at the moment.

Canon Powershot A640 + Leica Apo Televid 77 with 20x eyepiece

That takes the biscuit

I'm all for feeding the garden birds, but this is ridiculous...

video taken with Nikon Coolpix 995 + Leica Apo Televid 77 with 20x eyepiece

HawkVision

Sorry to keep boring you with these dark, dark videos of one of our local Sparrowhawks. I think it's probably the same young male who keeps coming back to have a go at the finches and tits coming to our feeding station (he can keep his claws off the Reed Buntings, mind you).

Isn't he the picture of pent-up tension? He's dying to catch something!

Hmmm, perhaps the concrete post isn't so comfortable after all

videos taken with Nikon Coolpix 995 + Leica Apo Televid 77 with 20x eyepiece

Cockfighting

These two male Pheasants were having a bit of a fencing match in the garden this morning, to little avail

video taken with Nikon Coolpix 995 + Leica Apo Televid 77 with 20x eyepiece

Nucivore

Our Jackdaws are getting pretty good at using the peanut feeder now

video taken with Nikon Coolpix 995 + Leica Apo Televid 77 with 20x eyepiece

Hawk

A young male Sparrowhawk has been in the garden again this afternoon. After another unsuccessful raid, he retired to consider his next move and to have a preen.

video and photos taken with Nikon Coolpix 995 + Leica Apo Televid 77 with 20x eyepiece

The Frenchman

Too dark and through a pane of glass, like all my videos. This Red-legged Partridge accompanied his mate on a visit to our garden this morning. It would be nicer if Grey Partridges came instead, but that's not likely around here. Red-legs are funny to watch and they usually end up sitting on the fence at some point.

video taken with Nikon Coolpix 995 + Leica Apo Televid 77 with 20x eyepiece

Singalongarobin

Sorry, don't do sound, so you'll have to whistle your own soundtrack this time. Today's video contains real sunlight.

video taken with Nikon Coolpix 995 + Leica Apo Televid 77 with 20x eyepiece

Windy day in the garden

Dizzy? Imagine how the Goldfinch feels, clinging to a Buddleia twig in a gale.

video taken with Nikon Coolpix 995 + Leica Apo Televid 77 with 20x eyepiece through bedroom window

ChaffinchCam

video taken with Nikon Coolpix 995 + Leica Apo Televid 77 with 20x eyepiece

I've been reading enviously about the grosbeaks and other brightly-coloured delights frequenting North American gardens lately. So here's a male Chaffinch, one of our more attractive garden birds.

Great Spot

Terribly dark, but here's one of our regular garden visitors.

video taken with Nikon Coolpix 995 + Leica Apo Televid 77 with 20x eyepiece

Sparrowhawk

video taken with Nikon Coolpix 995 + Leica Apo Televid 77 with 20x eyepiece

Everyone else has video on their blog these days, so I thought I'd have a go. I was lucky that this Sparrowhawk perched on the garden fence after trying - and failing - to catch a Blackbird. It's a bit dark but it's not turned out too badly, considering it was digiscoped through a window, and the old Coolpix isn't really ideal for video...

Kestrel video

video taken with Nikon Coolpix 995 + Leica Apo Televid 77 with 20x eyepiece

Another bird of prey doing not very much, this time a Kestrel. They fly past quite often but I haven't seen one perching on the fence before. The Blue and Great Tits weren't very impressed.

What I got up to on Wednesday night

Badger: The Movie, filmed by Dave Badger

We went badger-watching in Hertfordshire again. It was our third visit and we were quite lucky as we didn't have to wait too long for our stripy friends to venture out in search of peanuts and dog biscuits to munch on.

It was slightly disappointing that they didn't fall over or chase each other, like they always seem to on TV.

Visit the Badger Trust and the Herts and Middlesex Wildlife Trust websites