Seed-munchers

Been playing around with digiscoping garden birds through the double glazing...

Sometimes the results are pretty good, considering

Chaffinches

Rook

Good light seems to be the biggest factor (it's really dull today)

Greenfinch

Other times they are not very good, but it's nice to have a record of what's been visiting the garden

Yellowhammers

Reed Bunting

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

Yellow and gold

Male Yellowhammer, hatched last year

Male Goldfinch, also hatched last year

Been ringing again, this time on our monthly visit to Beeston. It was really too windy to be very productive, but we did catch the first Yellowhammer for quite some time, an array of Greenfinches and Chaffinches, and a Goldfinch.

Yesterday, we were very close to catching a Sparrowhawk, but by the time we'd legged it to the net, it had got out and flown off.

To make up for the disappointment, we caught three Long-tailed Tits. Two of them had consecutive ring numbers - they were the same two we'd caught together at dusk the previous month! Everyone say 'ahhhhh'...

I've been so busy lately that I've barely had any time for photos during the week, and I haven't managed much at weekends either. Hopefully normal service will soon be resumed. Highlights in the garden have been up to 15 Reed Buntings and four Yellowhammers. No sign of newts in the pond yet, though there have been a few Backswimmers and Lesser Diving Beetles pootling around.

photos taken with Canon EOS 30D

Beds birding

Started in Cambridgeshire, at Croydon. It's the highest point in the county and you can walk along the ridge, with nice views across the border into Bedfordshire.

Skylark

The abandoned medieval village of Clopton

A fox was hunting rabbits among the earthworks

Next stop, Broom gravel pits. Move along now, there's nothing for you here...

Yellowhammer

A pair of Oystercatchers fed along one of the pits. The bird not in this photo was ringed

Next, Pegsdon Hills, a Wildlife Trust reserve.

Peacocks were quite plentiful on the blossom

Meadow Pipits were in song all over the hill

Ring Ouzel record shot for Darren...

They have some nice sheep grazing the slopes

Triangulation point

Unusual subject matter for a pub sign nearby

Dog-violet

Sand Martins back at their colony along Meadow Lane

Ringed Plover at Willington

bird/insect photos taken with Canon EOS 30D, EF 300mm f/4L IS USM

macro/landscape photos taken with Nikon Coolpix 995 + Leica Apo Televid 77 with 20x eyepiece

Yellowhammer

A poor portrait of a super bird. Usual moans about it being nearly dark, blowing a gale, etc...

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