Back home, new bird, old friends

It seems ages since I last posted about home turf. In fact there hasn't been a shot on the blog from home since December. That doesn't mean I haven't been out and about, but ....well you know.

To start, a couple of rather poor shots, but they mark a first for me. Looking out of the bedroom window a few weekends ago I saw a little egret fly past, along the line of the road Not the flight shot shown here - I was actually looking down on it. On a walk that day I kept bumping into and disturbing what I presume was the same one - always too far way for a decent shot, but nice to see. Unfortunatley the little stream and the path run next to each other. Perhaps a future project, within walking distance.

Otherwise my time over the last 3 weeks has mainly been in the Forest. Each year in late March or April I spend some time there, but this year there were reports of hawfinch at Speech House and Parkend earlier than usual so I thought I'd pop to the spot I've seen them in the past to see if they were there.

As always the first down are the chaffinches and the tits - coal first, then blue then great. Nearly always in that order. (Will I ever take a decent picture of a great tit?)

The robin sometimes breaks the pattern and comes early, but always shows at some stage.

The wren was a surprise - first I can recall, and the treecreeper a lucky bonus.

The woodpigeons are a bit twitchy, but look fine when they do come, though the jay was too nervous and stayed at a distance, making some very unusual clicking sounds as it did so.

The nuthatches didn't appear until the third weekend, but then they came in numbers - at least 3, and, knowing birds, probably more.

And the hawfinches? Perhaps too early after all, although on the first day I did strike it lucky with two short visits.

Not the best light - I rarely seem to have good light when I see them - but you get a really good feel for the size of that bill

and look how thick it is.

I've looked at the times on the photo files and I reckon it was down for a total of 3 minutes spread over two occasions - about 0.003% of the time put in.

Would I do it again? Of course - maybe even next week!

For better versions of the pictures click HERE and check the Latest Pictures album

- use the slideshow to get larger pictures and a better background.