2013 projects kick into life

I'm making a start on a couple of woodland bird projects.  One is in a small woodland a stone's throw from where I live.  Our community group have permission to undertake a bit of woodland management including the setting up of a feeding station.  Early days but we have already had marsh tit pair in and I know there are a good mix of birds around.  The other week one of the marsh tits came so close when I was walking the dog I took a snap with my pocket camera!

 Hopefully we'll have a birdbath/drinking pool/reflection pool soon too. 

Project 2 is set up a further away but I have high hopes I might get some hawfinch in.  I had my first session there at the weekend and I'm sure I heard some ticking although it's been a while so my hearing might not be tuned quite right.

The seed I had put down the weekend before had all gone, so it was no  surprise birds arrived not long after me.  Almost inevitably the first was a robin

then the usual tits (blue, great and coal)

and then a nuthatch or two.

I heard siskin and goldfinch, but they'll need a different feeding strategy.  There were some chaffinch around, but they were quite shy and surprisingly it was their northern cousins that showed more clearly.  The trouble with brambling is that they hoover one seed after another making it hard to get a shot that doesn't have a bit of seed somewhere in view.

I didn't have a hide so I was a bit restricted in what I could do without disturbing the birds, and both foreground and background need some work. but I've had a chance to see the way the light works over the morning now so hopefully with some tweaking it'll be better next time.