Find the berries, find the birds

When Kay decided to have a kip for an hour on Christmas day (full of cold and knackered after coughing all night) I did what any newlywed would do. I took advantage of the one sunny day forecast for the holiday period and headed out in search of some berries. I knew the rowans on the industrial estate had been stripped, but some brief visits to the garden from redwings and a fieldfare led me to look again at what other berries might be around. After driving round the Severnbridge estate for a bit I saw some small thrushes fly into some bushes. No idea what the shrub was, but it had small black berries and the redwings were tucking in. After a while it clouded over so I had another explore. the pavements were lethal with ice under the snow, but under a hawthorn largely stripped of berries some redwings and a fieldfare were eating the fallen fruit. They were pretty twitchy, but snapping from the car one relaxed enough to chase a lively berry almost under the wheels.
2 days later (now apparently known as 'Next sale day') I tried again, despite the crummy weather. Nothing at the previous sites, but I followed a few redwing flying into a small car park and found some pyracanthas, redwings and, to my surprise, a greenfinch. At first I thought it was on the berries, but then realised it was discarding the pulp and eating the seeds, bullfinch style.
Heading for home I found a patch where the snow was already retreating, with a flock of winter thrushes rooting amongst the leaves. Again the car was needed, and the fieldfares stayed out of view but in time some redwing came along. My 1DIII is having a new mirror box (?) fitted so all I had was the 400D - not the best in low light, and nasty pictures at more than ISO 200, but I did get a few just about sharp shots.

Some more of all on the web album.

At last - local waxwings

Ok, there are shots of waxwings everywhere! However the chance to see and snap some 5 minutes from home with vibrant coloured berries led to a whole load more pictures, a few of which are below. As ever more on the web albums. The buzzard was a nice bonus and seemed to be hanging around the industrial estate, so one to log away for another day.



In the shot below you can just see the waxy red projections on the wing feather tips.


I expect this will be the last post before Xmas, so here's wishing you a good one.

The Wrath of Turdus

There was a promise of sunny spells, and as I planned to be over the bridge anyway I headed back to Marshfield, where there continue to be reports of finch flocks and winter thrushes on the Birding South Gloss website (here). I met Martin Hayes when I was wandering around, and should have thanked him better for keeping this going, especially for us out of towners. As before the birds were around in reasonable quantities, but getting near enough for a snap was more tricky.

Eventually these field canaries and I came to an understanding. I would crouch in the raised field in full view and keep still. They would fly in and out of the hedges ad eventually get the confidence to come close enough for a snap. The background is a bit twiggy, but the yellowhammer is such a cute little thing I can live with that.

However when it came to the winter thrushes the same old problem arose. I am convinced that Turdus the Thrush God has put a hex on me. Even when the buggers come close enough for a snap the camera/lens can't get the focus right. Sit in a tree and 9+ of 10 are ok. Sit in the grass and the lens misses. They don't look too bad at this resolution, but none are pin sharp. And look how close the redwing was. I could understand the fieldfare which was, obviously, more distant. Alright probably less divine intervention than some kind of pre/backfocusing issue which occurs with the camera pointing down and a grassy background. It even happened here last weekend with these local song thrushes from Caldicot Castle. Right, you might look and think - not that bad, but I binned loads. The one on the molehill was the only one at that range in focus. Ok if you fill the frame it works, but not at usual shooting distance. And that redwing was fairly close (for once).

The dunnock and robin at Collister Pill were the same. Sit on a gate and bang, pin sharp. Down in the straw and one of perhaps 20 dunnock in focus, and every single robin blurred.

I've tried all the autofocus options. And yes I've tried manual focus, but the viewfinder on the 400D is so small and crap that my iffy eyesight can't tell if it's sharp. It looks sharp, but I'm worse than the autofocus when I get them on the big screen! I know I'm hard on my kit, as I invariably use a 2x converter on the 300mm lens, but I have to get as close as I can! Maybe Turdus would be appeased if I sacrificed a cat? Pass the antifreeze ....................

As always better images can be seen in the web albums HERE.

Click on latest to see these ones.