Winter scent

In several places along local road verges there are coarse heart shaped leaves that grow thickly in patches. Right now the leaves are sparse and the scented flowers reveal that this is winter heliotrope. They almost look pretty.

Shortcrust

Footnote to previous post ............. wagtails do eat pastry. So do blackcaps. At least they do in our garden.

Shortcuts

Recent reports of red crested pochard and smew at Swillbrook Lakes in the Cotswold Water Park had me salivating, so last weekend Kay and I set off on a trip ..................


.............. and struck lucky. But I guess I'd better come clean, because we didn't go to Wiltshire, just to Slimbridge! So they're not actually wildlife snaps at all. Still nice to see - never seen a male smew in breeding plumage before - what a cracking bird.
I think this goldeneye may have been a wild one. Whatever, it was showing the mating display well, but not as clearly as the one below in a pen .............

Looks like it's head is on upside down, doesn't it?
There were wild birds around though. Not rare, or unusual, but the chance to get some close views of birds accustomed to people. A nice wave on the water added some value to the blackheaded gulls

as did the persistent iceThe moorhen was much less shy than usual ..............

and I finally got a decent close-up view of probably the most elegant duck we have, in the form of this pintail (along with the Bewick swans the reason I'd actually wanted to go).The surprise package was the aquatic woodpigeon .............

clearly evolving into a fish - look at those gills it's growing - just like a lamprey!

Raptors

The New Year was ushered in with a trio of raptors, and promises that at least the buzzards may prove to be a source of more pictures as they have taken to using the trees around a field just a couple of hundred yards from home.

The short eared owl and kestrel were down at Aust Warth on Severnside, but the light was poor again.

Meanwhile the wagtails are like buses. These shots were taken when I was trying to track down some fieldfares near home.

The close up shows that the grey wag at least was feeding on rat-tailed maggots. May sound like something from a Pogues Christmas song, but is actually - and I feel almost unbelievably - the larval stage of a type of hoverfly (Eristalis). Look at the long tail used for breathing when in the water.

Also observe the curious phenomenon known as sunshine, clearly detectable in the last 2 pictures - it may have been brief but the timing was helpful!

For goodness sake - sit still!

Why won't all birds pose for the camera?
I suppose everyone has certain birds that become something of a 'challenge'. I have generally failed dismally in the past to get any decent shots of wagtails, but the two daily visitors we've had in the garden over this last couple of weeks got me going again - a pied and a first winter grey (I think). Trouble is they don't stop moving, so if you can't get some decent light the tail wags into a blur. I suppose if you get it right it might look artistic, but so far my efforts just look like bad shots - the whole body tends to bob, so they always look just that bit unsharp.
First efforts were through the windows, hence the slightly opaque appearance.

While I was watching we had male and female blackcaps investigating our orchard. Not that we've got any fruit trees, just a lot of bags of 'value' apples to see what we can pull in. Only the female smiled for the camera though - again a window shot.
I decided to stick up a 'hide' near the apples. Sadly the blackcaps had found the dishes of sultanas and weren't coming out to the apples, but the wagtails appeared and I finally got some better shots.

Despite appearances they don't eat apples - but they do seem to be eating shortcrust pastry! Perhaps it attracts insects?

Feeed Me 2

OK, feeding station nearer home - near Cannop ponds in the Forest of Dean. Put some peanuts in and around the old post, chuck a bit of seed around and what comes along .......................


those well known woodland birds the goose and the mallard! A nuthatch demonstrated a different pose to normal as it warned off a rival
but the target bird was the jay. Several soon appeared, with just one thing on their minds - peanuts!


It's amazing just how many they can cram in at a time
Eventually the chance came for some shots that didn't feature nuts, just a shame the light wasn't better

More unexpected was the visit from a (rather shy) crow
Quite good views in the end - but aren't black areas difficult to expose well?

Feeeeed Me!

Getting close to wildlife is always a problem. A hide is a big plus. A hide with a feeding station in winter is a really big plus. The water rail pictures in the last post were from just such a spot, and it also pulled in other birds including the male and female common pheasant, the dark female - possibly golden pheasant - and the jay and grey squirrel.


But don't the feeding stations spoil the picture you might reasonably ask? I would say yes, but the point is the birds and mammals present other opportunities for pictures that look much more wild. These next few shots were all taken without changing seat, but could have been in the middle of nowhere .......................

(OK I'll admit the goldfinch - at last a teasel cliche shot(!) - didn't use the feeders, but I'm sure the bird activity helped draw it in!)