January 22nd – Since we’ve retired, we’ve lost all of our daily drivers; must get up for work; got chores to do; Breakfast / lunch / Dinner time …. and we’re loving it, apart from never really knowing what day it is, what time it is 🙂
Is that such a bad thing? Anyway, I headed up to the oak tree for my walk and photo session for the day. I grab shots all the time; sitting next to a window that looks out on our bird feeders does that!
I’ve been going up here now for a few weeks, taking a bag of mixed bird food and a bag of Red Squirrel food and they’re getting to know me!
Birds start appearing in the branches overhanging the lane and …
The nut man’s coming!!!!!!!
OK, so maybe not quite, it turned and ran into the bushes on the right and I never saw it again, that day but a nice thought.
As soon as I arrive, a small group of birds perch above my head, watching, waiting. A couple have taken to diving into the food as soon as I drop it or even dropping onto my hand.
The Coal & Blue Tits don’t hang around and sometimes the Robin dives in too but the Great Tits tend to hang back.
I’ve now noticed one of the Robins disappearing into a pile of fallen branches and grasses so I’m guessing there may be a nest in there, I’ll keep an eye on it and let you all know.
That set of shots aren’t cropped at all, maybe to centre the bird but that is how close they come, bearing in mind it is a 180-600mm lens, usually out at full stretch.
The group has now been joined by Treecreepers, elusive little beggars running up and under all the branches, not always easy to get a shot of but some of these stop long enough for me.
The bird that really brought me up here is the Nuthatch; I’ve probably said before, they’re not hugely common up here so it’s been great news to see a few in the area, hence, I’m up there watching, waiting…. who knows? They may nest this year!
I hadn’t ever noticed before but, they appear to grab a few seeds and nuts and tuck them away for later, maybe when they have young mouths to feed?
Something else I’d not seen before was freezing! The next bird ‘froze’ on a branch on the Oak.
I stopped taking shots because it really wasn’t moving ….. much. A predator nearby? Having a break?
You can see in that set that it is actually moving its head a little as well as its eyes.
Either I just happened to catch it in mid blink or, it’s having a wee nap!
That last shot is 4 minutes after the first! It never moved from that spot.
And then ….
Back to stashing. Finding a good spot and hiding a Sunflower seed in there.
Interesting behaviour. Another thing I’ve noticed about them up there is that they / it is totally quiet. I know Nuthatch calls are actually pretty loud, you can hear them all over a forest so, is it just prepping for mating and nesting? Will we start to hear calls when Spring really arrives? I’ll keep you posted. 🙂
I started making my way back down the lane, I can easily spend hours up here and sometimes do.
The squirrel shots were at 13:57, my last at 14:55.
I stopped off at the junction feeding post to drop off a small amount of mixed food and the Coal Tits were on it instantly. The Robin stayed across the road on its Gorse bush and watched until I walked on.
I think this bird may be nesting or planning to nest somewhere nearby, it’s almost always here.
So, homeward, nothing else to report but I’ll be back, I think 😉
patch photos
Scozmo's Photery 