The temperature might have been barely above freezing, the rain clouds hovered overhead all day, menacingly, and a cold wet muddy floor on my backside wasn't too comfortable, but I am so glad I went yesterday.
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| Great Spotted Woodpecker |
After spending half hour in the hide behind the screen on Saturday, randomly clicking the shutter to test reactions to the noise, I decided to return yesterday and give it a go and actually poke the lens through. The hide screen needed a bit of adjustment and a couple of bulldog clips to ensure no gaps around the lens, but once the black shower curtain was pulled across behind me and successfully obscured my outline, the birds were surprisingly ok with it all. With the exception of the Jay of course - such a shy bird, ballsy in colour, but really a big girls blouse when it comes to bravery - he really didn't like it and despite coming in a couple of times to a perch a few metres away and stare at the nuts, he wasn't brave enough to get close enough to grab one, let alone allow me to grab a shot or two and both times flew off loudly squawking his frustration.
The woodpeckers were a different story and had no issues coming down to the bottom of the tree trunk right in front of me to peck the lard from the crevices. At one point two were fighting over the same spot which was cool to watch at such close quarters.
I have to get to grips with which are male and which are female, but I just love the odd chattering noise they make when they flit between the trees. They remain silent once perched, but start up again when the fly. Also we have an abundance of coal tits in the Alder carr, or that's what it seems like anyway... either that or we have just 2 very greedy ones!
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| Coal Tit |
The coal tits are like tiny punk rocker birds with their white Mohican stripe down the back of their heads; they tend to take only the peanuts on the low lying log, they don't stay long either; In, grab and out again - so I spent a frustrating hour trying to capture this one - in fact I think I might have even cheered slightly when I finally got it. The blue tits are always the first back to the feeders after a scare and they will take from absolutely any of them: floor, hanging, bark, log, wherever there is food, they are on it. I was kind of gutted I hadn't taken my bins too as I saw my first Rais treecreeper flitting about 10m back towards the storage boxes. I managed a shot or two but it was some way away. I will have to find out what he likes to eat and put something out for him too.
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| Blue Tit |
Despite the overcast day pushing my ISO up to 1600 / 3200 I was quite impressed with how nice the light was and how rich the colours came out. I can't wait to get back up there next weekend with my new camera. I have finally gone for a pro camera and bought myself a Nikon D4. I couldn't afford a lens straightaway too, so I have hired one for a month to practice with before payday and my next trip to the Masai Mara in a few weeks time. Everything on the Nikon seems to be the opposite to the Pentax and is definitely going to take some getting used to, but I am so excited about getting to grips with such an awesome bit of kit.
