More Activity In And Around The Garden

With the delightful news of school being shut on Monday, I headed out into the garden at around 10:00am that morning to see if I could get any more shots of birds in the garden and any more of the Fieldfares and Redwings. Prior to getting the camera out, I put some bird seed in the feeders and laid a tray of bread on the wall so as to try and attract more birds in the garden. It managed to, and this helped on the photographic front. There were still plenty of the commoner finches and tits about, but surprisingly the expected lot (Chaffinches, Blue Tits etc.) were not the most regular visitor to the feeders. There were a few Coal Tits in the garden, and they seemed to be spending the most time on the feeders. This allowed for a couple of nice shots, although I didn't manage any of them on the feeder.

Coal Tit, Aberdeen (20/12/10)

This beauty was still around as well, perched up on the wall so perfectly that a photo was just irresistible.

Song Thrush, Aberdeen (20/12/10)

It was nice to re-discover the stunning male Bulllfinch again, who was more obliging this time and seemed to not be the only one in the area. Later on that morning, a flock of 4 Bullfinches were seen in flight over the back lane, calling as they went and presumably containing the individual I had seen earlier on. 2 of them, both fantastic males, landed on a tree not too far away from me whilst the other two flew onwards. I was astounded by this total - I was very happy with 1 the day before, but 4!! Fabulous stuff and definitely the highlight of the morning! However, it shows how desperate birds have become in this freezing weather. You'd never get 4 Bullfinches here if it weren't due to the current weather conditions! Below is a photo of the bird I presumed was the only individual taken in the garden, and also a photo of one of the two that landed on a tree in the back lane.

Bullfinch, Aberdeen (20/12/10)

I didn't have a great deal of time as I had made other arrangements for the day, so I spent the last hour or so available round the back lane to try and get some more shots of Fieldfares. Sure enough, there were the Fieldfares again, 6 of them this time on the exact same bush as they were on the day before. I would have got more photos than I did if it hadn't been for a couple of snow showers forcing me to shelter under the roof of a shed! However, I am much happier with these photos than my previous ones, as they didn't require that much brightening at all and the quality of the photos has improved considerably. I can safely say that I don't need any more photos of Fieldfare or Redwing now. Below are the Fieldfare photos I managed.

Fieldfare, Aberdeen (20/12/10)

That was all I had time for, but overall it was a very satisfying couple of hours. This is very likely going to be my last post of the year, so I'd like to wish my readers a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! It's been a sensational year of birding for me, and shortly after New Year I will be releasing my Yearly Review and Round Up, which will appear as a tab below the title picture of my blog.

Best wishes and all the best for 2011,

Joseph Nichols (Aberdeenshire Young Birder)