The First Week of February - 1st to 7th Feb. 2023

With Lindsay's health continuing to improve, and her starting to get involved in some of the household chores, I managed to get out twice during the week, albeit relatively briefly on both occasions. This post is, therefore, a little longer than I had envisaged when I published my previous blog post, but it is still very much shorter than that post was - I hear sighs of relief!

Wednesday, 1st February                    Garden

The week had got of to a fine start and on this day we had a slightly better tally of species than on the the first two days of the week. The Redpolls were now starting to use the feeders near my study window, giving me a few better photo opportunities.

Lesser Redpoll (Acanthis cabaret) - garden on 1st February, 2023

These days, we probably only see Greenfinch in the garden on maybe 50% of days, and I rarely photograph one in the garden. This one also came to the sunflower hearts in the feeder outside my study window.

 

Greenfinch (Carduelis chloris) - garden on 1st February, 2023

Thursday, 2nd February                    Garden

I have said before that I don't like showing shots of birds on feeders, but when there's an opportunity to get four Redpoll in the same shot, exceptions have to be made!

Lesser Redpoll (Acanthis cabaret) - garden on 2nd February, 2023

Sunday, 5th February                    Garden

 

I don't often photograph Chaffinch and, in the winter, they are one of our more numerous visitors to the garden. If I do photograph them, it is usually the more colourful males that find their way into my lens. This day I took a few shots of a female Chaffinch.

 

Chaffinch (Fringilla coelebs) (female) - garden on 5th February, 2023

We had just three Redpoll visit this day. However, one of them was much paler than all the others seen this winter. I am wondering if it was of a different 'race'.  Yes, another shot of birds on feeders - the bird in question is the bird on the right.

 

Lesser Redpoll (Acanthis cabaret) - garden on 5th February, 2023

Monday, 6th February                    Garden ; Kelham Bridge ; Garden

 

We had been visited regularly by a female Blackcap for a few weeks. However, on this day, she didn't appear - but a male Blackcap did, and has been a 'several times a day' visitor since then.

 

Blackcap (Sylvia atricapilla) (male) - garden on 6th February, 2023

In my last blog post, I showed an immature Sparrowhawk that had started to make a nuisance of itself, but that had not yet been seen to take a bird from our garden. On this day it was luckier, and took what seems to be a male Chaffinch, which you can see in the first image, below. In the second image, the bird has become aware of my presence and is mantling its prey.

 

Sparrowhawk (Accipiter nisus) (immature) - garden on 6th February, 2023

That afternoon, I went out to Kelham Bridge Nature Reserve, where there are two hides. I spent a little while in the first hide, joining a gentleman that had arrived just before me, and there was some avian action, but only of very common birds. I did take a few photos, however, before moving on to the next hide to see if there was more action to see.

 

Robin (Erithacus rubecula) - Kelham Bridge

Blue Tit (Cyanistes caeruleus) - Kelham Bridge

Having reached the second hide, I found very little action at all, and only of very common birds, but at least these were ones that I am unlikely to see in my garden!

 

Teal (Anas crecca) (male) - Kelham Bridge

After a while, I was joined by the person who had been in the first hide, and we started chatting. He spotted a very distant bird in a tree, which was behind some bushes and not visible from my position. He then kindly offered to move so that I could see what he was seeing. It turned out to be a female Kestrel.

 

Kestrel (Falco tinnunculus) (female) - Kelham Bridge

The late afternoon light on a drake Mallard brought it home as to what a handsome bird a drake Mallard is. They might be the most common duck on the planet, but they are deserving of our admiration.

 

Mallard (Anas platyrhynchos) (male) - Kelham Bridge

While chatting, our conversation turned to cameras. My photographic equipment is getting a bit old, worn out, and unreliable (a bit like its owner, really!) and my thoughts have turned as to what I might replace it with sometime, with the main criteria being quality of image, versatility (distance and semi-macro), less weight to carry, and a limited budget. At one point I was considering a bridge camera but, with the advent of mirrorless cameras, I have been thinking of moving in that direcction. The person that I was with was extolling the virtues of his Canon R7 with a Canon RF 100-400 lens attached. Now I have been a Nikon user (with Sigma lenses for most of the time) for about 30 years. However, I have since been doing some research, and I may be making the switch!

 

Back at home, as the light was turning golden, the female Pied Wagtail visited the garden. She is still a fairly regular visitor, although not as frequent as she used to be.

 

Pied Wagtail (Motacilla alba yarrellii) (female) - garden on 6th February, 2023

Tuesday, 7th February                    Longmoor Lake
 

Another trip out this day took me to Longmoor Lake, situated in the QE2 Diamond Jubilee Woodland which is ten minutes from my home. I didn't get away until mid-afternoon, but it was a beautiful sunny day and not very cold. In the event, little of interest was seen, but I did take a few photos.

A scattered small group of Long-tailed Tits passed through as I approached the lake, and I managed to get distant shot of one of them.

Long-tailed Tit (Aegithalos caudatus) - by Longmoor Lake

I spent a little while in the hide, but all the birds stayed distant. I couldn't resist taking some shots of a pair of Shoveler as the male's plumage was looking splendid in the low sunlight.

 

Shoveler (Anas clypeata) (male + female) - Longmoor Lake

After chatting with @Muttistopheles for a while, I set off towards the far end of the lake and beyond. Not far from the hide, I caught a pair of Canada Geese, which beat a retreat as I wandered down the path.

 

Canada Goose (Branta canadensis) - Longmoor Lake

For a while, I tried photographing some Wigeon that were flying around above the lake, but I did not have much success as the light was failing quickly. This, and the header image (while this post is current) were the best that I could manage.

 

Wigeon (Mareca penelope) - Longmoor Lake

My walk beyond the lake produced nothing of interest and it was time to get back to my car before they closed the gates of the car park. It had, nevertheless, been a most enjoyable time out.

 

This brings me to the end of the week, and this blog post. I shall target producing another blog post for a week's time. 

 

In the meantime, please take good care of yourselves and Nature.  Thank you for dropping by - - - Richard