Post Furlough Return To Work....

OK, yes I've been a bit absent the last couple of weeks, and with genuine reasons. Normally I pop on on a Wednesday afternoon after my weekly hospital visit, but with the current climate, I'm at work until the hospital appointments resume, and, working has been variable days and times, which means fitting in shopping and other tasks around my work hours, oh and not forgetting the HS2 road closures, narrow lanes etc as they ramp up their work!

So, I'm well, and I hope you're all well?

Any gossip, please tag it here.....

My local reserve I understand has been overwhelmed with visitors, so I've kept away, because in places, social distancing is not practicable. That's nature, not a fault of the reserve, making some paths very narrow. Long term, it doesn't look like things will get much better quickly, especially as a nearby town is experiencing uncontrolled Covid-19 cases, but not deaths, and if Leicester is anything to go by, if a localised lockdown does occur, then i will be impacted.

Lets hope not.

I've not been too busy with the camera, but here's a few, and some interesting rare visitors included....

A large white butterfly enjoying one of the new lavender plants

A peach of a sunrise....

The next two sunrise pics were taken about two mins apart.

A hiding pond lily

And a blooming nice lily

The newly planted erysimum and lavender plants are filling out nicely,

And the big surprise visitors, long tailed tits, of which at one point, we had at least ten on one feeder!

This pic below, there were two just out of the the image, which I didn't see til afterwards.

One cutely waiting its turn...

This one gave up waiting and found another feeder...

And once the feeding frenzy had died off, this one came back....

Take care and stay safe and I'll hopefully catch up with more posts over the weekend.

STOP PRESS!

More LTT's this afternoon!

  • Lovely photos, Mike. You have your Christmas card picture there in the gorgeous Holly! You and Mrs PR might make your own cards this year... or were you planning that anyway?!
  • Lynn L said:
    Good that the travellers respect the place Mike. I do love the Robin having a good old bath in the puddle, and the autum colours in the foliage on the trees with the green and vibrant red of the holly berries, is lovley.

    It is. When we used to go to Cornwall for summer hols, there was a solitary Romany Gypsy we saw every year around Chiverton Cross/Truro, and he never left any trace, not even of the open fire he'd had. I often wonder if he still makes his rounds.

    The robin as having a whale of a time, it was a shame the light was so poor.

  • Unknown said:
    Lovely photos, Mike. You have your Christmas card picture there in the gorgeous Holly! You and Mrs PR might make your own cards this year... or were you planning that anyway?!

    Thank you.

    I hadn't made any plans to make my own Christmas cards, but as I often do, I had played around with the photo, as I do with others, just to see what effects can be created.

  • Though I've no half decent photos, the LTT's are still visiting, mainly at twilight, which requires flash to capture them, and not an ideal scenario with a big lens.

    However, the blue and great tits have been enjoying the coconut shell on the top of the chimera, with meal worms placed inside....

    Particularly on a rainy day!

    Bottoms up!

    And so were the great tits.

    And as all god gardens will have, the good old grey squirrels looking to get in on the food....

    Stay safe folks, it'll soon be Christmas.....

  • Hi Mike,

    Can you tell me where you get your pink fat ball please? and do you think that's why you get Long-Tailed Tits? I have fawn coloured fat balls out and attract the odd long-tailed tits but not regularly although other tits seem to love the ones I do put out.

    Thanks

    Joanne
  • Hi Joanne, I can't see any pink fat balls? Are you referring to the pink suet pieces in the peanut feeders?

    Edit, apologies, I have just gone back to page one, which I omitted last time and can see pink fat balls? I also have never seen those coloured ones before.

  • joanne said:
    Hi Mike,



    Can you tell me where you get your pink fat ball please? and do you think that's why you get Long-Tailed Tits? I have fawn coloured fat balls out and attract the odd long-tailed tits but not regularly although other tits seem to love the ones I do put out.

    Thanks

    Joanne

    Hi Joanne, I'm sorry I can't recall where those particular fat balls came from, and it's made harder because we get them from a variety of outlets, particularly this year with lockdowns etc, including some trade warehouses.

    The LTT's aren't too fussy on the colour, they will eat even the paler fat balls. That particular day (and for the following few weeks), the garden was flooded with LTT's, every feeder was full of LTT's, so I guess it was just another feeder where they could go and feed, it certainly wasn't the first choice, being located furthest from wooded areas of the garden.

    I'm sorry I can't be more specific.

  • Some more from the past week, well, yesterday (Friday) to be more precise....

    These next two need no into....

    I'm open to suggestions, I think a goldfinch (there was quite a chorus from nearby goldies and they do like the height of that tree), but the crest threw me, plus the light was totally in the wrong place and wrong hue capture the colour(s), not even after editing to try and bring the colour out was I able to improve on the originals.

    Today (Saturday), it's battleship grey skies and fine drizzle, so I don't expect any piccies....

    Stay safe everyone

  • Lovely snaps, love the Robin, a favourite of mine, thanks for sharing. I also am unsure about it being Goldfinch Mike, but am no expert. The whole of the front of the bird is tanny/orange, like the male chaffi, maybe it is the light, and the crest? A little bit of wind or a bad a hair day! I am sure others will respond.

  • Nice pics Mike. male chaffi for me without his hairspray Joy..I have a few pics of them with crazy hairdos