Odds & Sods 2022

gaynorsl said:

Lovely pics Mike, it is always good to see the bigger birds clearing up the overflow, usually pigeons in my garden, but great to see the C. Doves.

Thank you.

Its the same here with the wood pigeons, that was just a lucky break to photo the pair of collared doves.

In our last garden we had as many as 12 Collared Doves stealing our sunflower hearts and slightly fewer Wood Pigeons in the over 3 decades we lived there, but in this garden, in the nearly 3 years we have been here (April will be 3 years), we have only ever seen a single pair of Collared Doves and only a few times. There were only 2 or 3 Wood Pigeons at the beginning here, but we have had as many as 8 recently. We could do with a Sprawk to whittle them down a bit but have only seen those a few times as well here, always a male so far, and have not yet seen one with prey here. Fingers crossed that we have a Sprawk during the bird count this weekend.

It is not good to coop me in, I do naughty things like purchase gear!

The first purchase was a new outdoor jacket, one with decent sized pockets rather than pockets just about big enough for a pair of gloves, the second, a x2 convertor, which I've been trying out, with reasonable success, even though the light was abysmal....

The Canon x2 convertor does not facilitate AF with my lens and camera, so I was pleasantly surprised how well focused the images are.

With the convertor, and no cropping....

A quiet feeder from a house sparrow perspective, there's usually half a dozen or more clamouring to feed....

In other news, all is good, I've been given the all clear to get out and about.....

Very naughty Mike ! But good to treat oneself especially if it's of good use which it clearly is ;-)

Handsome Brambling in the garden this afternoon.  The light was dreadful but he was a really bright spark

Great bird to have in the garden Caroline and lovely photos of this handsome fellow, There are a few at our local reserve but haven't got down there yet due to access road being full of pot holes ! The male Brambling does have beautiful markings, thanks for the photos.

Good to hear you are authorised to get out and about again Mike:-) The converter looks a good buy, lovely sharp pics.

Lovely visitor to have Caroline, never have had one in the garden, Christine used to get loads along with Siskins years ago if I remember correctly.

A stroll around the local residential parkland today to see if the Goosanders were around;    I saw ten of them on the large mere but they were a way too distant for decent photos even with 600mm reach.    Consider these record/ bad pic. shots.  !!       

Madam Goosander with her whacky hairdo. (L) and Mr Goosander (R).    

We also have the largest number of breeding Mandarin ducks in the N.W. of England;    saw dozens today but shy birds that mostly hug the reed bed or small island on the mere which also has a heronry 

Handsome drake - complete with sails.!! .....

and a mini flotilla of Mandarin and 4 on the logs just to give you an idea of how many there are in lots of small groups

'

and one of the friendly park robins who waits for me to drop by with a few live mealworm treats;     this one is already paired up

I went snowdrop spotting on my dog walk today 

First photo are mine along the drive