Back again in lockdown, my walk was quiet but the birds kept me company

On the look out

Well hidden

They will never spot me in here,

What's for lunch

Where did he come from

I have lost him

Not a lot down there

You don't see many like this ?

Right way up

These berries look good

A bundle of Fluff

  • A nice selection from your day out ILR, love the upside down Lollypop! All looks lovely when the sun shines.
    We are not in lockdown up here, yet! In level one but still not allowed to meet family ect, which I miss read and thought we could, allowed to travel in our level, so at least we can have a run in the car. As I am in the country I have lots of scope to visit nice places, woodland walk (went the other day looking for the Waxwings, but saw none) forest walks, beach, so plenty to explore.
    Keep safe, take care.
  • Thank you Catlady are you in Scotland .? It sounds nice where you are, and the chance of seeing a waxwing Wow.
    I was talking to a guy from Leeds a couple of weeks ago and he heard of a place where a waxwing and another place of where a hoopoe had been seen, he went to both places and was lucky enough to see them both and he showed me the photos of both birds that he had photographed on his camera. I have seen twice this week a bright red breasted bird that I think is a redwing and each time as I was about to press the shutter it flew away. I hope to see it again ? I would love to get a nice photo of it. I am staying local and there are some nice local walks near me that I know are quiet with a chance of seeing something different. The long tailed tits were all in one Hawthorne tree
    Yesterday.

    it’s a very cold day today but I might get out this afternoon. Stay safe.

  • Yes ILR I am in Scotland, up at the very top, in the last county of Caithness. If you have heard of John O' Groats, where folk walk, cycle, run, etc to Land's End on charity events, we live about 30 miles west. We have Dunnet Head and The Forsinard Flows 20 miles in each direction, have a Google and you will see what a beautiful place we live in. I did manage to see Waxwings once in the woodlands a mile away but none the other day, I will go again soon to see if they are around. Redwings are a lovely bird, had them once in the garden, was unsure what they were at first, very thrush like with the red breast and underwing. Good luck, hope you see them, enjoy your outdoor visits.

    Edit, after reading Ann's post, re the Redwing, don't know why I said red breast, got carried away when saying red underwings, sorry.

  • I hope you manage to get a photo of the 'bright red breasted bird'. Any chance it could be a male Bullfinch? The red on a Redwing is not particularly bright, more a rusty red-brown, and is in 2 patches, one on each side of the bird's partly streaked dark brown and white breast, and the patches are sometimes almost totally hidden by the at-rest wings. Have a look here: www.rspb.org.uk/.../ and here: www.rspb.org.uk/.../ .
  • Hi Catlady you do live in a beautiful spot, I will hopefully get there someday at the moment you can’t plan anything but I had planned to go to Scotland early this year but that didn’t happen because of Covid so we will have to see how things pan out. I did photograph a couple of redwings this week although very bad photos as they were a long way a way. But the bird I saw was bright red and as Ann has said it might have been a bullfinch, so first I will have to be lucky to see it again and get a photo of it. Each time I saw it it was high up in a tree and the sun was in its direction. It’s been really cold and foggy most of the day today so decided to stay in the warm. If I do photograph it I will post it on this site, until then.
  • Hi Ann, you could be right looking at the links you provided but until I get a photo of it, it will remain a mystery
    I did get a photo of a redwing 5 days ago and I must admit the photos were rubbish, but the red breasted bird I saw didn’t look like the one I photographed. So a bullfinch could be a possibility. Either way I have to see it again and hopefully get a decent photo before we know. Now we are in lockdown I am staying local, so the spot I go to will be my main place to go to and if I am lucky ??? I will post it on this site. Thank you Ann.
  • Wishing you the best of luck to find that bird again, ILR, and if possible, photograph it! We had Bullfinches occasionally in our previous garden but not yet in this one. We've planted a cherry tree, one which actually produces cherries and hope to plant a few more food-bearing trees and bushes and our fingers are crossed. In our old garden, the Bullfinches ate cherries and sunflower hearts. The male would help himself to the sunflower hearts first and then the female. While she ate, he would sit in the cherry tree nearby, watching, and he would wait until she had finished and then both flew off together. We never saw any youngsters but a few others who post on the forum have seen them in their gardens or when out walking. We had a few Redwings very rarely in our old garden and had a single Redwing visit us quite a few times last winter in the new garden. Puzzling that it was alone; it did not seem to have any friends and they usually are in flocks in the winter. Hope it returns this winter.
  • A nice selection of photos ILR.

    BTW, have you snaffled our LTT's?

    If so, nice to see they've found a good home. Wink

  • Some lovely birds to keep you company on the walk and I find trying to catch them on camera can add a little of something, especially when you manage to get the shot you wanted ... but I would say that, wouldn't I!
  • Thank you Ann
    I went down to see if i could see it today but it was a long shot, since Bonfire night it has been really foggy and my only hope was that the spot where I saw it, there are a number of trees and i thought they may break up the fog, well that was the theory anyway, I did see some more long tailed tits and photographed them but when i looked at them on the PC they were rubbish. Lesson learnt, if its foggy just go for a walk, but don't take the camera. I will visit the spot again when the fog has gone and better luck hopefully next time.

    It sounds like that male bullfinch was very considerate waiting for the female to finish eating before flying off together. Good luck with your Redwing returning this winter.