Firstly, sorry if this is in the wrong section of the form admins.
Today,at stupid oclock, went out, quite chilly and dark, walked fr about 20 minutes to the local community woodland.
There as agreed, if a little late,was a gentleman I have only known a short time, but he has been known to you all here for a while now,we both settled in to our make shift hides, as I had already "fed" the expected hungry hordes.
We sit beneath a recently fallen tree, with dense shrubs,small trees to the right, and looking down the main trunk of the fallen trees.
I placed in the likely spots, natural holes in branches,a mix of chopped raw peanuts, seed mix, and the gentlemans secret pasty mix.
I dare not use names for fear of being sued, you will see why ,soon.
As daylight came upon us we merrily fired way with our cameras, and I did my best eved session of identifying some birds.
57 years,6 months and I can now, as of today name the following, on sight only......
Great tit
Willow tit
Robin
Blue tit
Dunnock
Long tailed tit
Chaf chaf
Black bird
Chaffinch
We saw several of the above, as the morning progressed.
During a quiet moment, I reached over to get my small flask, to have a sip of nice warm coffee.
To my absolute amazement i saw a grey squirrel.
dropped my coffee cup, luckily it is metal, and loudly whispered ,,,,,,,,,, look at that...................
No response.
I removed my camera from the tripod, turned left and took several shots, as the squirrel obligingly sat still and posed beautifully.
After two or thre minutes, it casually walked away.
It was no more then 6 meters away.....
Did you get that, I excitedly asked,,,,,,
get what came the reply.....
Attached,(hopefully) is a picture to prove I did not dream it happened.
As for my mentor and coach, he has no such picture.
�
My flickr pictures,my web pictures,Is it better to sit quietly ,and be thought a fool,than to open your mouth, and remove all doubt.
Here is my proof
Well what do you know, my mentor has identified himself,hence my confusion which section to post in, was going to describe asleep in hide, south Yorkshire,and see how long it took to be identified as your self.
Blowing your own cover Alan? Well I never lol
Regards
Ian
That's a cracking shot Steve and nice to see one of the little beggars in its 'natural' habitat. Only time I see them they're hanging upside down from my washing line chewing the bases out of my nut feeders!
Of the squirrel,or you asleep ?
I know what you are doing, testing my newly found, yet to be perfected, identification skills.
Willow tit ?
Hi Steve (and Alan of course!) I read your post with interest because I have been to your community woodland and gazed upon a kingfisher there, that your mentor kindly found for me! So, a makeshift hide now. I'll have to come along and see that for myself some time! Great willow tit photo with the dunnock lurking in the background.
See my Flickr photos here
https://www.flickr.com/photos/115745582@N04/
Did not see the gulls this morning, I saw them this afternoon,I guess the boss was having a nap ?
lool
been a great weekend here for looking at nature, hope the same where you are.
If you come over , make sure you ring first,or you may be alone.
Only kidding.
Pop along, and bring some scrim,coffee or tea as we have no facilities here ,only a big smile.