Garden Birding in the lockdown

Hi All

A few pictures from the Garden over the last 2 weekends during self isolation :-)

Cheers

Sean

Stockgrove CP Crossbills , Mandarins & Jay

I had a very pleasant trip around Stockgrove CP this morning which couldn't have started better with distant but pretty good views of 8-10 Crossbill from the car park, there was also the usual culprits on site along with about 15 Mandarins and a pretty showy Jay which is always a treat  :-)

Stockgrove Country Park

On a dull and blustery day I took myself off to Stockgrove to check my camera was working properly after I dropped it quite heavily yesterday. Going on the results with a different lens on, it seems ok which is more than I can say for my poor old 300mm f4 which is now in need of some major surgery.

Anyway the usual stuff was at the bridge, sadly still no Marsh Tit on site.

A Happy and Prosperous New Year to all in the Beds Birds fraternity.

Cheers

Sean

Morning Walk Around The Lodge Sunday 9th Feb 2014

14 brave souls got out of their beds this morning with the wind and rain howling through the rafters and went up to the Lodge for the Beds Birds morning walk hosted by Gen Carpenter. On arrival the driving rain relented and we were left with a pleasant dry but very windy walk around the site, starting at the top heath finishing about 2 1/2 hours later after pretty much a full circuit in the hide.

Due to the wind it was pretty quiet generally but I still managed to come across the usual suspects on site, Raven, Sparrowhawk (2 fly-throughs whilst I was in the hide), Buzzard, Crow, Jackdaw, Magpie, Jay, Treecreeper, Nuthatch, Goldcrest, Blue, Great, Coal, Long-Tailed Tits, Great Spotted and Green Woodpeckers, (sadly no Lesser Spotted)? Greenfinch, Goldfinch, Chaffinch, Robin, Wren, Dunnock, Common Redpole, Blackbird, Fieldfare. I didn't come across any Crossbills, Redwing, Song, Mistle Thrushes or Siskin.

As usual a good day out with the Beds Birds Gang and thanks to Gen for being the leader for the day, job well done.