A Garden Hour

Before Work...
A quick hour in the garden was really good fun on a nice sunny morning. It started with some stupidity in the pop up hide as once I was properly installed something went ping and all the birds flew off as the hide almost deflated ! Some hasty improvisations and I was up ( rather in ) and sitting again - less time available now.

First bird in was quite a surprise, a Nuthatch, and before I had time to sort the camera's settings. A good photographer would have done this before getting in the hide of course. My pics then were a bit over exposed - still it's a Nuthatch and although I was ready after this, it never re appeared at the nuts, despite calling all the time.

Then after about ten minutes the usual suspects started to arrive... Woodpigeons first and despite the use of a No Wheat Mix to try and keep them at bay a bit, they found the sunflower hearts feeder. They really do dominate and it was hard not to shout at them from my cover so the smaller birds could get a look in. Luckily they quickly decided to feed on the ground and keep the feeders open to others.

Once again close up views allow the conundrum of the irregular iris - why oh why do they ( and Oystercatchers, and Black Woodpeckers ) have this ? Hey Ho .... an unanswered enigma

Then came the Goldfinches, never an underestimated bird. They do love Niger seed and are really quite fearless

In recent years CJ WildBirdfoods have developed the Niger seed feeder so it is more efficient. Gone are the small slits which cost the birds too much time and effort to access the seed, and now are the larger port feeders, and I must say a great success in our Stanhoe garden. These feeders with a smaller access area than general seed mix also allow for better cleaning, overall excellent ( of cousre available from The One Stop Nature Shop ! )

Hmmm... thinking about it