Friday 7 December 2018

Three visits to the Little Owls' tree near the Albert Memorial produced first a pair of Egyptian Geese, as usual making a terrible racket ...


... then, when the rain had stopped, a flock of Long-Tailed Tits. This one was not in the least worried by long sharp thorns on the twigs.


A Goldcrest joined the flock, as many species of small bird often do.


A final visit was rewarded with the female owl, enjoying the last of the afternoon sunshine.


There were still enough fallen berries under the rowan tree on Buck Hill to attract a Blackbird ...


... and a Mistle Thrush.


Great Tits gathered on the branches at the leaf yard, waiting to come to take food from my hand.


Another waited in the winter flowering cherry next to the bridge.


A Wren perched on a reedmace head near the Italian Garden.


A Robin in the Rose Garden was doing its best to be heard over the banal pop music coming out of the Winter Wasteland.


A Chaffinch wandered around under the feeder picking up spilt sunflower seeds.


The Black Swan, also very fond of sunflower seeds, came over to the edge of the Long Water to get some.


A Greylag Goose drank from a muddy puddle. They prefer rainwater to the water in the lake, which comes from a borehole.

2 comments:

  1. So many Great Tits! I wonder what their little feet feel like while holding onto one's hand.

    What a little, agile acrobat, the Long Tailed Tit. Such a lovely picture.

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    1. Great Tits' feet are strong, and their claws are sharp. Your finger is clamped firmly and it is on the verge of being painful. Oddly Nuthatches, which a heavier and have longer, sharper and more hooked claws, don't grip as hard.

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