The current harsh weather must make life for our birds extremely difficult. The countryside looks barren, if not beautiful. Of course one effect of the snow is to bring otherwise shy birds straight to the doorstep. Our urban garden has seen the first bramblings this year, mixed in with other finches (goldfinch, chaffinch, greenfinch). The continental blackbirds also appear in numbers. Quite often you can spot one bird who has found a bush bearing berries 'setting up camp' and fending off all others - a tough job.
I have not yet seen any waxwings, but I have had many redwings. These excitable birds are magic and a joy to watch; they come right to the side of the house where there is a bush currently laden with orange berries. The limits of my camera are reached again, but here are some of my efforts.
The second photo down shows the one bird that kept dropping the berries...
Your pictures are just beautiful!! Carla
ReplyDeleteMany thanks - do you have redwings where you are?
ReplyDeleteHi there Peter, now I’ve never seen Redwings before. Nice captures there. We’ve been lucky enough to see Bramblings this year for the first time which has been great.
ReplyDeleteJust wanted to pop by tonight to wish you a Merry Christmas and all my best wishes for 2011 :-)
Shirl - Happy Christmas to you too!
ReplyDeleteI have also seen bramblings for the first time this year - in the garden and now in our local park...
Surprised about the redwings - they're everywhere at the moment. Just look out for bushes with berries on in parks, gardens and hedgerows, and listen out for clacking and screaching - they'll be htere.