Garden birds

The weather over the last few days has mostly included rain but there has been sunshine every day too. I've not had a great deal of time to look at the wildlife but I've still managed to see the odd bits and pieces. I thought that I had better check out the garden birds too. I missed out on the Swallows fledging in the garden but they are still hanging around. Here is a photo of the Swallows at the shop who should be on the wing in the next couple of days.

The first bird I managed to photograph from the garden was this Buzzard. It was a whole lot closer to start with but by the time the camera is sorted it's hardly worth the effort!

There are quite a few Siskin and Lesser Redpoll flitting around the edges of the garden so a bit of constructive planting should bring a few more birds in. A family party of six Redpoll were flitting about in the sunshine so I waited for them to head for the fence and I was lucky enough to have them land quite close.

Most of the time when you step out of the house the Swallows go mental trying to scare you off so it was nice to see these two preparing for the next attack!

Friday was probably the most productive day with some nice atmospheric weather. Just as we arrived at the shop in the rain there was a bit of a commotion with the waders and the male Hen Harrier flew straight past us! I scrambled for the camera and got one of the most stunning photos you will ever see...

...good eh?;-) At least you can tell what it is. There seemed to be quite a few extra waders out there and I could hear Dunlin calling so I hauled out the scope for a good look round. Redshank were up to 25, 12 Dunlin, at least 20 Curlew, 6 Ringed Plover, 1 Greenshank, 3 Grey Plover (uncommon round here) and an Otter - well worth it! I checked again later in the day when it had cleared up and they had all moved on. With most of the decorating done I'm back to work today so there should be a few things to report.