Arty by accident

I am definitely not talking about my art skills in terms of painting and drawing in the title of this post- I dropped art at GCSE level for a reason! In fact, I am talking about taking photos of birds... Isn't it funny when a photo doesn't turn out how you expect it to, yet still looks good in a different way. This happened on many occasions yesterday and I thought I could base a posting on it. I found that it most often occurs that you get a strange but arty photo when you are trying to be creative with the camera. The light was fantastic yesterday, so I took photo after photo in the evening. I was bound to get a few unusual shots from the 60 odd that I took, and here they are...

The first picture below is of a Wood Pigeon in flight. Would you have guessed it- probably not, but thats just what I think makes it an interesting photo. I was attempting to get a photo of it in flight, but the shutter speed on my camera is quite slow on automatic mode, so it blurred the wings of the bird. I was actually trying to take the picture so that the pigeon was in the middle of the shot, but by accident, it ended up in the bottom left of the photo. I was surprised with the good effect.

Again, have a guess what bird is in the photo below. In fact, how about I don't tell you what it is... it makes the photo even more intriguing. Have a guess if you like as to what bird it is. I bet some of you keen birdwatchers know birds by their shape. As a clue, this is a common garden bird which likes to feed on sunflower hearts. With the fading evening light, the birds were silhouetted against the sunset, and created a great effect. Again, completely by accident, but an effective shot, if I do say so myself.


You should be able to make out the bird in the photograph below. It isn't the same bird as the one in the photo above, by the way! The Goldfinch often visits quite late into the evening, and even in the fading light, it is still easy to make out the bright colours of the bird. Not so much of a silhouette shot, but similar to the photo above. Also, not quite as shy as the more bossy Greenfinch, so easier to photograph.

So, all in all, I had great fun taking these weird shots by accident. Why not have a go yourself!

Birds in April sunshine

Its always nice to see the sun shine so much at this time of year. It was pretty warm all day yesterday, and the birds have been busy at our bird feeders all the time. It has mostly been the usual suspects in the garden, but its always pleasing to see some less common birds visit the garden, especially if you have tried to attract them with different foods. The good light is good for taking photos too.

The Long-Tailed Tit in the photo below has got to be my favourite. The quality of the shot probably isn't amazing, but the amazing agility of the tiny bird makes the photo quite quirky. Most other birds would probably be unable to access the fat cake in that feeder, but this one decided to hang upside down off the feeder in order to get to the food! At the moment, there only seems to be one Long-tailed Tit visiting, instead of the small flock that sometimes come.

The Blue Tit pair that are nesting in our nestbox at the moment are frequently seen at the feeders, or on their favourite look-out perch in next-door's garden. The first photo shows a Blue Tit that looks like it is feeding on the buds of the plant they use as a perch. Maybe not quite as agile as the Long-tailed Tit in the photo above, but nonetheless very entertaining to watch as they flit from branch to branch.

The female Blue Tit looks around to make sure she is safe before flying into the nestbox to do some housework in the photo below.

Big, bold and green, the Greenfinch has been a common sight again recently. I don't think we still see them in the numbers that we used to (9-10 at any one time) but they arrive in 4's or 5's and are quite aggressive when they scare off smaller birds and fight with one another. Again, Greenfinches are quite hard to photograph probably because they are quite timid, and my camera doesn't have a good enough zoom to get a picture from a long-distance.

The chaffinch in the photo below the Greenfinch is just one of many visiting at the moment. One of my planned postings for the next week will include some more Chaffinch shots in even better light. I have always thought that they are a bit useless at clinging on to bird feeders, and seem to frantically try to get a grip on a feeder perch.

Again, the photo below isn't the greatest- mostly because of the swing which takes up much of the shot. However, at a second look on the computer, I was amazed at the colours on the Magpies' wing and tail feathers. The shiny blue is stunning-don't you think. I also noticed the fact that the Magpie had managed to turn its head right round so that it was facing the opposite direction to the rest of its body. There is more to the Magpie than you first think!

Just before I finish, I hope you like the change of blog template. I like to present my blog well, so I am constantly making changes to themes, colours, fonts, etc.

April Forget-Me-Nots

Its the easter holidays and I must say that I am loving the garden action at the moment. In terms of plants and wildlife, spring is well underway in our south-eastern england garden. Spring has got to be my favourite time of year, so I have collected some of my favourite spring plant shots, including the appearance of a new flower in the garden...

The garden plants are in spring mode now and are definitely starting to show some more colour. Our Apricot Tree is now covered in leaves rather than blossom, and much of the garden is more green than it was last month. Many of our garden birds have started nesting, especially a pair of Blackbirds which are currently collecting mouthfuls of insects and flying off with them. It seems that the Blue Tit nest in our non-camera nestbox could be pretty much complete now, as they don't seem to be taking material into the box anymore.

Elsewhere in the garden, flowers are starting to emerge, especially at the far end of our garden, where Forget-Me-Nots are growing. They have seeded themselves near our compost heap, and the flowers are now out. They have grown in little clusters and more are popping up elsewhere in the garden. Below are some of the shots I got of these pretty flowers. I hope you like the close-ups.

This photo shows the flowers close-up.


The size of the tiny flowers made it a little difficult for my camera to focus on the flowers rather than the stems.


The last of our apricot tree still lingers on a shaded part of the tree. The green-white colour contrast is brilliant at the moment. The photo below literally shows the last blossom flowers I could see on the tree. It is becoming more and more difficult to spot the birds in the dense leaves now. It is now hard for us to see the Robin nestbox which is on the "trunk" of the apricot tree.


Whilst the colourful flowers pop up here and there, weeds are also growing rapidly. I think that I may have to de-weed some parts of the garden during the easter holidays.

Next weekend should be a good experience with Andrews' Quicksilverbirds easter bird challenge. I didn't take part in the Christmas one, but should be able to take part this time around. My score WON'T be brilliant but its the taking part that counts! As I am going to the south coast again next weekend, I may be able to boost my score a little at Titchfield Marsh Nature Reserve. Fingers crossed for that!