The weather pendulum swung back to dreary today, and though R still girded his loins and took himself off out into the cold drizzle for a walk, I was not in the mood for that kind of unpleasantry. But I still needed a photo, and I’d missed the Pheasants that were searching the top lawn for food first thing this morning because my own desire for breakfast far outweighed any inclination I might have felt towards fetching a camera. So I went to Hillers and spent an hour in the bird hide.
There was virtually no food out in the clearing today, so pickings for the birds were slim, with most of them squabbling over just three feeders, and the rest picking through the gravel and leaf litter in search of seeds and insects. All of which also meant that photo opportunities were pretty thin, but I was pleased with the way this little Blue Tit posed on a log at the edge of the bird table, while waiting for a chance to bounce one of its relatives off the nearby peanut feeder. What appears to be a thousand-yard stare is actually more like a three-foot scowl, but I think it works. I momentarily thought about editing out the tiny thread caught on the right side of the bird’s head, but I’m a bit old-school about nature photography – and quite a lot lazy – so I left it alone.
R: L2, C3, D24.
