Gillingham and Stourhead

On the 31st March 2012 I stayed at home in the conservatory and photographed some of the birds in the garden.

Goldfinch

Blue Tit

When this Collared Dove appeared, I went to an upstairs window to get the angle.

Fixating on the finial

Over there ...

Down there ...

... and the other way

The remaining images were taken over the course of a couple of visits to Stourhead just before Easter.

First, Canada Geese:
This pair seemed to be house-hunting on a smaller lake and away from the majority of their kind.

Here they are later, back on the main lake.

Ouch!  Sorry about the tail

A lonesome Coot:

The Mute Swan pair had started nesting and serious guard duties were now the order of the day.

Keeping an eye on some Tufties

Patrolling this way ...

... and that way

Meanwhile, a Mallard was chilling out.

When the staff at the entry-kiosk are not busy checking tickets and 'swiping' membership-cards, this is all they have to look at.  (Well, nearly all.)

Blue Tits

The staff do have security back-up:

Blackbird

To round up, here are some pictures of Wagtails.

Pied Wagtail

Pied Wagtail

Pied Wagtail

Grey Wagtail

Grey Wagtail

As far as the Grey Wagtails are concerned, I regard this as 'work in progress'.  They were twice the distance from me as the Pied and I'm after much better shots.  The two above were achieved only after a lot of post-shutter editing.

25th and 28th March 2012

The Robins I meet on my frequent walks round the gardens at Stourhead (National Trust), Wiltshire, are still as interactive as they were when I first introduced them to the skills of modelling for the camera late last year.  I lost only one in the coldest weather.  It wasn't too surprising because that particular one had a tick anchored into its throat.  It couldn't have been in tip-top condition.

Here are some of the images taken on 25th March 2012.

The local pair of Mute Swans was starting to nest.

Back in the woodland, a Coal Tit was darting about near a bench on which someone had left food.

This next image looks a little odd because the bird is not perching; it's just touching momentarily as it descends.

I thought that this magnolia bloom looked very attractive.

It was certainly attractive to several tiny insects that I've since cloned out of the image!

The remaining photographs were taken at RSPB Arne, Dorset.

Meadow Pipit catching some early sunshine on Coombe Heath

Linnet

 ... is this Linnet really about to do a high-wire walk across to the neighbouring piece of gorse?

Stonechat

As you can see, I couldn't get very near to any of these.

Firecrest had been showing in the car park and this species had been uppermost in my mind when I had planned the trip.  Three of us (all members of the Arne Community) staked out the location.  We were spotting for each other.  We did get glimpses of a Firecrest flitting to and fro, but only one of us managed to be at the right angle at the right moment to capture an appearance.  It was always just a bit too far round the trunk of a tree!  I had to settle for these images of a Nuthatch.