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.