It was the RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch weekend and I was dutifully spending an hour sitting in the conservatory to log my visitors. As usual, the count was lower than I might find at other times! My theory is that, because the count is widely publicised to the general public, many families raise their awareness and put out lots of goodies. It's just a thought. To while away the time, I set up a tripod and took some photographs of the usual suspects. Here are four.
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| Chaffinch |
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| Goldfinch |
The following day and the camera body was still on the 600mm in the conservatory. Mistake! Near lunchtime I was in the kitchen and became aware that the bird sounds outside were somehow different. I looked out and saw that a young male Sparrowhawk was perched in a cherry tree. I didn't dare go into the conservatory for the camera and lens. I didn't want to spook him. Luckily, in my office I had another body and a 400mm. The only decent angle was from an upstairs window and I spent the next 20 minutes photographing him from each of the 3 windows overlooking the tree. My options were limited, but here are some of the images. The first two were taken through glass. I wanted to be sure that I captured something before I carefully opened windows. In the event he didn't seem at all concerned.
What follows is a sequence of preening.
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| (a quick leg-stretch) |
"By Jove, I needed that!"
The final image was taken from outside.
I didn't try to get an image of his departure. The light breeze was blowing towards me, so I knew that the take-off would be away from me. It was.
Observation: Whilst all this was taking place, an incautious (oblivious?) Collared Dove came and sat on a fence just below and to one side of the hawk. It was well under 1 second's flying/diving time away, so I'm guessing the hawk wasn't hungry.
After all that excitement and hanging out of windows, I needed a sit down.
