We headed back to Sussex for Christmas today, stopping off in the village of Fittleworth en-route. The purpose of this detour was to deliver our entries for the Independent Goodwood Photographers Guild photo competition. As the winner of last year's competition I had to put something in to defend my title! The competition's master of ceremonies, Mark, is Head Gardener at Fittleworth House so while we were there he offered us the opportunity to take a quick tour of the gardens. Naturally, the garden is fairly dormant at the moment but we were awe struck by this 280 year old Cedar of Lebanon. Miraculously it survived the great storm in 1987 when a large number of trees in the neighbouring field were toppled. One can only imagine the stories it must have to tell!
22 December 2017 - The buffet bar is now open....
Our bird feeder tree has been very popular with the local avian population this winter. Every day a large flock of goldfinches comes to our 'all day buffet bar', along with blue tits, about five blackbirds, the odd robin and four or five greenfinches. Over the months the tree itself has begun to list as the ground became waterlogged so today we replanted it in a more upright position. As an extra treat I also cleaned out the bird feeders, added a new one containing 'buggy nibbles' and put some mealworms in the cup shaped feeders in the flower bed. That should keep our feathered friends happy and well fed over Christmas!
21 December 2017 - Splash!
During a flying visit to Hatfield Forest this morning I spent a few minutes photographing the birds on the lake. Once again, the light was truly uninspiring but that wasn't going to stop me! The geese were milling around near the old boat jetty and I was lucky enough to catch one of them having a good wash and brush up.
Elsewhere the Black Headed Gulls (which, ironically don't have black heads at this time of year!) were doing circuits of the lake, taking off and landing periodically. I didn't manage to successfully capture any mid-flight but I rather liked the drama of this picture, with one of them kicking up the water as it took off.
20 December 2017 - A bird in the hand.....
There's an English saying which says, "A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush". It came to mind in a rather literal way this morning when I had a close encounter of the feathered kind at Rainham Marshes. I was aware, through the RSPB reserve's Facebook page, that they had a rather tame robin living in the cordite store of this former military firing range so I went prepared with a small bag of mealworms in case our paths should cross.
As I walked into the densely overgrown cordite store area I kept my eyes peeled and it was only a couple of minutes before I heard the distinctive birdsong and a flash of scarlet came flying over to a nearby branch. I took a few photos and then put my camera down so I could dig out my stash of mealworms. Sitting down on a nearby bench, it didn't take long for him or her (I can never tell with robins!) to pluck up the courage to eat some morsels from my outstretched hand. Leaving a few mealworms on the back of the bench I went to take some more photos at close quarters and realised my long lens was now too long - a change of lens was needed! I also took a few seconds of video with my phone which you can see here:
It was such an honour to be trusted by this tiny creature but I knew all along that my feathered friend had other trusted confidants too. I popped by again later in the morning and found John, one of the RSPB volunteers, feeding the robin by hand. This allowed me to take the one image I hadn't been able to capture this morning - the bird in the hand shot.
Finally, I went back to the visitor centre to grab some lunch before heading off around the reserve in search of some Bearded Tits. Sadly they were in hiding today but I did find some other birds, including a very pretty pair of Stonechats - literally two birds in a bush!
