DAY 4

I had to refill the feeders today as they had gone right down. I also moved the sunflower hearts feeder closer to the hide so as to get some better shots. As usual I was trying to get some shots of the birds in flight. However is was not as light as it had been on that first day so in order to gain a fast enough shutter speed I had to push the iso right up. The only two new visitors to the garden were a pair of Squirrels rather than the one before. Thankfully they fed of the seeds on the ground rather than the ones in the feeder so the birds still came to the feeder. There have been a couple of Jackdaws in the bigger trees surrounding the garden. I think that they are checking out the feeders but are too shy to come down while I am in the garden.

DAY 3

It was a very wet day today in the walled garden with frequent rain showers. Between showers the birds came out to the feeders. The most exiting moment was when the Spotted Woodpecker came to the feeders. It did not stay long as it saw me in the hide and flew away. I can also confirm that there are two Goldfinches and two male Chaffinches as well as the females. Yesterday I thought that there was only the one Coal Tit but there was defiantly two there today. It has been a little more mild which has meant the snowdrops have put on a lot of growth.

DAY 2

There was a very thin layer of cloud today creating nice soft shadows and highlights. Because it was not too thick there was still a good amount of light allowing for fast exposures at low isos. I went to the walled garden with the intention of photographing the change in the Snowdrops and to take a few landscape shots. However when I had completed the work on the snowdrops I was detracted by the amount of birds on the feeders. I decided to go and grab a long lens (600mm f.4) to see if I could get any good shots. It was perfect light, lots of feather detail and no strong shadows from twigs or beak. The feeders had gone down a so I refilled them, on doing so I noted that the Niger seed was going down which is good because it means that the finches have found it. I set up my stuff in the hide, just as I was putting the camera onto the lens I herd the sound of beating wings. Looking up I saw a spotted woodpecker on the tree right next to the hide. It saw me at the same time as I saw it and flew away.

I was concentrating today on the Chaffinches. There are a lot of females and only one male. After I had been in the hide for a while a Nuthatch visited the sunflower hearts feeder and a goldfinch enjoyed the Niger seed.

Unfortunately my shoot was cut short by a squirrel. This pest scampered with ease up the metal pole of the sunflower hearts feeder and preceded to scoff the lot.

DAY 1

Today was the first day in the walled garden observing the animals and plants. Yesterday I put up the bird boxes with cameras in. I hope that in the spring I will be able to watch the chicks grow in the box. I have also put up bird feeders to try and attract birds to the garden and photograph them from the hide. I put out sunflower hearts, Niger seed, black sunflower seeds and a mixed seed. Birds are already visiting the feeders with lots of tits about. ( blue tit, great tit and a coal tit are the species of the tit family that I have seen so fair.) other frequent visitors include a black bird, robin and a hedge sparrow.