Thursday 31 January 2013

Siberian Chiffchaffs.

Having followed all the chat on the internet and seen Dave Hutton's and other's superb shots of the Siberian Chiffchaffs at Ladywalk I headed over there myself on Wednesday morning to see what all the fuss was about and get myself a life tick.

Got there just after 10.00 AM to find it bright and not too cold but there was a strong wind blowing.There was no one else about to get any advice from so I stood on the adjacent river bridge which I thought was the place to see them.However after an hour without seeing any birds at all I gave up and went back to the car park to have a go at the birds on the feeders there.

The feeders were very busy and I got some decent Bullfinch shots a bird for some reason I'd always struggled with for some reason.













Also on the feeders were some Lesser Redpolls including some Mealy Redpolls.













Just as I was going to have another go for the Siberian Chiffchaffs on the bridge I had a bit of luck because a warder showed up and told me I was looking in the wrong spot and to cut a long storey short he took me down to the spot where they are often seen (just to the right of the double gates) and it didn't take him long to find them for me. Yipppee !!!!!! A life tick for me.

On the picture front the news was not good.They were a long way off.The tree they were flicking around in was gloomy with the light coming from behind it and they soon disappeared.To give you an idea here are a couple of unedited shots taken with my 400 lens.Can you see the birds ?










Here are a couple of cropped shots which are good examples of crapographs but who cares great little birds.



















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