New Garden Arrivals
I've been doing a lot of work to our garden recently to improve it both for our own enjoyment and to enhance its suitability for all sorts of wildlife. We are now starting to reap the rewards with a large increase in moths, butterflies and other insects, not to mention the variety and numbers of birds that are visiting our collection of feeders. It has been very pleasing to see that several avian species have decided that our little patch is just the kind of place that they want to bring up their families, as the numbers of juveniles seen so far this year is way ahead of the last. My favourites have been the Blue Tits that have such great little characters that its hard not to love them.
We have also had several young Great Tits though they seem far more wary of people that their Blue cousins.
Our pair of Dunnocks look to have had a successful year as we have two juveniles visiting on a regular basis. I just about managed to photograph one of the adults (below) before it once more disappeared into the undergrowth.
Our most colourful, and incidentally the noisiest, visitors are the Goldfinches. I have never had much luck photographing this species in the past but remarkably a pair arrived whilst I was laying on the grass just beneath the feeders. I was able to prop myself up on one elbow without disturbing them to get what are by far my best pictures of these brilliant birds. What makes them doubly special is that they were in my own garden.
Away from our regular birds we have also been treated to a brand new garden species in the form of a young Nuthatch. We only saw it briefly on a couple of occasions but I'm hopeful that it may make a return. A male Bullfinch has also been visiting more frequently and he does a fine job of hoovering up seed that has been spilt on the ground by the other birds. For this I am eternally grateful as I currently have bird seed germinating all over the place! If only the others were as thorough in cleaning up after themselves.
We have also had several young Great Tits though they seem far more wary of people that their Blue cousins.
Our pair of Dunnocks look to have had a successful year as we have two juveniles visiting on a regular basis. I just about managed to photograph one of the adults (below) before it once more disappeared into the undergrowth.
Our most colourful, and incidentally the noisiest, visitors are the Goldfinches. I have never had much luck photographing this species in the past but remarkably a pair arrived whilst I was laying on the grass just beneath the feeders. I was able to prop myself up on one elbow without disturbing them to get what are by far my best pictures of these brilliant birds. What makes them doubly special is that they were in my own garden.
Away from our regular birds we have also been treated to a brand new garden species in the form of a young Nuthatch. We only saw it briefly on a couple of occasions but I'm hopeful that it may make a return. A male Bullfinch has also been visiting more frequently and he does a fine job of hoovering up seed that has been spilt on the ground by the other birds. For this I am eternally grateful as I currently have bird seed germinating all over the place! If only the others were as thorough in cleaning up after themselves.
gorgeous photos! your goldfinches are so beautiful! and i LOVE the jumping shot on that little one!
ReplyDeleteGreat shots Adam!! Boom & Gary of the Vermilon River, Canada.
ReplyDeleteAlways good to see our gardening efforts appreciated like this Adam. Cracking series of pictures, and a great variety of visitors.
ReplyDeleteBullfinch hoovering up the fallen seed? Sounds better than my Wood Pigeons and Collared Doves that do the same.
Appreciate their help though lol
At this time it's a good thing to see the hard work of the Bullfinch, great photos of all the rest of them.
ReplyDeleteGreat shots, Adam, especially the Goldfinches. I've had a niger feeder outside my kitchen window for several months, but no sign of a single Goldfinch!
ReplyDeleteWonderful shots!
ReplyDeleteFantastic images Adam... I love seeing Goldies.
ReplyDeleteYou certainly have a great collection of resident birds. Isn't it lovely to establish habitat and then see the resulting influx of wildlife?
ReplyDeleteWay to go Adam! Landscaping with native plant species takes extra care but just look at the results! We could all take a page out of your book.
ReplyDeleteYour pictures are superb and well deserved!
Great photos and congrats on making a beautiful habitat for birds.
ReplyDeleteAll of them are terrific. I love Blue Tits, they are so lovely to watch.
ReplyDeleteWonderful post and very beautiful images. Well done.
ReplyDeleteAll the hard work on the garden looks to be paying off.Great photos.
ReplyDeleteTerrific images of these lovely little birds!
ReplyDeleteThanks all for your kind comments. I'm glad you enjoyed the pictures and it just goes to show what's possible with a bit of sensitive wildlife gardening. I've got plenty more plans in the pipeline and I'll keep you posted as to how they develop.
ReplyDelete