After the wind of Saturday it was nice to be in the slightly more sheltered location of Llanelli’s WWT reserve on Sunday. As I pulled into the car park I noticed that the feeders featured in one of my posts a couple of weeks ago had been restocked and added to. It was clear that the drop in temperature was starting to bring in a greater variety of birds so I pulled the car into position and got the camera ready. Almost immediately a small group of Long Tailed Tits appeared on the scene and I grabbed what photos I could in the twenty seconds or so before they moved onto their next feeding location. In my experience they are the birds least likely to stay in one place for any amount of time so I am very happy with the results below.
The Blue Tits were again out in force and seemed particularly fond of a wicker bell shaped feeder that was stuffed with fat and seeds. Trying to capture one of the birds with its head out of the shadow cast by the feeder was a bit of a challenge but I managed it in the end.
Other visitors included Dunnock, Robin, Wren, Bullfinch, Jay, Great Tit, Coal Tit and of course Chaffinches, although Greenfinches were notable by their absence. I hope that the local population hasn’t been hit by trichomonosis again. This male Chaffinch was one of the few that posed out in the sun for me, the rest choosing to feed on the grass which I really don’t like photographing against.
The most surprising arrival was a pair of Pied Wagtails which although not in the least bit rare are a species that I don’t see very often at the reserve.
Away from the feeders the colder temperatures and the onset of winter are starting to have an effect judging by the large increase in waterfowl since my last count. Wigeon numbers still seem a bit low at around 140 but Lapwings are now well over 200 with Shellducks at around 65. The large flock of Pintails that had been visible from the Heron Wing Hide seem to have departed but Tufted Duck, Pochard and Gadwall numbers have increased to take their place. I was particularly pleased to see one of the Kingfishers back on its post at the Michael Powell hide, something which I’m hoping will be a regular occurrence over the next couple of months. In terms of other winter arrivals the reserve is still very low on Redwing numbers with just five seen in the Millennium Wetlands, but that was more than made up for by the small flock of Redpoll I found feeding on old seed heads towards the end of the day. I still want an opportunity to photograph a Redwing though.
21 Comments
Bob Bushell · December 20, 2011 at 10:53 pm
Excellent feeder birds.
eileeninmd · December 20, 2011 at 11:57 pm
Lovely little birds and wonderful photos. Thanks for sharing.
TexWisGirl · December 21, 2011 at 12:06 am
love your little songbirds! nice job!
Brian King · December 21, 2011 at 1:11 am
Gorgeous photos, Adam! Nicely done!
Carole M. · December 21, 2011 at 1:25 am
they're delightful; I enjoyed each photograph so much.
John @ Beans and I on the Loose · December 21, 2011 at 4:47 am
Superb photos! Funny, I just posted a video yesterday intitled Feeding Frenzy.
mick · December 21, 2011 at 5:45 am
Great photos of all the little birds. I especially like the little Blue Tit hanging onto the wicker bell.
holdingmoments · December 21, 2011 at 6:07 am
Lovely set Adam. Those LTT don't stay still for long do they lol
Love the Pied wagtail.
Arija · December 21, 2011 at 10:21 am
I love all your timy bird and know all about hoe hard they are to photograph. Adorable blue tits. I think by now everyone knows I adore tits, blue tits, coal tits, long -tailed tits, I just love them all.
Unknown · December 21, 2011 at 10:44 am
A great collection of birds. Wagtails are fairly common here (Germany), but yours is a different subspecies, I think.
joo · December 21, 2011 at 2:18 pm
Great set of photos! Tits are my favourite:)
Adam Tilt · December 21, 2011 at 6:28 pm
Bob – thanks.
Eileen – thanks and no problem.
TexWisGirl – cheers.
heyBJK, Carole, Sinbad, Mick – thanks all for your kind comments.
Keith – they certainly don't Keith.
Arija – they're amongst my favourite birds as well.
Jedediah – yep most likely. We also get Grey and Yellow Wagtails here but the Pied are the most common.
joo – thank you.
Martha Z · December 21, 2011 at 7:09 pm
Lovely little passerines, none of which I see in my neck of the woods.
Rambling Woods · December 21, 2011 at 7:15 pm
How nice that they feed the birds…I love your little tits as they are like our chickadees…Happy Holidays to you…Michelle
theconstantwalker · December 21, 2011 at 7:23 pm
Superb captures of some of my favourite birds Adam.
Wonderful to see.
Springman · December 22, 2011 at 4:25 am
I love shooting out of the car window too Adam. It makes such a great blind. I carry a pillow to lay on the window sill. I can tell you had a steady camera on these beautiful shots. Awesome stuff!
Happy Holidays!
Stewart M · December 22, 2011 at 7:25 am
Hi there – nice set of birds, none of which I see anymore!!
Hope you have a good Christmas – warm with possible thunder storms here, what about you?
Stewart M – Melbourne
Reena · December 22, 2011 at 3:46 pm
Some really great shots! Love those little songbirds! Hope you have some merry throughout the Holiday!
Hilke Breder · December 22, 2011 at 4:13 pm
Great images, Adam! The Long-tailed Tits must be my favorites.I wished there was a reserve like this near me.Happy Holidays and happy and productive 2012!
Anonymous · December 22, 2011 at 11:39 pm
Great shots! Such little beauties!
Adam Tilt · December 31, 2011 at 9:16 pm
Wow once again thanks all for your kind comments.