Waiting for the badger, that is. It popped its head into the garden again last night. And again no photo. I've spent the past hour with a tripod set-up outside in the hope of a further visit. No doubt it will appear while I'm typing this :awww:
But some shots from today…
Several more shots are in the April Birds album. Hopefully I'll be able to post a badger soon, but I'll close with this elegant spider! 
Camera note: all shots taken with the EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L USM IS lens, except the spider which was taken with the Sigma 105mm F2.8 EX DG macro and extension tubes + ring flash
22 Comments
Amazing shots – I wish I could capture great shots like that!! Especially like the green finches!
Stunning shots :up:
Great shots – and the baby blackbird… :love:
Excellent shots! I like the colors of the goldfinch.
:up: @ greenfinches
Amazing greenfinchs. Your spider is one of the long jawed spiders – Tetragnatha sp.
Great picture of squabbling greenfinches! That is an excellent capture! :up:
As for the badger… :insane:
Anonymous writes:
Badgers have a very good sence of smell and hearing, and they are far more hard to get close/see than a Fox.
Keep trying though 🙂
Lovelly shots, do you use a tripod aswell words to catch those or just clever patient waiting? Hope you do snap thebadger soon.:)
Mark, the birds were taken hand-held with a fast shutter speed and a bright day. I haven't got the hang of following birds in flight with the tripod yet, but may practise a bit. Plus it's quite heavy. I'll use it more as the summer develops and I plant myself at the edge of ponds. It's great if you don't aim to walk too far.
Thanks Sprogger!
Neil, I find that first greenfinch shot so bizarre, almost as though the head doesn't belong. And thanks for the spider info. I'll search a bit further. It was tiny, hardly broader than its web.
Cheers Darko!
Anon, you so right. Very shy creatures indeed.
Adele, thanks. The badger is going to take some work I think. That's two sightings so far so I'm somewhat hopeful but it will take some setting up (and a large amount of good fortune).
Vulpes, thanks. The baby blackbird was a bit of a surprise. I really wasn't expecting to see one, but it looked in good shape.
Lois thanks… I miss an awful lot of shots as well. The flight ones are either a lot of patience, or more usually luck (they take off as you have them nicely framed on a branch).
Eric, the goldfinches have such wonderful colours. I'm really pleased they have started using the garden.
Ivywall writes:
I really like the shot of the 2 greenfinches and the wat it's been cropped.
The baby bird is very cute !!
Near water as well? Im 99.99% sure its T. extensa now 😉 😀
The greenfisch head does look odd – must be the fluffed up lower neck feathers
I remembered the full name – I always thought it was Tetragnatha extensa -but T. montana and T. pinicola (ive dug my spider book out now) are similar. Where abouts in the country are you? T. pincola is mostly found in the south. I think I can see a white stripe on the sternum (the underside of the thorax to you and me!), which would rule out T. montana. And the colouration looks more like T. extensa – so I would go with T. extensa 🙂
Neil, yes I think you're on the nail. I'm on the south coast, and it was at the edge of a garden pond. They like water. Another shot of the same spider:
