After the miserable weather on Thursday (rain, wind, and more wind), today turned out to be glorious. A sharply cold, but clear calm day. So instead of heading for shelter, I went on a long ramble at lunchtime.
The undoubted stars of the walk were the redwings, which were tree-top hopping along the woods at the edge of open fields.
Redwings are part of the thrush family, and tend to keep away from more crowded locations, and so are rarely seen in gardens. As well as the distinctive speckling of the thrush family, they have fairly distinctive marking on the head. But they get their name from their wing colour. As you can see in this next shot.
There were numerous other birds flitting around, including a moderately co-operative robin (I never have much luck with them, and today the sun was too bright to get a decent shot against the shaded background), and an extremely shy green woodpecker which took to the trees and refused to come out. Not all birds mind the camera though, and once again it was a crow that showed the rest just how to pose for the camera.
Two fox sightings this evening. One of the shy foxes (I suspect the nicked-ear vixen) stopped briefly in the garden before dashing for cover. That was followed a couple or so hours later by a much more leisurely root around the garden by the old dog fox.
All in all a good start to the month. Cold weather is forecast for the weekend (there's been heavy snow in the north of the country), but if the skies remain clear I'll be happy.
Camera note: Birds taken with the EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L USM IS lens; the old dog fox posed for the EF 24-105 F4L IS USM.
Vulpes vulpes
2 Feb 2008Love the crow! 😆
CedarFox
2 Feb 2008Excellent photos! I think the crow might want somebody to play with him. 😉
gdare
2 Feb 2008Yes, the crow is exceptional 😀
SittingFox
2 Feb 2008Funny crow 😆 Great to see the redwings – beautiful little thrushes :up:
chthoniid
2 Feb 2008Nice sequence- the crow shot is 'special' :up:. The football is a great element.
Words
2 Feb 2008I had a feeling the crow would be popular :p I was a shade too far away really, but I couldn't let an opportunity like that go to waste.
blackpatch
5 Feb 2008Beautiful pictures foxy – I had a fox asleep on my pergola the other day. I had to photograph him through a window. he was there for about 3 hours, pics of him at my sitein my house photos album.
have you got anyone else to sign the online petition at my site yet – if not could you, it`s in a good cause
Please, please sign under the blog heading A south downs national park?
Words
5 Feb 2008Definitely a good cause. Direct link to the petition.