{"id":2573,"date":"2013-04-15T23:04:36","date_gmt":"2013-04-15T22:04:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.permuted.org.uk\/photography\/archives\/2573"},"modified":"2013-11-01T22:53:46","modified_gmt":"2013-11-01T22:53:46","slug":"spring-the-birds-think-it-has-arrived-photo-special","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.permuted.org.uk\/photography\/spring-the-birds-think-it-has-arrived-photo-special\/","title":{"rendered":"Spring? the birds think it has arrived (photo special)"},"content":{"rendered":"<\/p>\n<p><!--more-->I&#39;m going to regret my confidence about the weather, but it really is beginning to feel as though spring has arrived. Sure, it&#39;s a little late, and a little cooler than we might want; but it&#39;s here, and the birds are beginning to emerge in number.<\/p>\n<p>Down at Falmer pond today I spotted a common sandpiper (no decent photo), a sparrowhawk flying over in the distance, and a good range of other hungry birds enjoying the sunshine. The best though comes last. For now here&#39;s a small selection from around the pond.<\/p>\n<p>I&#39;m going to plump for a chiffchaff as the identification of this little warbler. Such pretty birds, and this one was posing nicely for me.<br \/><span class='imgcenter'><img alt='' src='https:\/\/www.permuted.org.uk\/photography\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/chiffchaff_1504138999.jpg' \/><\/span> <\/p>\n<p>The pied wagtails were also very lively. This one was pecking fr seed down at the edge of the pond.<br \/><span class='imgcenter'><img alt='' src='https:\/\/www.permuted.org.uk\/photography\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/pwt_1504138934.jpg' \/><\/span> <\/p>\n<p>So were the yellowhammers. It was a pleasure to finally get a shot of one down at ground level. They&#39;re fairly nervous and tend to hide away in the trees.<br \/><span class='imgcenter'><img alt='' src='https:\/\/www.permuted.org.uk\/photography\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/yellowhammer_1504139218.jpg' \/><\/span> <\/p>\n<p>Out over the water, a pair of little white ducks were proving that they are more than decorative. They can fly with the best of them. Here&#39;s a couple of formation shots.<br \/><span class='imgcenter'><img alt='' src='https:\/\/www.permuted.org.uk\/photography\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/white_ducks_1504139127.jpg' \/><\/span> <\/p>\n<p><span class='imgcenter'><img alt='' src='https:\/\/www.permuted.org.uk\/photography\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/white_ducks_1504139134.jpg' \/><\/span> <\/p>\n<p>The gulls were in a feeding frenzy at lunchtime (oddly, none of them were anywhere to be seen earlier in the morning).<br \/><span class='imgcenter'><img alt='' src='https:\/\/www.permuted.org.uk\/photography\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/gulls_1504139081.jpg' \/><\/span> <\/p>\n<p>The greylags were being all the more sedate. I suspect they are getting prepared for egg-laying.<br \/><span class='imgcenter'><img alt='' src='https:\/\/www.permuted.org.uk\/photography\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/greylag_1504139071.jpg' \/><\/span> <\/p>\n<p>The star turn though was back at work, on one of the low roofs near the car park. This pair of gulls has commandeered this particular roof for a number of years (other gulls no doubt lay similar claim to other roofs). They are certainly getting ready for nest building.<br \/><span class='imgcenter'><img alt='' src='https:\/\/www.permuted.org.uk\/photography\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/gull_mating_1504139325.jpg' \/><\/span> <\/p>\n<p><span class='imgcenter'><img alt='' src='https:\/\/www.permuted.org.uk\/photography\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/gull_mating_1504139347.jpg' \/><\/span> <\/p>\n<p><span class='imgcenter'><img alt='' src='https:\/\/www.permuted.org.uk\/photography\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/gull_mating_1504139377.jpg' \/><\/span> <br \/><span class=\"aligncenter\"><a href=\"http:\/\/natureblognetwork.com\/\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/natureblognetwork.com\/button.php?u=Words\" width=\"0\" height=\"0\" alt=\"Nature Blog Network\" border=\"0\" \/><\/a><\/span><br \/><a title=\"site stats\" href=\"http:\/\/statcounter.com\/free-web-stats\/\" target=\"_blank\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/c.statcounter.com\/7187219\/0\/2c644058\/1\/\" alt=\"site stats\" style=\"border:none;\" \/><\/a><br \/><i>Camera note: all shots taken with the Canon 7D  and EF 400mm f\/5.6L USM lens.<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[980,989],"tags":[183,542,256,1133,120,956,471],"class_list":["post-2573","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-birds-2","category-water-birds-birds-2","tag-chiffchaff","tag-greylag-goose","tag-herring-gulls","tag-mating","tag-pied-wagtail","tag-white-ducks","tag-yellowhammer","entry"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.permuted.org.uk\/photography\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2573","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.permuted.org.uk\/photography\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.permuted.org.uk\/photography\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.permuted.org.uk\/photography\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.permuted.org.uk\/photography\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2573"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.permuted.org.uk\/photography\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2573\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.permuted.org.uk\/photography\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2573"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.permuted.org.uk\/photography\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2573"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.permuted.org.uk\/photography\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2573"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}