This winter my photography has been mainly confined to my garden (with the exception of a couple of visits to the Burgh). So, at the beginning of the Christmas holidays, I thought of a few 'garden' projects sensing that a lockdown maybe round the corner. For the past 3 years since we started leaving the windfall apples Fieldfares have come to feed, and I was eager to capture some nice images of them. I knew it was not going to be easy, however - they breed in the Scandinavian forests and have little contact with humans, so are consequently very shy and cunning. Other delights a winter of garden-based photography has included a Fox visiting a few times, Nuthatches, Coal tits, Treecreepers, Roe Deer, Blackcaps and Greenfinches - not to mention all the commoner species too.
School closed a few days early before Christmas due to rising Covid-19 cases and I wasted no time in photographing the Fieldfares. As expected they were very shy and my first attempts were truly woeful, despite spending on average 2 hours a day with them it was not till mid January that I achieved some images I was happy with. Then, something really surprising happened. A single Fieldfare (out of 2/3 that have been in the garden all Winter) took a liking to a patch of apples I had left on the lawn for the Blackbirds, and although it was initially wary of my presence it soon realised I was not a threat and started to happily feed whilst I was outside, allowing me to get some close up images I never thought I would be able to achieve this Winter.
Onto the other wildlife - A real bonus of spending so much time outside was the discovery of a pair of Treecreepers which have been feeding around the fruit trees all Winter. A group of 3 Roe Deer have been frequenting the rotting apples, a Fox occasionally makes patrols and earlier in the winter we had loads of Redwing although they have moved on. A real treat in the past few days has been a flock of Greenfinches that have been coming to my new bird feeder, such gorgeous birds and lovely to see so many as they have declined in recent years
Fieldfare with a soft green background
Fieldfare on a very frosty morning - A blanket of freezing fog the previous night meant that everything was dusted in ice crystals
Fieldfare with apples
Treecreeper
Male Greenfinch
Kommentare