I picked my spot carefully, then armed with pad and pencil, made a note of the time and settled down to wait.
Nothing for five minutes.
Then a gang of common gulls dive bombed the marina and I was ‘off’.
After a further ten minutes, I was getting cold due to the dampness of the seat seeping through my joggers and had seen nothing else, so decided that maybe the bench in the middle of the grassed area in the car park was not such a good vantage point after all.
I reverted to my original plan and sat in the car, the dog in the back seat.
And waited.
The view through the windscreen wasn’t exactly a garden, but a mass of brambles, tall grass reeds and trees were all directly in my line of vision, and although I could hear my quarry, it was a while before I saw movement.
Such a flurry of activity and colour, they came and swooped and dived, blurring my vision sometimes with their speed and Houdini disappearing acts.
I was surprised at the variety I recorded in my hour.
These were my submissions:
Wood pigeon 5,
Common Gull 8,
Magpie 2,
Blue Tit 2,
Long Tailed Tit 1,
Great Tit 1,
Wren 1,
Carrion crow 1,
Mallard 2,
Bullfinch 3,
Greenfinch 1,
Goldfinch 1,
Chaffinch 2,
Collared Dove 3,
Sparrow 2,
The robin was a cheeky chappie, popping up on different branches, striking left and right poses as if to say ‘ Don’t forget me, don’t forget me!’ so here he is, centre stage.
Not many tits this year, but then I am in a different area.
All images from Google.
You saw so many! Cool!
I was really surprised as I wasn’t actually in a garden, and although I didn’t see large numbers of anything, it was the variety. The marina is full of surprises, and we are waiting for the bluetits to fledge out of the ashtray on the outside wall. There’s been a sign on it not to be used because of nesting birds, and yesterday I saw a tiny head pop up, so it won’t be long now.
Take a picture!😄
You’ll find loads of pics of the marina, geese, ducks and swans in my blog, and of course Maggie on the dogwalk here. I’m surrounded by swallows dipping and diving in the water at the moment as it’s a glorious evening.
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