Feeder, Camera, Action!

Not a great deal doing today, a circuit of Wanstead produced nothing bar a female Whinchat, and later three Swifts from the garden. I spent my time wisely though, doing three loads of washing and dipping a Red-backed Shrike in Essex.

In the downtime, I added a few more natural looking perches to my cunningly situated feeding station. This is amazingly easy to do, and within about ten minutes the birds were using them. The list of species that have landed on the perches so far is not large, but I'm heartened by the fact it is getting used at all. Birds include Blue Tit, Great Tit, Collared Dove, Wood Pigeon, Robin, Crow and Magpie. I wish I'd been less lazy about it in the winter, who knows what might have landed in range.

Here are a couple from today.





Also, whilst attempting to twitch the Shrike, not only did I get yet another Lee Evans tick (in the Monkey's car no less!), but I saw this, which was more interesting. I think it's a melanistic female Pheasant, but I'm really not sure. Whatever it is, I don't think it knows what it looks like, as its defence strategy was to to flatten itself on the edge of a field and blend in.....