An hour by the river

 A few images that I had forgotten about from a quiet walk in the Goyt Valley very early summer

Siskin 

Pied Flycatcher

On the woodland walk path was this Common Toad

Juvenile Dipper

Juvenile Grey Wagtail

Grey Wagtail

Pied Wagtail

Wildbird Wednesday: a tribute to treeface

Special thanks to Springmans inspiration and now to Stewart for carrying the baton with WBW

Well done guys!

Here is my first entry to the new format 

a tribute to the tree face decoration in my garden and some of the birds that dare stare back at it!

Wren

Siskin - female

Nuthatch

Greater Spotted Woodpecker

Great Tit

This weekend in the garden

With a trip abroad looming, again I have not found the time to get out and about, however even the extra chores couldnt stop me snapping away for a few images......

The Blue Tit in flight was a nice bonus as the momentarily clear sky gives a lovely backdrop for the translucent wings, of course you are all used to my Lesser Redpoll images by now.... Yes they are still here in great numbers as is the Mealy Redpoll that will soon be departing our shores and heading back north.... For the record it has been here for 78 consecutive days.

The Siskin numbers are now increasing..... a garden record count of 12 today.

Lesser Redpoll

Female Siskin (showing off her fine plumage)

Blue Tit

Meally Redpoll

Blackbird

Acrobatic male Siskin

Garden Weekenders

A few images from the garden from this past weekend:

Male Greenfinch

Starling

Robin

Siskin

Lesser Redpoll

Garden species

Poor weather and an inability to get out walking during the last week has meant trying to get just a few images from the garden species.  A good variety of winter finches along with the ever regulars have kept the garden lively and me busy topping the feeders up daily.

The now regular (and hopefully until early April) Lesser Redpolls have been visiting in huge numbers and have certainly been the highlight over the last week or so .... this fella looking splendid in gold

but small numbers of Siskins have now started to arrive giving a nice contrast to the Redpolls on the feeders.

The normal garden regulars are still in good numbers with around 25 Greenfinch visiting most days

while this winter Black Headed Gull is flexing his muscles over the garden

and at last the Mealy Redpoll has returned although getting an image has proved tricky so I will have to make do with this very poor effort. It does show the difference in ground colour and size to the aptly named Lesser Redpolls. This bird is a scarce visitor to this part of the county so it has now been recorded by the Cheshire and Wirral Ornathalogical Society (CAWOS)....... how about that for a garden visitor!