I love watching birds which visit the garden. The bird feeder and the bird table are all positioned in a way that means I can look on whilst I’m in the kitchen, washing up or sat at the table writing. I have been known to settle down to work in the kitchen with some binoculars next to me. It doesn’t do much for productivity levels though. The mild weather we’ve had this winter had resulted in very quiet bird feeders but the ice and snow of the last week has meant bird numbers in the garden have rocketed. There were seven starlings at one point crammed on to my tiny bird table and I’ve never seen so many chaffinches.
I’m a bit wary of feeding the birds and encouraging them into the garden when I know there are so many cats in the neighbourhood. Although my feeders are out of reach of bird snaffling moggies there are some birds that don’t like to feed from them and much prefer scrabbling around on the ground for seeds dropped from above. It’s always sad when I come across birds deposited by the house by said cats; they could at least take them back to their owners so they get the dubious pleasure of disposing of the feathered corpses, instead of me.
We don’t get a vast array of bird species visiting the garden which is disappointing. Typically we’ll see house sparrows, tits, blackbirds, starlings and robins. The bad winter of 2010 was pretty special with bramblings, blackcap, field fayre and redwings. The bird guide was perched on the kitchen window sill we had so many birds I’d never seen before. But this, it seems, was a one-off. I guess it’s because we don’t have the right plants and habitat the birds want. Neighbouring gardens prefer the ‘minimal’ look (just lawn), or plants such as cordylines for which I have developed an increasing dislike. They just seem so out of place in a rural Welsh garden and offer nothing to the local wildlife.
My quest has been, for several years now, to try to capture the visiting birds on camera but it has proved surprisingly difficult. The bird table is mounted on the side of the house and it’s possible to get photos of the birds through the window but ,generally, by the time I’ve got the camera they are gone. I’ll wait a while in the hope they’ll return but since I don’t get paid to watch birds I’ll eventually resign myself to getting on with the day. I know though that as soon as my back is turned the birds are ready, waiting to return just like the roller-skating pandas on the Kit-Kat advert.
I’ve tried to stealthily watch them from the shed with my camera primed. The shed is situated opposite their prime perching and feeding spot, my crab apple tree, and with the zoom I should be able to get some decent shots. That would be if they didn’t all vanish whilst I’m standing there in the freezing cold. I spent an hour in my shed last winter trying to get photos of goldfinches. A huge flock of them had been visiting regularly, that was until I entered the garden. I guess they didn’t want to get papped. It’s not me though, I’m convinced they know I have a camera You see, I can go about by normal jobs, sorting out the recycling, depositing vegetable waste on to the compost heap and collecting wood from the log pile and they don’t bat an eyelid, feeding happily as I wander past. As soon as I’m there with the camera, WHOOSH and they’re gone, with just a lone feather slowly floating down in front of me. That’s the thanks I get for feeding them and running into the garden in the snow, in my dressing gown and wellies, flailing my arms around to scare off the prowling cats. You’d think the least they could do would be pose for the occasional shot.
To quick for me
Even if a bird does linger long enough for me to take a photograph invariably it’s out of focus or the light is rubbish. I’ll admit that these are due to my lack of skills and aren’t the bird’s fault.
Outside the garden, when I’m out walking, I’m no more successful. I had the perfect opportunity to get a beautiful photograph of a robin on a snow covered branch yesterday but we’d just put the camera away in case we slipped on the icy path. Unzipping the bag and removing the camera from its case and then dropping the case on the floor, unsurprisingly, scared off the robin. Occasionally a bird will oblige. There was an incredibly fearless chaffinch that ate crushed up oatcakes from our table when we were on holiday on the Isle of Skye. The bribe of oatcakes meant it lingered long enough for photos. Then there was the Great skua or bonxie which was happy to pose. Although it stayed in the same spot for a good 30 minutes and I did wonder, at one point, whether it was glued to the rock or something. It’s just a pity that such an obliging bird wasn’t a little more photogenic.
If you’d like to see how it should be done take a look at the Anxious Gardener’s blog. Not only am I envious that he got so close to a goldcrest but he even managed to capture it on camera.
I’d like to add Shirlsgardenwatch to your recommendation of great wildlife (mainly birds) blogs. her images are amazingly professional, I really don’t know how she does it. I’m like you I never get close enough to get any good photos of the birds, I have enough trouble with the butterflies! Just enjoy the birds and their antics. Christina
I often pop over to Shirlsgardenwatch. She gets some great shots. Butterflies are another one I struggle to get. We had a hummingbird hawk moth in the garden a few years ago. I was so chuffed and really wanted to capture the event but they never stay in one place long enough and all my photos were just big blurs. Oh well. WW
I also suffer from cats that are not mine visiting my garden. On top of ruining my tilted soil to do its unpleasant necessities there it also chases birds. Last spring it managed to catch a young dove learning to feed on the wrong. Very annoying.
It’s probably best not to get me started on my cat rant ;) very annoying indeed.
I can relate to leaping into the garden with flapping arms to scare away intruding cats and I too never seem to be able to catch a good photo of the birds! Oh well, we get to look at them daily as a consolation! Your photos are smashing by the way.
Thank you :) I’m not anti-cat it’s just their population is so large. There must be 8 in my street alone and there are lots more in the village.
I’m not anti-cat…just when they dig, poop and catch bids in our garden!
We are lucky in that we don’t have many cats from neighbours and also that we are next to farmers fields, plus our own little bit of woodland so we get a lovely variety of birds to watch. Will they all be there next weekend for the Great British Birdwatch, I wonder?! I will have to keep all the feeders filled and just hope! My camera is just a point and press, super for close ups of flowers but rubish at telephoto so I doubt there will be any photos.
Every year we do the birdwatch they disappear completely. I think we had one solitary blackbird one year. They are definitely camera shy.
The birds are bound to disappear at the weekend when it’s the Big Garden Birdwatch. I have a larger variety of birds visiting the garden now than I used to, I think they’ve got used to being fed regularly, but I don’t get anything out of the ordinary. I’ve enjoyed watching a plump robin feeding on the suet block today in the snow.
They disappear completely for us when we do the birdwatch. Really frustrating. Maybe there will be more if the weather is still cold and snowy by the weekend.
I can really relate to this post, Lou – I spend hours crouching at my slightly open bedroom window in order to try for photos of the birds in the garden below. So far this year, only two fat wood pigeons sitting on the branches, probably too big to flap off quickly! Do birds sing at night, do you know? I’ve been listening to very loud bird song in the dark, sometimes beyond midnight!
Nightingales and nightjars are known for singing at night but I think nightjars are only here in the summer. Apparently street lights can confuse birds so robins will sing at night because it just isn’t dark enough for them.
We have some of those incredibly fat pigeons. They’re so fat I can’t believe they can fly at all.
I really empathise with this post as like you I’ve always enjoyed watching the birds, and rarely get good photos.
I’m a bit surprised that you don’t mention this coming weekend’s Big Garden Birdwatch which I hope you’ll be doing! xx
http://www.rspb.org.uk/birdwatch/
I’m losing track of the days at the moment Flighty. I thought the birdwatch might be this weekend but I’m working this weekend so might not get a chance to do it, unfortunately. I don’t tend to have much success with the birds when I do it anyway. I think we had one lone blackbird one year. Even though the day before we’d had bramblings and goldfinches.
It does seem very odd that people in rural Wales would want gardens of Cordylines and lawn, rather than trees, shrubs and birds. Like you, I can never get good bird photographs. I am also convinced they are frightened of the camera, as they’re fine until I go and get it. I just try and look and create a memory now, rather than a photograph. Much less frustrating.
Yes it does seem odd doesn’t it? I think they appeal because they offer year round interest and some people don’t like deciduous plants. They also like exotic holidays so maybe in a very lose way it reminds them of their holidays.
Despite my cats myriad faults they don’t seem to catch birds although Hebe is very good at what can only be described as ‘frog tickling’. (Bit like trout tickling but involves sitting for hours by side of pondlet until eventually shooting her paw under the frog who has come up for a breather and scooping it out to play with.) We don’t tend to get many birds sadly, but those who do refuse to pose for photos. The rather photogenic fieldfares, that turned up over this snowy weekend, could only be shot from too far a distance to get a crisp photo. When I waited closer in the cold snow for 20 mins not moving they all cleared off. I eventually moved into the greenhouse thinking to take a picture through the glass but they weren’t fooled by that either. The minute I went back indoors they were all back posing and performing!
Reading my comments it does seem that our bird population are all in on it. Would love to see field fayres again. I saw Lia had a Hitchcockesque flock in the garden at the weekend. She thought there must have been about 200. I haven’t seen one this year. I live in the sticks, she lives in the city. I’ve always said you see more wildlife when you live in urban areas. It’s certainly been true for us.
Thanks for the link to the Anxious Gardener – great goldcrest photos! I too like you am a frustrated bird photographer – I’ve not really got the equipment. I have fieldfares here – they like apples. No apples, no fieldfares squabbling with the blackbirds for them – they are quite aggressive. I am in the country though.
Thanks for that Lou (after all this time I know your name – though I might just continue with WW!). Birds can be so darned uncooperative, can’t they? The goldcrest just happened to be particularly blasé about me. I find many other birds (woodpeckers, wrens, tree-creepers) far trickier to capture – though I see them regularly. I sympathise with your cat problem – there are none at The Priory and it is far enough away from the nearest house that I’ve never seen one there. Long may that continue. Dave
I have to confess to giggling, shamefully, whilst reading this post. Not in mockery, honest, but more in pained recognition. The same happens to me. I keep promising myself that I will take the time to learn how to take good wildlife photos, but I am always too busy doing other things. Though, I have to say, the shots you did get are lovely, far better than all my blurred efforts. Which is why you never see bird photos on my blog!
I would like to add http://cockoftherock.blogspot.co.uk/
to your recommendation. His bird photos have been used on Spring/Autumn/Winter Watch website; published in bird books and magazines and used by the BTO. He has also started ‘Bird on a Twig’ … you focus the camera on one twig then get on with your day returning to the camera to check the twig when you can …. 18 different species this week!
Janet has taken the words out of my mouth. I spend hours (well it seem like it ) waiting for the right opportunity and when it happens I’m never quick enough off the mark. I’m sure that the birds know they are being watched. I must admit that if it was me on the end of the lens I would be doing a quick disappearing act too. Hang on in there though – you will get that brilliant photo one of these days.
Sitting here nodding my head while reading. The brids – my fingers will write brids when I want to write birds – in my garden also have this spot-the-papparazo knack, I actually think it’s because one stays in one place staring at them, as opposed to when cleaning, cooking or whatever one moves around. For every good photo I manage to get, there must be on average 50 that were deleted. Having the right equipment obviously also helps with focusing problems etc. Cats – we have netted a part of our garden in for the cats, yes the neighbours do think we’re bonkers, and the birds have the other larger bit, as do the neigbours’ cats that I am constantly chasing away. Many a morning has seen me sneaking out of the house with a glass of water in my hand, ready to be chucked at whichever cat that has yet again taken up residence under the bird feeders.