BIRD NEWS:606

 

It has been a while since I have shared pictures of my garden birds - so here is the latest shot of the current bearer of the title Pidge. Probably, Pidge is the great great great grandchild of the original Pidge...

My next trek took me past a field of crows. They did not come out well as I could not zoom and focus at the same time on THIS dud camera. I was on my usual Angmering Park Estate woodland wanderings.

HERE is a link to a guide on UK geese

I went on another excursion - solo - along Swillage Lane, but only went up to Goggles' pond before turning back due to it being wet and muddy and my not having that much time due to working PM shift later in the day. On this trip I found Goggles munching with his duck companions.

Once again, I need to apologize on behalf of my dud camera for providing a less than proper picture. My old 'lil pink box' Fujifilm would have made this far more clearer.

HERE is a link to a guide on UK ducks.

Another blurry shot of Goggles feasting with his mallard pals. Then Goggles spotted me...swam right up to me and started hissing. I think he was rudely saying 'if you don't bring food, i don't want to see you' but maybe he has just had enough of humans now that so many walk, jog, dog and cycle past his pond.

BIRD NEWS:605

 

As I continued my trek and neared its completion, I walked along the former highway back into my village and spotted some dovecotes and either white show pigeon or doves flying and flocking. I managed to get one shot of these before heading home.

This would have been a shot of a magpie in the tree outside my bedroom window - but I don't have a good camera at the moment, so it is a blurr instead.

My next hike, a day after the last, was taken with Liz. We went on a Highdown loop taking different tracks again. We spotted a flurry of around 6 long tailed tits - too fast to even get my camera out the bag and this...'blurr'...

...that we THINK was a goldcrest.

HERE is a link to a video of swans and some other WWT videos.

This was also a goldcrest - for sure - but it shot into the bush and out of sight before I got my camera aim right - I did see the crest for certain though, this time.

Watch a baby bird be born - HERE.

This is my list of birds seen this year - it might have included a woodpecker, but I only heard rather than saw that - so far:

blackbird

bluetit

buzzard

dunnock

farm goose

gold crest

jay

longtailed tit

magpie

robin

seagull

skylark

song thrush

sparrow

starling

wood pigeon

 

BIRD NEWS:604

 

One is allowed to 'exercise outdoors with one other person', so Liz and I have been taking some local rambles recently, so we can catch up without breaking the Covid lockdown laws. On one trip, we trotted off to Poling, past a couple of frozen ponds, past the house where Winnie The Pooh was written, and across the A27 into Angmering Park Estate where we looped around and came out on Swillage Lane, passing Goggles.

The two photographs above, both depicting Goggles, were taken on the next trip. On this occasion, we went along Swillage - passing Goggles en route - and did a loop around Angmering Park Estate.

HERE is a link to article about local garden birds.

When I next passed Goggles' pond with Liz, Goggles was hiding. We proceeded to take our ramble, but there was no chance of a good shot for the blog this time...

...just a peek-a-boo head-up...

Liz and I did hear and spot a skylark on our next hike though. However it was too far for my new camera to get a picture.

HERE is a link to an article about owls.

February's second week arrived and my first hike was solo. I did the 2hr Swillage-Patching loop, passing Goggles on the first half of my walk. There was a little snow lain about, but not as much as I had hoped when I heard it was forecast.

BIRD NEWS:603

 

The gray wagtail was back at the pond today - so I tried to take his photo on both cameras.

I tried zoom and no zoom....but didn't seem to get a very clear picture whatever I tried.

Here you can see it near the pond - bottom right - and a couple of starlings enjoying the feeder pole.

You can just spot it by the rock below the marigold flower in this shot. I kept trying.

HERE is a video - I tried everything....

This shot of Goggles came out fairly well - the weather wasn't cooperating with my plans, so I only popped along to his pond then returned on this excursion. There were too many muddy puddles lying ahead to allow me to go onwards...

So it was two pictures and goodbye for me. Goggles has started to recognize me, though! This occasion, he honked 2-3 times at me - as if to say 'Hiya camera on legs!'

HERE is the link to news from WWT reserves - including our very own local site at Arundel...

BIRD NEWS:602

 

Alas, as soon as I used the first zoom, instead of getting a closer shot - I got a blurrier shot of the sparrowhawk. On full zoom, instead of being closer still....a blurry blob was the result. iI definitely do NOT recommend buying yourself a Kodak camera these days - it used to be a good make, but not any longer.

I then tried automatic instead of manual....with a similar poor result.

My next excursion was a solo hike up Swillage Lane - I did not go very far as it was puddled and wet. My camera surprised me by taking a fairly good shot - for once - of Goggles with the mallards.

Although not the usual clarity of my Fujifilm camera, the Kodak was at least capturing reasonable images on this occasion...

I took several shots of Goggles & his mallard pals, in case the camera misbehaved, as it generally offers up blobs and blurrs.

Goggles stayed around and even chattered to me a little bit today - maybe he is getting used to my visiting, stopping briefly near his pond and holding a box-thing to my face a few times in passing...

Very unusually, on this trip most of my photos came out fairly well. As the one below illustrates - close up birds using zoom come out ok - as do far off birds not using zoom. I would rather they all came out with or without zoom as they did on my old camera though...

HERE is an article about birds and happiness...

HERE is an article from WWT - of which I am a member and used to visit monthly pre-Covid.

BIRD NEWS:601

 

I managed ONE decent shot of the blackbird - out of a dozen or so. On my former camera, I would have gotten 4-5 good shots and a half dozen fairly good ones with maybe 1-2 duds.

My new camera continues to disappoint me. This blackbird should be clearly in focus - not a blur.

Above you can see a shot of the bird area in my back yard - feeder poles, bird baths, and pond. It came out OK, unlike most of my shots. It is not lack of practice - just a poor quality camera. It only takes decent shots at a specific distance on a specific zoom. I need a camera that takes what it sees - without the need to be fussing about or obtaining blurry blobs as the subject. I am not a professional that needs to sell my shots, but I like the pictures to be quick to take and good quality. My old camera was great....sigh.

You can see the sparrows in this shot - taken on partial zoom. But I cannot always take a picture from the coffee lounge at a semi-zoom or zero zoom....birds move and go all over the place, after all! My old camera caught what it saw and I could simply change the size of the picture and crop it on the computer afterwards to have perfect shots....

Using full zoom, this sparrow is a blur - showing I cannot take photos on full zoom in the back yard on THIS garbage-camera.

I really do not like this camera....This should be a great shot of a wren at the bird bath... On my lil pink box it would have been perfect, but on this blue thing - nope.

There was something large on the garden fence...for once, the camera decided to get an average shot...

A sparrowhawk methinks.

BIRD NEWS:600

 

Bye bye Goggles - maybe by the time I take my next trip I will have figured out how to get the camera to act the way I want it to!

I was in the garden pulling out the former pond liner which I had wrapped into a huge heavy heap. I was going to cut a chunk off to take down the alotment and place underneath the weed bin. Mr Bob spotted my activity - and that a few bugs and worms had moved on to the liner....

I took several shots - but he kept turning his back. The piece I wanted had been cut off and I was waiting on Mr Bob to finish his meal before wrapping it up to take with me to the plot.

My new camera is really annoying me. My old one just turned on, zoomed or not, then I pressed to take a picture, this one.....well, I DO NOT like it. I hope I can find a better model and dump this one asap. I liked my old camera...if I took bad pictures on that, it was me to blame, not the camera.

Mr Bob kept turning aside as I clicked....He was not helping me take great pictures either!

I managed a reasonable photo - which would have been excellent if taken on my old camera.

I spotted a blackbird on the edge of the pond a day or to later - but once again, the new camera let me down. I shall start searching for the same model as my old one as soon as lockdown lets me get out and about again. Even if I manage a few good shots - my old camera rarely let me down, and I am fed up with being disappointed more than 50% of the time with this model.