The Safari was at a loss for what to do today. Wifey was having a well earned long lie in so we opened the kitchen blinds and just watched the world passing by for a while. A pair of loved-up Woodpigeons courted on the pergola and a slow but steady stream of avian visitors came to the feeders as the drizzly rain fell.
The drizzle turned to a 'mizzle' before stopping completely mid-morning so we had a mooch up the garden path going very quietly to see if there were any Frogs in the pond. We'd been out with the torch without success last night as the temperature was very mild. No Frogs this morning either but we did see that the mizzle had left droplets of water on a strip of moss growing between the paving slabs on the patio.
Recently we told you we couldn't find our snazzy flash-gun but as luck would have it we came across is yesterday hiding in plain sight. Time for it to see some action!
The super-macro lens had an outing too. With the subject growing low on the ground the only way to get a pic is to get down to that level, good job the ground had dried out a bit in the wind and that twisting screen on the back of the camera really does help prevent a serious crick in the neck.
There truly is a beautiful world in miniature out there, one we hope to explore more often this coming season. Gotta be all manner of goodies to find down there.
The rest of the day we kept an eye on the birdlife coming and going. We ended upwith 11 species, just couldn't make the dozen, where were those Long Tailed Tits that have been popping in and out recently when you want them, or one of the Collared Doves that co-coo-COOs from the neighbour's aerial when we're leaving to go to work .
The totals were, the two Woodpigeons , a pair of Great Tits, two Blue Tits probably a pair as they were together, Goldfinches, an unknown total coming and going through the day, at least four Greenfinches, great views of a Wren very close to the kitchen window, they've not been a particularly frequent visitor so far this year, a female Chaffinch was using the 'secondary' feeder and later a very bright male, the pair of Magpies were in and out usually ripping great chunks out of the suet block but one of them also came to try to rip live twigs off the Silver Birch tree, not sure why as there are similar sized twigs lying on the ground from recent pruning activities - very fresh ones are more flexible? - he didn't manage to brake any off, it took a while before a Blackbird showed up and he too laid in to the suet block, the temperature this arvo was a mild 9C but the birds musta been feeling the nippy wind that was getting up. The last species in the notebook was a pair of Dunnocks complete with armpit showing wing flicking display and bouts of chase me chase me.
We had an early evening look for some Frogs but no joy again, we'll try later as it's started raining again and the thermometer is still showing mild temperatures - come out come out wherever you are - they've gotta be a-croakin soon.
Where to next? Our usual late start on a Sunday but we have a long distance plan - well not quite as long as last Sunday.
In the meantime let us know who's down there close to the ground in your outback 
2 comments:
Some cracking macro shots there Dave, the water droplets make for a great effect, must give that a go sometime.
We seem to have 3 frogs in the pond, including a big female that's usually got one of the smaller males clamped to it, but no sign of any spawn yet. Checking back to previous years photos our pond activity seems to peak from mid to the end of March.
Had a Sprawk on the garden fence again yesterday morning, didn't manage to photo it though.
Cracking macro work Dave.
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