i am thrilled to bits.

[naturelover]

hi guys and gals,this morning i saw my bird feeding station alive with birds of all sorts,i saw a pair of collard doves perched rather clumsily on the dishes,four blackbirds,three blue tits,lots of sparrows,1 wren,and my friend the robin who comes every morning,so you were all right what you said,they will come given time,so now i am refilling the dishes at last,they love the niger seed but mostly the small birds,oh i forgot the starlings,six at one time after the fat balls,thing is because its a metal pole it dose tend to swing back and forth when there are heavy birds on there,it tends to be a bit top heavy.Today i got a nice little book through the post from the rspb,its all about our birds of prey,i can now learn which one is which,i have now joined again as i left them when i moved house,i dont know why realy but never mind i started it up again,i also get a free bird feeder for joining so thats handy,more seed for my feathered friends makes me so happy.

[Jez]

Coolioski Naturelover i bet your so chuffed and the good thind=g is you will carry on being chuffed now they now where to come and feed. I could watch birds on the feeders for ever. So made for you

[naturelover]

so could i jez,trouble is i cant photoegraph them because of the patio doors,i have tryed but always get the flash reflected in the windows.

[Jez]

Originally Posted by naturelover

so could i jez,trouble is i cant photograph them because of the patio doors,i have tryed but always get the flash reflected in the windows.

But the birds that come to the feeders make u for it i hope

[colincurry]

Which camera do you have? Could you switch the flash off and bump up the ISO?

One of my friends wanted to snap blackbirds on his pyracantha. He opened a window and stuck an old curtain over the opening. He then poked his camera through by the side of the curtain and did not disturb the birds at all. You could try something like that. If you have a tripod or something you can lean your camera on, place it by the open door so that you have a firm base for your camera. Plan it right and you could even have a chair to sit on whilst you wait. Music from your Ipod and a glass of wine - what else would you need?

Colin

[colincurry]

PS Wrap up warm.

Colin

[naturelover]

good idea colin especaly the wine bit,thing is i have a 93 year old father in law living with us,he dosnt like a draft so thats out of the question this time of year.

[SweetRocket]

Glad to hear your feeding station is a success naturelover. I also have patio doors which doesn't make it easy to take photos
I had my first visit from a bird of prey on Thursday and Friday, it was a Sparrowhawk and I was overjoyed at this very unexpected visit until I realised what could happen to my little birds. When it flew in yesterday I knew it was there because of the way the small birds all panicked and flew away, it left an eerie silence and the birds didn’t come back for the rest of the day. This morning though the birds were back feeding at all the feeders. It was quite an experience witnessing for the first time how brutal nature can be and as much as I liked the Sparrowhawk visiting I hope the visits are not that frequent, would hate to see it take a small bird away.

[naturelover]

i must say i have yet to see a sparrowhawk in cambridgeshire,in fact i have only ever seen one once in my garden and thats only because it hit the window while chasing a smaller bird,it lay on the ground for a few minits, i thought it was dead,then it got on its feet looked around and was on his merry way,he was a very lucky sparrowhawk to have not broke his neck.