Nuthatch Fun in Cannock Chase march 17th 2014

Another trip to Cannock Chase today ,  the weather forecast is not great yet again , but will be ok for the most part .  arriving at about 9 o'clock its just a short walk into the woods to the large fallen trees where the Nuttys come down to feed :)

the first thing I'm going to do is put out a few broken peanuts in the thick moss that's on one of the trees nearby , a favourite spot for them.   it has only been a minute or so and two arrive above me and come down immediately to pick up the food .

Look at this one , cheeky bird has found the peanuts i stuffed into a hole in the dead tree about 15 ft away , it must have been watching me put them in as i arrived  lol

      I have managed to get a portrait as it landed on the wood above the hole :)      beautiful colours

                               Mollster is quite happy watching me from behind.

        A stump on the dead tree has also had peanuts stuffed into the bark, quite hard to try slow down the "theft"   lol     the light is really nice now , shining through the trees at a low angle.

                                                   got lucky with these two images!

 i have watched them landing on this stump for ages now, but its very difficult getting good sharp images as they are such fast little birds. 

                                      I have just noticed this one in a large tree above me

 The sun is higher now and giving different light to the backgrounds , lighting up the moss on a tree behind which looks quite nice .

That will be my final image for the day , the sun is being blocked by trees now and this area is getting a bit dark.  its been a good morning shooting and watching these fascinating little birds .


                                       all shot with canon 5d mk2 and 100-400 L

Cannock Chase Birds feb 10th 2014

I haven't shot any birds for ages, so i have decided to go down the m6 to Cannock Chase.  its a long way but is a superb place for birding.
arriving at about 9  i set up a few perches and put some feed out for the birds , almost immediately a Nutty come down and i managed a few quick shots with my 400mm lens , got lovely light in this one:)                 Nuthatchs are one of my favourite bird, but there is a better place in the wood to shoot them for later in the day.

 Every ones favourite the Robin comes down onto the large log i have put a few seeds on , the light is really nice still but starting to cloud over a bit.

There are not that many showing, a scruffy looking coal tit sitting in the tree and a few Great tits flitting in and out but not coming down to feed much.

                                                     A Great tit perching on the log top :)

a Female Bull finch is mopping up the fallen seeds on the ground, proving really difficult to get a good picture with a clean background , this is the best i have managed .

a "Poppit"    aka Long Tail tit are superb little birds, usually appear in small groups, feed then disappear quickly  , this one stopped for a short time to feed on peanut butter placed on the branch :D

There are just not enough feeding here now so i have decided to walk into the woods to search for the Nuthatches , there are a few different large fallen trees where they readily come down to feed on whole and crushed peanuts carefully hidden in the bark.
after a 10 minute walk into the woods i have come to the second set of fallen trees, these have been the most consistent feeding areas for the birds i have found in the previous couple of years.

After spreading a few whole and crushed peanuts in various places i only have to wait a few moments before the Nuttys come down :)      its unfortunately come over very overcast and spitting with rain, so i am having to shoot at high 1000 & 1600 iso

          They are so fast!   coming down from the trees, grabbing a peanut then flying off again  lol

                                               A Chafinch pops in for a photo to be taken

              After a couple hours of fun watching and shooting  them i pack up after this image.

                  it has been a great day shooting and watching, even spotted a herd of Deer :)