The Young Birder

Here I am at a friends garden where there's an  old apple tree with a few bird feeders, frequently used by Blue tits . I stood just in front of the feeders and waited for the birds to get used to me. As they hopped down the lichen covered twigs to the feeder I took these shots...   You can't really get much cuter than that! At the moment Blue tits are having a 'restock' with more coming in to the UK from Scandinavia to escape the very cold and harsh winters over there. By Spring all of the Blue tits which came from Scandinavia will have gone back to breed. We will still have the resident Blue tits which stay all year round.  Blue tits are so acrobatic, they are amazing little birds. This Buzzard ( Buteo buteo ) flew right over me   and looked down just at the right moment. Here's a funny photo of one of the Blue tits to finish off this blog post!

  A trip down to Devon... I  saw a group of Turnstones on some rocks really close by some steps leading onto Sidmouth beach. I walked slowly down, until I was as close as I could get to them, without falling in the sea! I really like the waves and stray water droplets  around it. RSPB Bowling Green Marshes, a brilliant nature reserve which backs onto the Exe Estuary -  walking to one of the hides I spotted this Little Egret  on the mud flats.  Little Egrets are not to be confused with the Great White Egret. (I've seen a few wildlife presenters get it wrong on TV!) GWE are much larger, standing at double the height as a Grey Heron and generally have a yellow beak, whereas the LE is half that size, has a black beak and is much more common. Here are some more pics from the trip, not the best but I thought were still worth putting in... Chiffchaff at Bowling Green Marshes.  And a beautiful Kingfisher, also taken at Seaton Wetlands.

Today I had a stroll on the Malvern Hills, just 20 minutes drive away from my house. A friend had alerted me that  Snow Bunting had been sighted at the Worcestershire Beacon, the highest point on the Worcestershire side of the Malvern Hills.  So, off I went to try and photograph  these small but rare buntings even though it was an ove rcast day. As I approached the top of the beacon  I saw a flutter in the long grass, had a quick look through my camera viewfinder and saw the Snow Bunting flitting around. I just managed to to get an image before it flew off out of sight. I think this is a female. On with the walk... coming to an area of thick gorse I saw a group of Stonechats; a male and two females, these 2 images are males.  Stonechats are really quite common on the Malverns  and I see them all year round. 

  Y esterday I was having a walk in some woods nearby... Tiddesley woods near Pershore, Worcestershire is a large wood owned by Worcestershire Wildlife Trust. It holds fantastic species such as Silver-washed Fritillary, White Admiral, Greater Butterfly orchid and the Noble Chafer beetle.  It was a really hot day and once in the wood the canopy of leaves protected me from the sun.  There was a small brook with a  bridge over it  and as I sat looking at a patch of nettles I noticed  small puffs of pollen coming from them. I have since found out that mature male nettle flowers, which grow near the top of the plant, have evolved to become wind pollenated.  I thought it might make a nice image, so using a fast shutter speed and choosing a dark background making the pollen stand out, I took this image of the stamens flinging pollen into the air. Whilst I was looking at my camera, my friend who I was walking with, spotted a Grass Snake gliding silently a...