My blog has reached 5,000 views! I have been thinking of lots of new ideas to mark this milestone, and one of those ideas was to install a bird feeding station into my garden.
As it's winter and the birds are very brave, as there is little food around, I have decided to put the feeding station directly outside out french doors. This will hopefully allow me to get some nice close up shots of the visiting birds. Within minutes of installation I had spotted a female blackbird, a blue tit, a great tit, a coal tit, a robin and a wren on (and around) the feeders! I also spotted a few fieldfares among the trees.
The sunset the other nice was spectacular. Whilst taking a few shots, I almost felt like I was on an evening game trip in the African bush! I wondered if I could try to create a shot that illustrated this African vision even more… I set the camera to manual focus, and then blurred the image ever so slightly. This created a really nice image, almost representing the haze you would experience in an area such as Africa. I was really pleased with the final image.
The next morning also had a really photogenic aspect to it, with the frozen due on the grass and the leaves. I spent a few minutes capturing some images around the garden, whilst watching the birds on my new feeding station.
I love how the sun is highlighting the edges of the frost in this picture. The robin below spent the morning perched on the top of the bird feeding pole… and if any other birds, especially robins, came nearby it would fight them off and then hop back onto its sentry perch!
I have to admit, I have been quite lazy with bird feeders recently, mainly because of school work and other commitments. However, I have made sure to break the ice on the pond every morning as the water is vital to the birds and other local wildlife. I was amazed about how quickly the birds discovered these new bird feeders, and even started to form a hierarchy!
Lindor Chocolate Bird bath!
For christmas I received a huge lindor truffle full of little lindor truffles! The clear plastic sphere which formed the big truffle gave me an idea. I used one of the half-sphere segments to create a modern, and very unique, type of bird bath. It was pretty simple to assemble. I used a chain from another previous bird feeder to attach to either side of the bowl.
I really like the way you can see an inverted image of the surrounding in the bowl. As the bowl is transparent, I will also be able to see the birds drinking and washing in it underwater! I have also thought of using my GoPro somehow to film the birds from under the water, by positioning it at the bottom of the bowl.
I also received another suet bird feeder for christmas, and I am planning on putting that up tomorrow. Gosh, the birds aren't going to be hungry this winter!
