I discovered last night that my Sony a77 camera would not turn on. I took out the battery, replaced it with another, charged both batteries, took out the SD card, replaced it with another, sat on both cards and both batteries in case they were cold, got one of the cats to sit on the camera (with a fleece over it) in case it too was cold, but all to no avail. It sadly looks as if my a77 has died.
After dismantling it again I went to bed feeling very low. Although I can describe in words what I have seen during my days out and about, I also rely on my often crappy photos to back me up.
At 6am this morning I jolted awake remembering that somewhere in my flat was my old a580 camera body, neglected, unused and unloved. An hour later I found it, dusted it off, inserted a battery and SD card and BING, it worked. A few test shots of the cats made me remember why I had upgraded to the a77. The a580 is slow to focus but after a few hiccups this morning, the old girl done me proud...
I don't seem to be having much luck at the moment, this is my second attempt at writing my blog post tonight. I had just got to the end of writing up my first one when I somehow pressed something and deleted everything ! So that is why it's being posted so late...
The forecast for today was cloudy with some sunshine. That was fine by me as I was heading off to Kensington Gardens for a very overdue visit, and which would generally mean low level photos rather than pointing my lens up into the sky. As I left Hayes it was really quite overcast but as I got off the tube at Lancaster Gate the sun appeared and it stayed out for most of the day.
My photo of this beautiful Starling is a testimony of the great light I had this morning.....
First stop of the day was at the Leaf Litter yard to get my fix of hand feeding wild birds. After giving up half of my Wilkos mealworm mixture I stood back and watched others getting their enjoyment too.....
I met loads of lovely like-minded people at this 'feeding' station today. It's great that this site is becoming so well known for a place to become truly close to nature.
That was the first of many visits to the LL yard today, but the park is so huge there was much more that I wanted to explore.
On my way to visit the new(ish) Little Owl tree I accidentally flushed a Mistle Thrush who then sat obliging atop a patch of scrub for me....
I didn't spot the Little Owl on my first visit so had to console myself with a Treecreeper that flew onto a neighbouring tree. Barely got any photos as my old camera struggled to focus, but managed one shot showing how agile a Treecreeper can be.....
I waited around perched on a convenient tree stump but the Little Owl didn't show and after 30 minutes I made my way to the Round Pond where a Scaup has been residing recently. That didn't show either, possibly because there was a group of motorised model sailing boats on the same 'pond' that would have no doubt spooked the Scaup. I wasn't overly bothered, I'm not a 'twitcher' after all, I certainly don't go chasing rare bird sightings, I get my kicks out of watching nature but if a rarity turns up on a nearby patch I wouldn't say 'no'.
I consoled myself watching four Starlings bathing on the edges......
and three Egyptian Geese preening...
On my way to the café for an expensive Americano, I found a photogenic Robin...
and a couple of Grey Squirrels that looked like they were eating bark off a very dead tree. They may have been trying to get to any juicy titbits under the bark, but there was quite a bit of sawdust around the base...
Just past the bridge a Cormorant was doing some shallow fishing but not really catching much...
It wasn't at all bothered by the nearby foot traffic, and after several shots it gave me a very nonchalant stare.....
Possibly a face that only a Mummy Cormorant could love ?
Back at the Leaf Litter yard I concentrated on taking a few snaps of some of the more commonly seen birds....
And then tried again at the Little Owl site, where I was pleasantly surprised to find I was in luck.
Despite the tree being so close to a cycling lane, the Little Owl was happily basking in the sun. You can see from the light behind the Owl in the hole that the top of the branch is also open and that the majority of it is hollow....
Because of where I was standing, there was barely anybody behind me, and I had the immense pleasure of watching this gorgeous beauty for almost 90 minutes. It was so nonchalant that I risked a couple of other angles to take photos....
and then went back to my original post on the grassy path whilst the owl preened....
and then gave me some more sleepy stares....
After yawning and preening some more, it hopped back into the hollow branch and away from view. So with my back now aching from holding myself still for so long, I made my way back to the Leaf Litter yard to feed some more park birds...
I don't have a 'favourite' small bird, I seem to have several, and the Nuthatch is definitely in my top five. There are a couple at KG that are fairly tame and are easily seen. I practised my best Ralph Hancock impression (more about him later), put some Wilkos mixed mealworm magic on the railings, stood back and waited.........and wasn't disappointed.....
a couple of Coal Tits joined in and provided some very aesthetically pleasing snaps.....
It really is lovely to hand feed the birds here, but it's ruddy hard trying to photograph one on your fingertips with a zoom camera lens that wont focus less than a metre away, so after you've done hand feeding, do a 'Ralph' and put some feed on the railings....
It makes for some lovely close ups.....
The male Tawny Owl has been a bit predictable recently and not coming out of his nest tree until late afternoon. So to kill a bit of time, and rest my back and sore feet (after unwisely trying to break in new walking boots) and after getting a couple of pointers from Sue and Mike, I took a rest near the Speke monument where I got some lovely views off at least nine Redwings...
I bumped into the infamous Ralph shortly after that and with one glance at the Tawny Owl tree, he informed me Mr Tawny was now out.....
I grabbed a couple of shots of the male on his 'throne' before having a quick look at the 'balcony' round the back....No female Tawny, as to be expected at this time of year, but I did get a quick photo of a Grey Squirrel instead....
I was a little concerned at first, especially when the squirrel darted down inside the owls entrance hole, but Ralph soon calmed me down by explaining there were several chambers and exit holes within the old tree, and it was unlikely the squirrel has disturbed the female Tawny. Mrs Tawny is hopefully either on eggs or incubating new owlets now, possibly just feet away inside the tree from that 'balcony'...
On my way back to the tube station I found a 'dancing' young Heron. There's a lot of maintenance work going on at the moment, and this juvenile Heron landed on one of the work boats as I was passing. It didn't stand still though, it was sort of hopping from one foot to the other....
I couldn't find the reported Little Grebe under the fallen willow, but I did see a 'raft' of Shoveler Ducks doing what they do best....
So, as Kensington Gardens isn't my patch and is a place I only get to a few times a year, how do I know so much about it ? Because Ralph Hancock writes a daily blog post about the place. And I really do mean 'daily' ! Like myself, he's not a 'twitcher' but he has a passion for the park and its wildlife that is outstanding. Every evening I read his blog post for the day. The birds around the Leaf Litter yard wouldn't be so photographically obliging if it wasn't for Ralph and his dedicated daily feeding of them. And it's not just restricted to that area. Today as I was talking to Ralph by the Tawny Owl tree, a Blue Tit flew right up to his face asking for food. The birds follow him as if he was the Pied Piper. It's magical to watch. So lastly here is a link to Ralphs blog.
Great to meet you in the park, and thanks for your kind words and for bothering to read my blog. Some lovely pictures. That Grey Heron sequence is interesting. There has been a youngish heron here looking like this one, and it had an injured leg and could hardly put any weight on it. I thought it wouldn't recover. But perhaps this is the same bird, mostly healed but still uncomfortable. It isn't in the nature of herons to shuffle, so there must be some particular reason.
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