The Garden Again-with some special visitors

Got a text from my mum at lunch today, saying that we had two long-tailed tits on the birdfeeder. How annoying, me being trapped at school and there are long tailed tits on the birdfeeder at home. Still Not to worry, I got home and they quickly returned with the same number and I got a few shots, although they were rubbish because of the reflection caused by the sunshine.

They kept coming but the reflection kept getting worse, so I made a decision! At B.O.G a photographer had come in to give a talk and he had explained how every photograph is created, not really natural anymore. So I got a twig and wedged it into the birdfeeder holder, between the bush and the feeder so that the birds would land on it. I then burried myself amongst a rhodedendren and a prickly conifer with a clematis in front of me and waited. It worked pretty well, as they were the first bird to return after they had all been scared away.

They kept fliting about in the bushes, which was annoying becuase I could see them so close but I couldnt do anything about it. Eventually a bird came across and I took a photo. The only problem is that my camera is really loud and it left straight away. Eventually I decided to take lots of photos of bushes so that the birds would not be afraid of the sound. Rather annoyingly though, the birds ignored the stick I had placed and went straight to the feeder.

Still, its great to have these photos in the bag and I can try again next time. Whats great is that by the end there were about 5 birds and they were all around me and I could hear them cheeping from all angles. It was a great experience, despite the uncomfortable conditions. This is a record for the garden, as the only other long tailed tit occurance was a single individual that stuck around for about 5 seconds last year.