Success at last!

Following on from the last post, I finally managed to get to my winter bird feeding station in Wormshill.  This was after taking a trip to Surrey on Saturday afternoon to invest in some all-terrain tyres.  Due to the nature of what I do, I regularly drive in the countryside and the others were wearing a bit thin anyway and were due to be replaced.  More snow was forecast and after reading numerous ‘tyre’ reports I decided upon some General Grabber AT2′s.  Widely regarded as the best AT tyre around and having now used them in very adverse conditions on the Downs and marshes I can see why. 

I therefore felt confident enough to get to the birds but of course you still have to be careful, especially on the icy-slush and made my way gingerly to the woods.  I really wanted some typical snowy shots of birds, especially robins and in my experience these, along with others like dunnocks and chaffinches prefer to feed on the ground rather than on the suspended feeders.  I sprinkled food on the ground, set up a low perch and retreated to my hide.  Immediately they started to use it including one species which I have never before photographed, the dunnock.   The dunnock or hedge sparrow  looks like a dull sleek sparrow and always looks to be nervous and agitated, constantly flicking it’s tail and wings.   It went through a serious population decline in the 1980s and indications are that it is now recovering.

Just prior to the heavy snowfall when we had more of a dusting, I headed to to the marshes and captured this frozen landscape set against a very dramatic sky.

I also came across this pair of red-legged partridges and using the car as a mobile hide, managed to get close enough to secure a handful of images.

Tags: 4x4, birds, decline, dunnock, general grabber, great tit, hedge sparrow, north kent marshes, recovering, red-legged partridge, robin, snow, winter, woodland