Quick - the sun has come out!

A very strange thing happened yesterday. The sky turned a weird blue colour and there was a bright yellow ball shining away for much of the day. A quick look back through history revealed the return of a miracle - the sun had come out!

Not only was it out, but it had come out as forecast. Having spotted this I had quickly added some perches in and around my bird feeders the day before, although it was blowing a gale and there was no hope of putting up my hide. But I woke the next morning to a calm winter's day, quickly set up my garden hide and took my first photos of 2014 - yes the first photos and it is mid February already!! 

My first session in my hide is always a bit hit and miss and hopefully there will be more to come. But I was pleased that a variety of birds came down, all seemingly unperturbed by the strange camouflaged tent that had suddenly appeared with a large lens sticking out the front.

One bird that came down almost immediately was a Robin.

RobinPrivate Location, Nr Grantham, Lincolnshire

A couple of Greenfinches also came down to feed.

Male GreenfinchPrivate Location, Nr Grantham, Lincolnshire

Male GreenfinchPrivate Location, Nr Grantham, Lincolnshire

My hide was set up at a distance from the perches suitable for taking photos of these smaller birds, not large birds like the Woodpigeon.  But one such pigeon decided to come down and sit in front of me, not allowing any other bird anywhere near. It sat there for what seemed forever, eating every bit of seed it could find, despite my best efforts to get it to move. Fortunately though, the 100-400 mm zoom lens allowed me to take a range of images of this slightly less welcome visitor, before it finally flew off to the bushes.

WoodpigeonPrivate Location, Nr Grantham, Lincolnshire WoodpigeonPrivate Location, Nr Grantham, Lincolnshire WoodpigeonPrivate Location, Nr Grantham, Lincolnshire

WoodpigeonPrivate Location, Nr Grantham, Lincolnshire

A bird I was pleased to see was the Goldfinch. A pretty little bird, up to four or five would come down to feed at any one time.

GoldfinchPrivate Location, Nr Grantham, Lincolnshire
GoldfinchPrivate Location, Nr Grantham, Lincolnshire

GoldfinchPrivate Location, Nr Grantham, Lincolnshire

GoldfinchPrivate Location, Nr Grantham, Lincolnshire

GoldfinchPrivate Location, Nr Grantham, Lincolnshire

For more images please see the Finches and Doves & Pigeons Galleries.

Hopefully I will get more images over the coming weeks. I'm not sure Rachel is best pleased that the hide is back up and I'm not sure Sam has realised yet his football pitch has disappeared. I'm not sure the lawn was thanking me for squelching around on it either.

But I was just pleased to see the sun and get the camera out again!

More from both the hide and from the trip to Florida soon!