mybigadventures.com

The turkey dinner went down well with everybody on Christmas day, but it wasn't just the family that were tucking in to dinner, in the garden the squirrels and birds have been busy stuffing their little faces with fatballs and seeds. Over the last couple of days the feeders have been very popular with squirrels performing their usual gymnastic tricks to pour seeds into their mouths.

It is quite funny how they creep in stealth mode along the fence stopping occasionally frozen on the spot when they think someone is looking! The feeders have also been frequented by a range of tits including coal, blue and long-tailed and also a pair of robins and a pair of nut hatches. It's all given me quite a few opportunities to try out my new camera lens so all good!

Today we went to the cinema to see the new "Mary Poppins returns" film, it really was rather good and seemed to fit very well with the original, I would definitely recommend if you haven't had a chance to watch it yet. Back home in the evening, we continued to use up the contents of the fridge, and with this in mind, we "had" to make chocolate ice-cream to use up the left over cream that was on it's expiry date. What a nightmare eh!?!   

The garden feeders have been very busy again today. We've had blue tits, coal tits, long tailed tits and nut hatches all fighting it out to get a turn. The robin was also hanging around the back of the garden I expect waiting for things to quieten down. Enjoy the photos!

So we re-filled the bird feeder this morning and about 2 hours later after a constant stream of birds it's almost empty again. To be fair most of the birds were very patient waiting on the fence or in the tree until it was there turn, that is except for the pair of nuthaches that basically just hustled and bolstered their way straight to the fron of the queue. Made for some nice pictures though so I guess I don't mind too much!

Had a walk down to Pinner Memorial Park today to see the ducklings. We think there was about 20. Some were slightly older and braver, and were zipping around all over the pond, whilst a smaller group were still pretty close to mummy duck. I've added a couple of pictures below.

Today we went bird spotting at RSPB Rye Meads nature reserve. The weather was great again with blue skies and sunshine, but despite the nice weather it was fairly quiet. There are a number of hides dotted around each focussing on different types of birds, but the real highlight had to be the kingfisher. We saw at least two, possibly 3 different kingfishers and took a few photos but I could have done with a longer lens. There was a guy in the kingfisher hide rocking a massive camera lens that I think must have cost thousands. The end of the lens was the size of a dinner plate and it was more than 2 feet long! I suspect his king fisher pictures were probably epic, but nevermind. The kingfishers then seemed to hide as there were a couple of heron stalking around. The RSPB lady in the hide was telling some other people that the eels have found a nifty way to escape being eaten if caught by the heron. They wrap themselves around their beak so they can't be eaten until the heron gives up and lets them go. 

Took a final few photos of the blue tits back by the entrance before heading back. It was a great day out and definitely worth a visit if you're ever in the area.

The short bleak days are almost over and spring is on it's way. Just another week until it officially arrives and things start warming up. The weather has started to improve over the last week although it's still faily changable which is confusing the central heating. A lack of thermostat in the flat means we can be anywhere between cooked and frozen which is not entirely ideal. School are running a photography competition with a theme of spring so it prompted me to have a look back through photos I've taken this time of year over the last few years. I've included a few of my favourites below.

This blue tit was taken from the bedroom window at my mums in Sheffield. I really like the colours and brokeh in the photo. You can just see the leaves starting to unfurl on the branches

This one was taken a few years ago now, in the back garden at our old house in Leeds. I like the sharp colour of daffodil petals against the dark fence in the background.

This last one is taken at one of our favourite spots in Leeds, Roundhay Park. It's a great place for a walk all times of year and I have some great photos from all types of weather.

I hope you've enjoyed the photos. Let me know which one is your favourite.