birds – Nannie RaRa

Garden visitors

3rd Jun 2025 Nannie RaRa

Jenny Wren makes visits to my garden, but is not that often seen although I hear her loud noise quite a bit. I managed to capture a short video of her hunting for food amongst the parsley.

The great spotted woodpecker has been visiting my garden regularly over the years and eats from the peanut feeders I put up.

For the past few years the woodpecker brings its young along to show it where to find food by feeding it from the peanuts. Here are a few videos of this happening.

The young great spotted woodpecker is sitting on the branch of the oak between the two peanut feeders.

This is a more distance shot of the great spotted woodpecker feeding its young.

The young woodpecker moved to a different tree. The adult great spotted woodpecker had to bring the food over to it.

nature

Birds by the estuary

4th Mar 2025 Nannie RaRa

Near to me is an estuary and we get many migrant and native waders and other water birds. I’ve taken a few short videos recently.

First up is an oystercatcher walking along the edge of the river looking for food.

Next is a curlew, it wasn’t far from the oystercatcher and again was looking for food.

There are a flock of brent geese that have been around all winter, roosting overnight in the field behind me before travelling down to the water for the day. These few were swimming on the water.

This is one of the egrets that live at the estuary. It had chased off another egret, then stood around before taking flight.

nature

Nearby feathered friends

25th Dec 202411th Jan 2025 Nannie RaRa

I’ve recently taken short videos of birds near me.

I have peanut feeders in my garden that hang from an oak tree. There is a holly bush next to it so the birds can hop in and out to safety, ready for when the sparrowhawk appears.

I usually have blue tits, great tits and great spotted woodpeckers on there, but recently some starlings have appeared. I also have magpies and jackdaws in the garden and the jackdaws have tried the feeders as well.

There is a ruined church just down the road, and a flock of finches have taken up residence in the trees and copse. You can hear the linnets chattering away as you pass by. I’ve also seen chaffinches, gold finches, greenfinches, yellowhammers and brambling.

There is a river estuary a short walk away with a nature reserve on the opposite side of the river. The birds don’t know about the reserve so they come on my side of the river as well. There are dunlin, teal, oystercatchers, avocet, knot, godwits – both bar tailed and black-tailed – and many others.

I’m not very good at telling which bird is which, so if I have named them wrongly in the videos, do let me know.

And lastly here is a flock of Brent geese. They travel from the farmer’s field where they overnight down to the estuary. You can always hear them coming.

nature, painting

Recent paintings

4th May 202228th Jun 2023 Nannie RaRa

Since writing Jenny Wren to the rescue and and illustrating the book with my paintings, I decided to paint for fun rather than for a specific purpose.

I’ve been experimenting with both watercolours and gouache. Looking back over some of my earlier works I can see improvements.

Here are some of my recent works.

I regularly walk through the nearby countryside and this hollow oak always looks so good. It is a popular place for children who can go inside and maybe visit secret places…

There is a ruined church near us that caught the morning light so beautifully.

I’ve been trying to find the best way to paint bark and leaves. Here is a study of a tree with ivy growing round it.

I often take photos of birds, both from my walks and those that visit my garden.

Last year we had Great Spotted Woodpeckers bring their young along to show them where the food is. It was great to see the parent feeding the young. This inspired the painting of the three woodpeckers.

Along the river we get many waders. This is a dunlin.

And finally, here is a composite picture of several birds that I have seen nearby. Of course Jenny Wren and Bobby Robin are here, but Jason Jay was away. Can you recognise the others?

nature

The birds are back

24th Apr 2021 Nannie RaRa

This week I heard the first cuckoo heralding the arrival of the summer migrants. The nightingales have returned and have started their singing. I’ve seen many birds lately on my morning walks and thought I’d share some pictures with you.