starling – 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.

Nannie RaRa has been out and about with her camera taking photographs of nature both during her morning walks and in her garden. She is lucky in having woods, fields, a river and a wildlife site all nearby.

Here are a few pictures from those walks. I’ve named the birds as best I can, but do correct me if I have them wrong.

First up is a black cap. I heard him singing every day as I walked along the path and managed to get this photo.

Then over the wildlife site I saw a jay. I first noticed it when a lot of the smaller birds were making a ruckus.

Down by the river I stood watching a cormorant drying its wings. It stood there for ages.

On the river one morning when it was as still as a mill pond I watched two great crested grebes doing their neck dance.

The last two photographs are not the clearest as the birds were a long way away.

A goldfinch was perched on the overhead wires.

The next two photos are of a common whitethroat. It was among the brambles which were growing near a small lake on the wildlife site.

This bird looks similar to the common whitethroat. Is it the same or is it a lesser whitethroat?

Also near the lake on an old tree stump was a rook, or was it a crow?

A group of long-tailed tits were in a tree.

A chaffinch was patiently sitting on a twig.

This bluetit was taken in the garden as it was looking for insects among the holly.

Nearby there have been some robins nesting. First I saw the male robin with insects in its beak. Then the baby robins appeared and were fed for a while before finding their own food.

There was a family of starlings in the garden looking for food. The young sat there waiting to be fed, then opend their mouths and squawked when they couldn’t wait any longer.

Finally there are a few photographs of insects found in the garden.

Do let me know if any of the birds are mis-identified. Nannie RaRa is fairly new to birdwatching and to photographing them. There are so many blurry photos I won’t show you.

Let me know if you like these.

Tag: starling

Nearby feathered friends

Early summer walks