Friday 21 December 2012

Blashford Woodland Hide

With weeks of Slimbridge posts I can finally get on to some other wildlife encounters. Unfortunately I am still over a month behind and really should get my fingers loose for plenty of typing.

The following Sunday from my trip to Slimbridge, the girlfriend was down and with some pretty indifferent weather we headed down to Blashford lakes. The main car park was flooded along with the Tern Hide that overlooks the huge expanse of Ibsley Water. That instantly put a massive dent in my visit.

As the rain started to come down we headed for shelter in the Woodland hide. A cracking hide with loads of feeders but only with one partition that opens to allow clean photography. As you can imagine this prime piece of real estate by the window is most usually frequented. And in previous visits as Im sure I've blogged, I have encountered photographers who have bragged about being sat there all day.

Luckily today after 15 minutes or so the old couple that were there up and left, and I was on hand to slide my considerable girth along the wooden bench and into position. As mentioned there are loads of feeders attracting a wide variety of woodland birds. Within minutes, Blue Tits, Great Tits, Coal Tits, Nuthatch, Chaffinch, Goldfinch, Lesser Redpoll, Great spotted Woodpecker, Pheasant, Collared Dove and several stunning male Bramblings had visited the different feeders.

Nuthatch - Check Out The Tongue Action
I try nowadays not to capture birds on the feeders as branches give a far more natural look. This however isn't always easy, especially when the birds tend to land directly on the feeders. I must admit I couldn't resist a few shots of the ever present Nuthatches who were not at all bothered by the camera just a few feet away.

Brambling Male
Goldfinch
The main purpose of my visit was to hopefully catch a few shots of the gorgeous Lesser Redpoll, but after waiting a good hour for them to land on the nearby branches I had to make do with a few feeder shots. The light was changing every 2 or 3 minutes as the clouds rolled by above, which when leaving a clear path for the sun created a lovely glow on the bracken behind the birds.

Now I hear you say I sat in the window a good hour, now that would make me as bad as everyone else I earlier moaned about. But as several other photographers entered and rather annoyingly shot over my shoulders with there lenses, 5 minutes or so later I packed up and let someone else have my spot. Turns out no one filled it so I sat back down. Playing fair isn't it?

Lesser Redpoll



Lesser Redpoll
Cock Chaffinch
http://www.facebook.com/MartinClayPhotography Up to date pictures and sightings, prior to me getting around to writing these blog posts, I would be more than grateful for any 'Likes' or Comments on my FB Photography Page too so feel free to comment or criticise about anything.

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