A Goldcrest Frenzy - 8th Feb

After enjoying such a stunning sunrise, the weather by lunchtime had changed for the worst, it was now very dull and dismal, and the temperature hadn't really risen all day. So I arrived at the lakes without a lot of hope for some decent photographs because of the light.

Having had a run in with possibly the rudest photographer I've ever encountered over disturbance of the resident Otter and her trespassing into a clearly marked "Out of Bounds" Area therefore placing herself between the Otter and its holt, I politely told the facts and was responded to with a tirade of swearing and bitterness. I've been spoken to before by lots of blokes in the wrong but never by anyone so angry or bitter - and she was female, she was so angry she was literally spitting at me. 

Having lost all interest in Otter photography with idiots about, I walked back towards the car park not really paying to much attention, the lakes waters were pretty quiet and only the local Buzzard flying by grabbed my attention before I heard the sweet pinging melodic call of a Goldcrest. Unknowingly I seem to have undertaken a little bit of a Goldcrest photography project. Not often seeing a decent Goldcrest shot posted online I thought I'd make it my mission for the winter.

Goldcrest

My closest Goldcrest subject yet

I have become quite accustomed to picking out their song on my lunchtime walks, as the wintering populations around the lakes is quite high. Having on several occasions had one very close in a nearby bush, only to grab a lot of blurred shots due to their speed and size. And the main fact that they don't sit bloody still for more than a second, so once you move to focus they're gone.

So today although the light was poor and I was shooting at ISO 5000 and above, I got some clear-ish close up shots of a very obliging male. What happened next as I was watching this tiny bird flit before me on some willow was quite astonishing, and certainly something I had never witnessed before. The bird flew off across the path to a small clump of ivy about the same 3 feet off of the ground, and its call changed dramatically, with a much louder and alert ring to it.

And then he done it the head crest parted and the Bright flame orange tuft became clear, I must admit having never seen this before I thought it was pretty awesome for such a small bird. Still calling loudly, 2 blurs pasted quite close by me and headed straight for the calling male, Que. a small blurred mess of fighting male Goldcrests, beaks pecking, wings flapping and talons locked. Well it looked like that!!!

I wondered what had caused this sudden outburst of aggressiveness as the male birds zoomed off after each other up the path. 3 more now flitted in the Ivy bush in front of me presumedly females. Seconds later a male returned, crest still clearly visible and he landed close to one of the females again presumedly telling her he was the victor.

Stunning Displaying Male

The pair together

Just look at that crest!

A great way to end the lunchtime with some bird behaviour I had never witnessed before, and a great way to momentarily forget the evil bitch I'd spoken to earlier!

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