Simple pleasures – birdwatching

On my many walks along the river and canal paths the wildlife that has given me the most pleasure, and been the cause of much frustration, are the birds.

It takes patience and persistence

Spotting the birds and being able to capture that perfect picture are two very different things.  I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve seen a bird, taken a photo thinking I’ve got a great capture, only to find when I upload the photo that the bird flew off or turned its head as I clicked the shutter, leaving me with a blur or a shot of the back of a head and nothing to show for my time and patience.

Overall I think I’ve got some decent, albeit not perfect, photos.  These include mandarin duck, Canada geese, wrens, jay (one of my favourites), redwing, grey wagtail, nuthatch, merganser, long-tailed tit, great tit, and lots of robins.

My wish list

There are many birds on my wish list of wildlife to photograph – owls and birds of prey being some of them, but the kingfisher is top of my list.  I’ve seen several flying along the canal and river but that perfect photo has so far eluded me.  I’ll keep trying and maybe one day I’ll get it.

Picture gallery

Clicking on any of the pictures below will open a gallery to scroll through.