Bramblings and a Hawfinch at The Lodge

28th December 2017

The original purpose for visiting The Lodge today was to try and photograph the Bramblings that had been under the feeders by the entrance, but thought I would start the day with a quick look at Sandy Heath. There was no sign of the large flock of Linnets and Redpolls that normally feed on the seed crop that is specially sown for them, but there were good numbers of Reed Buntings and Yellowhammers in the Broom and marginal trees.

Back at the feeders I broke my own rule of never photographing birds on the feeders themselves, but who can resist a christmas tree of Long-tailed Tits. The Nuthatch was also very active and with a little patience I was able to get a couple of shots on a natural branch.

But now on to the business at hand, the Bramblings. There were only 3-4 birds present but it was mostly the males that came out into the open and provided most opportunities. Photography was a bit tricky as they were continually moving from deep shade, to dappled light to full sun, thereby creating havoc with the camera settings.

After an hour or so with the Bramblings news came in that a female Hawfinch was showing well in the staff car park and with the sun now out this sounded like an ideal opportunity. The bird was feeding on the edge of a Yew tree at a range of 15-20 yards, which is about half of what I normally achieve, and so the next half an hour was spent snapping away until it eventuall flew off.

  

Over the years I have had some fantastic days at The Lodge and today was no exception, and it will remain at the top of my "places to vist" list.