A Jay comes to eat

After feeding Bomble early this morning, I looked through the open back door and saw a large pair of bird wings swooping past. I clocked the Jay flying straight to the peanuts in a hanging feeder.

I rushed upstairs to get my camera, which luckily had the zoom on it. To save time, I decided I had to take a picture from my study, and if I opened the bigger windows for better control, it would probably scare the Jay away.

So I stood on tiptoe and poked the camera down from the small top window which was open. I had no time to adjust anything. The Jay had by now moved from the peanuts to the fat balls and was looking towards the sun. I luckily managed to keep the cameras reasonably still with a nearly high enough shutter speed. I would have preferred a little time for adjustments, but I also like the constraint of having to react quickly. so this picture will do for me now.

A few seconds and three pictures later it had flown away, dramatically swooping around the cabin and the trees in the garden next door, to alight in a big ash tree next to the footpath. It was exciting to see such a big bird come into the garden at will, and to have caught it in action. It's also good to have blipped before my first coffee of the day, which I can now look forward to brewing.

For those who care, I might be meeting that long lost blipper Dailykeith in a few hours! It was Keith who first introduced me to blipfoto. He now concentrates on writing his own excellent blog, with his fine pictures too, HERE