Bullfinch waiting its turn for food

It was so frosty in the garden this morning that I couldn't resist taking my camera out quite early before the sun melted the crisp ice decorations.  I don't know why certain conditions produce growth of ice crystals in the air but they certainly look wonderful.

I dressed warmly and went to the cabin, where I opened the main window having switched the small heater on.  I'd also filled up the bird feeders, and the hanging tray in particular, because I wanted to do some final tests with the borrowed 70-300mm lens while the light was bright.  Within a couple of minutes the birds came back and I was rewarded with two nuthatches, which seemed less flighty than usual.  I think the cold was making them think very carefully about food sources.  They climbed up and down branches in their inimitable fashion, as well as inspecting the frosty bark very closely.  I presumed they were looking for bugs or insects that were affected by the frost.  When they did eat sunflower seeds and suet pellets on the tray, they did so in situ rather than flying off with the food to a safer place.

A female blackbird was also very attentive and I got a few pictures of it eyeing up the various seeds and pellets with a quizzical gaze.  It would pick up a seed between its jaws and then toss its head back and swallow in one move before, then turning towards me and looking straight down the lens.  Well that is what I inferred from its action.

Bomble surprisingly joined me and sat by my knees on the open window frame.  The birds seem to know that the cats can't get them when they eat from the feeders hanging from the tree and now Bomble just ignores them.  But today he started to howl in an aggressive way and I looked to see what was upsetting him.  A ginger cat, possibly from next door, was sitting at the top of the steps and had a superior position. Eventually it turned away and as soon as it had its back to him, Bomble rushed after it in pursuit and gave the ginger cat a bop on its back as it disappeared through a hole in the hedge.

He then returned to his position beside me and not long after a few bullfinches appeared.  This one perched for a few minutes on a branch of the next door's bush and I couldn't resist its lovely colours. But I might have chosen to blip the blackbird, a robin or a nuthatch today.  There were many lovely images to choose from, but I don't get too many shots of bullfinches and I really like them.  If Pip ends up looking at my journal, I know he will like it too.