Reed Buntings

More data wrangling and report writing today, but I sneaked off for a couple of hours in the middle of the day to walk round Ferry Meadows. For a change I visited the bird hides, though, as they face south, the light's awful for photography. There were lots of teal on one of the shallow lakes, but the other was deserted. However, there was a feeder, and I stood outside the hide and spent some time watching various songbirds hopping around in the nearby trees and bushes behind it. They're all very acclimatized to people - at one point a robin came within about 10 cm of my arm, and I thought it was going to hop onto my shoulder! My favourites today were the female reed buntings. They're very confiding birds, and though they're not as showy as the male (see extra) the warm chestnut tones of their feather really glow in the early spring sun.