A jay feeding around the cemetery

I attempted to go for an interesting walk to view the latest regeneration works along the Stroudwater Canal west of Stroud. But all my efforts to drive there were thwarted by three traffic jams, in close succession. I did a three point turn in the queue decided to drive west instead up the Frome valley to walk by the canal east of Chalford. But by the time I reached the bottom of our road to follow the canal’s route upstream, I saw another traffic jam ahead. I went home instead.

As a result I walked the few yards to the cemetery in the hope of seeing a green woodpecker which I know visit there regularly but which never now seem to come into our garden. I stood in the centre of the new part of the cemetery, which is on the hillside a little further up from our house but overlooking the same Horns Valley and revelled in the loud silence and the bright  but cold sunshine.

I saw some crows and a goldfinch, but no woodpecker. Then a flurry of wings brought a bird quite close to me landing on a cherry tree beside the small avenue. I slowly brought the camera to my shoulder and was delighted to see the blue feathers of a jay. For the next couple of minutes it flitted from branch to branch apparently eating something on the small branches. The arrival of a magpie then disturbed it and it flew away down the avenue.

Over the next minutes I  stood watching and then noticing it or another jay on the distant hedgerow of the cemetery’s border with the old field next door. I watched it dive into the undergrowth at the bottom of little tree trunks forming the hedge and re-appear on a higher branch to start eating a round object. Then I guessed that it was raiding its stash of acorns it had buried in the autumn for times like this. I've often watched, and have blipped jays with acorns in their mouth, perched on the tree at the bottom of our garden to take a rest from after flying up the valley bottom where there are various oak trees near the Lime Brook.

I’ve added a few ‘Extras’ of the jay, possibly jays, taken over about forty-five minutes this afternoon. It was a delight and I’m now glad that my earlier plans were thwarted. I’ll remove the ‘Extras’ in a few weeks to free up space but for now enjoy life on the hillside.