Suspicious

It was cold, and becoming stormy, when I arrived in Stratford this afternoon, and the churchyard birds were desperate for food. But unlike many of the 'regulars' this little Blue Tit was too suspicious of me to approach the seed I'd put down, even though it could see that other birds were feeding. I wouldn't normally photograph a bird from this angle if I could get a better one - and I do have other photos, including shots of a different Blue Tit, that were taken at their level - but something about this pleases me, with the light coming through the yew tree, and the bird seemingly doing a 'thousand yard stare' off into the distance above my head. I didn't stay long, and as I left I emptied the remains of my bag of seed just underneath this branch so that the BlueTit could get to it quickly after I'd gone.

When I reached the Bancroft Gardens I discovered that the Black Swan has arrived back, after being absent from Stratford for about a week. Because of the deteriorating weather there weren't many people out on the riverbank, so pickings for the waterfowl were slim - I'd already emptied my little container of waterfowl pellets at the chain ferry landing - and it was becoming increasingly aggressive with the mute swans, as they all clustered around the wharf. Someone in my hearing said "Oh look! Isn't that lovely!", and I thought, Ummm... no. Though I'll admit that it's very striking bird, and if it's taking up permanent residence I hope that one day I'll manage to get a photo of it in good light on nice clear water, rather than tucked right against the wharf, with its bill clamped to some other poor swan's bum.

I've now finished processing yesterday's owl photos, and I've posted half a dozen favourites to my Facebook page, if you'd like to see them.