A Jay Day....

Gemma seems much improved and today we went for a slightly longer walk along a stretch of the river with woodland on one side and flood meadows on the other. I wasn't very optimistic about getting any good photographs as the weather has turned, cold, grey and gloomy again.

As we entered the main part of the woodland I spotted a jay land in a tree not too far away. Of course I had the wrong lens on the camera! Usually they fly off fairly quickly, but this one seemed fairly settled, so I quickly changed lenses and took a few shots, using a high ISO to cope with the fact that I was in a shady woodland on a grey day.

The jay was clearly searching for acorns that it had buried in the autumn, and I managed to get a shot of it with an acorn in its mouth, which I'll put on my blog later. However, this was my favourite shot, where it's almost looking straight at me! I have to say the dogs were very good, and didn't disturb it at all. I think they're finally beginning to understand bird photography. A bit later on I came across three more jays, who were systematically stripping off ash keys and eating them. I tried to take some photographs but they were too silhouetted against the sky.

On my way back on the flood meadow bank I spotted the jays again, still busy foraging for food. I was also lucky enough to catch glimpses of a kingfisher and a couple of male bullfinches, all a long way away though. Shortly afterwards I came across a heron, and grabbed a couple of shots of it flying away (though not very good quality) and then I spent a few minutes watching a cormorant, in breeding plumage, fishing. I even managed to get a somewhat blurry shot of it with a perch in its mouth, which will also appear on my blog in due course.

All in all a much more exciting walk than I was expecting! Just a shame there wasn't a bit more light!