Robin At Forest Farm

Been a busy day with the camera today!

First port of call was Newport Wetlands. It was freezing there. Only +2DegC with a biting northerly wind. You couldn't stand around too long, as it was just to numbing.

As always at Newport when it breezy it keeps the reed birds down, so there wasn't the greatest amount of activity there. I managed some nice photos of the knots being chased by a bird of prey again, and a couple of nice shots of the tufted ducks on the lakes. They will appear in in my Newport Wetlands Winter 2011 set at some point soon I should imagine.

From there I moved on to Forest Farm Nature Reserve, at the Coryton Interchange on the outskirts of Cardiff. I tried to visit there last week, but rain stopped play. I met a chap called Gareth, who showed me around and what to look for where, so I will certainly be visiting again.

The woods were full of the usual birds, but the over riding thing I came away with was how tame they all were. You have to go there armed with some bird food of some description. Within a minute of putting some bread crumbs down on the various bird tables they have erected there you get swarmed by Blue Tits, Coal Tits, Nuthatches, Chaffinches, the list goes on and on ...

They are so close to you, you struggle to get a decent shot of them with a zoom lens. The next time I go there, I will be taking the Sigma lens, which allows a lot more light in, and I will get more detail.

Even so, the shots I did get, on what was a fairly gloomy afternoon astounded me. I was utterly stuck to chose which one to pick for a blip tonight, and settled on the Robin. The extreme close up of the female Chaffinch was the blip of the day until the last second .. the Robin picture was a tad sharper.

I would link the other seven pictures I rejected tonight, each and everyone of them was good enough to be honest. Instead here is the link to the entire set, you can peruse at your leisure!

Forest Farm Winter 2011