Teased by the Turtle Dove

Well the last few days have been pretty frustrating. Attempting to get some more photos of the Turtle dove, but not doing very well!

A mix of sunshine and showers have made for interesting and difficult lighting conditions. Here are a few that I’ve managed to process today, still got more to go through though.

The local Robin has been keeping me company whilst waiting for the Turtle dove to appear.

A couple of young Greenfinches have also been hanging around. You can see in this photo that the light was really poor, and it was raining too, I would have liked to get both youngsters in focus, but couldn’t get a quick enough shutter speed.

After teasing me with his soft melodic purring song from the hedgerow the Turtle dove eventually put in an appearance in the rain.

Only to disappear a few seconds later, spooked by my neighbour. You should just be able to make out a rain drop in the background… (Click for a larger view.)

But the Robin came back.

The Turtle dove did eventually return in slightly better light.

Get outta the way Woodpigeon!!!

Still a few more from the garden to go through…

*UPDATE*

And here they are…

This female Chaffinch and her mate are the latest visitors to the new feeding station.

A fledgling House Sparrow – you can still see the yellow gape. Siblings in the background. It’s a treat for me to see House Sparrows around, as where I used to live we didn’t have any.

Anyone bored of Robin photos yet? My composition went completely wrong with this shot, with the Robin right in the centre of the frame, but I liked the pose and lighting and it’s nice and sharp, so it seemed a waste to bin it. So I cropped from the right, so the birds position in the frame was better, and then extended the canvas on the left by the same amount that I’d cropped, and used PhotoShop’s ‘content aware’ tools to copy the background. The content aware tools do a really great job. Saved this shot anyway!

Trying for the Turtle doves again tonight…. Fingers crossed!

Subscribe

Sign up to receive blog notifications and exclusive content!

We don’t spam! Read our privacy policy for more info.

Similar Posts

  • A Winter Visitor

    Fieldfares are another one of my favourite birds. These gorgeous winter visitors come here from Scandinavia, presumably to escape the harsh winter weather. They flock together, feeding on windfall apples in the old orchard, conversing noisily with scolding chattering calls, unmistakeable with their beautiful slaty blue grey head, brown back, and cream speckled chest. This…

  • Turtle Dove

    What an absolute privilege to have these birds visiting the garden. I can’t believe after all these years I’ve finally managed to get some photos of one! I decided this afternoon to try photographing them, but I didn’t hold out much hope as they are nervous birds. I settled down, lying on the lawn covered…

  • Keeping it local

    Out and about with my new camera yesterday. Decided to upgrade to the D300s, and I’m really impressed with it. I have to admit I was sorry to see my trusty D200 go, it’s been a real reliable workhorse for me. The D300s is great though, better noise handling and weather proofing, larger LCD screen…

  • Strumpshaw Fen

    Happy New Year! First post of the year, and hopefully the first of many, as I’ve got big plans for photography this year! Visited RSPB Strumpshaw Fen this morning, which is one of my most favourite places. Why? Well, maybe because it was the first place I watched a wild otter, or because it’s the…

  • Pastures new, and old

    Forgive me friends, for my prolonged absence. I have been doing that most stressful of things – moving house. So here I am, all settled in, exploring pastures new. Newly located between numerous nature reserves, there’s plenty to see, but more on that at a later date. Back to pastures old, and my patch –…

  • Swallowtails and a surprise

    Phew, what a day! Headed out to the Broads to try and find some Swallowtail butterflies, we found several on the wing, but they didn’t settle, and I was surprised to find a lack of flowers. We decided to go back to Strumpshaw for the afternoon. The place was alive with Swallowtails! We must have…

Leave a Reply