Reed bunting

Spring is in the air! A lovely morning down on the Fen, misty to start off with and then glorious sunshine. Walking down the path, a pair of Great tits were sunning themselves in the hedgerow. Further along, a pair of Bullfinches – male and female together, flew from the hedge up into a tree, letting me have a decent view of them before they disappeared – the male uttering their mournful contact call as they flew away.

I wasn’t sure which direction to take, but I noticed a singing Reed bunting, so tried for a few photos. A slow and careful approach resulted in a few images, but the best technique was to identify a regular song perch and sit and wait nearby. The Fen is home to a large population of Reed buntings, and whilst photographing this one, I noticed I was surrounded by at least 5 singing males.

I really like these handsome little birds and their cheerful chirping, they often seem to be overlooked. I’m not 100% happy with these images, it’s so hard to get a clear view and to press the shutter at the right moment, but then, photographers are never happy! They seemed to get accustomed to me after a while, so hopefully I can improve on these images. By 9am the light was starting to get a bit harsh, and I realised I’d spent all morning with the buntings, so I decided to head back. On the way a pair of Treecreepers were chasing each other around a tree trunk… Spring is on it’s way!

(Hope you like the new larger images, you can still click on them to view full size too.)