Slim Pickings

 No, not the American actor (Slim Pickens), but an apt description of what has been on offer locally as I walked around over the past week or so. 

 

We've had some sun but not much, and most of the mornings have been passed in grim light which has made photography a real challenge.

 

The birds that have been most obvious have been the winter thrushes - Redwing and FIeldfare, with Redwing the more numerous of the two. A couple of hours sunshine allowed some decent pics.

Redwing

Redwing

Fieldfare

A typical example of winter thrush photos over the week is this one, which is not much better than a silhouette:
 

Likewise lots of other reasonable photo opportunities have been spoilt by poor light - a hovering Kestrel in good light would have been a nice subject, but it turned out otherwise. Even though I over-exposed by almost 2 stops it was still way too dark.

Hovering Kestrel 

I tried some post-processing image lightening but the results were still not good enough.

Lighter, but not better

 Siskin, Jay and Great Spotted Woodpecker photos were all consigned to the bin despite my best efforts. Perhaps the old DSLR would have fared better but I'm not sure about that.

 

The Whooper Swans have moved on since the Mere water level has risen to almost normal levels. It's been great having them staying for so long.

A last lingering Whooper Swan

I still look out Great Crested Grebes each day as I walk along the south side and yesterday I saw four, I wonder if they will move on too?

Great Crested Grebes on the Mere

GCG closer view

The other set aside is building its following of birds as the original field doesn't seem to hold the same attraction as it did. The sunflower seeds are a definite hit with tits and finches.

Chaffinch on sunflower seed head

Blue Tit eating sunflower seeds

Great Tit

Unfortunately that's it for this update. Here's hoping for better light next week, although it hasn't started off particularly well, with snow and rain today 🤣🤣