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Lunchtime sighting

I returned to my elderly neighbour’s garden today to continue dividing plants that have become too large for her to handle. Today this one nearly beat me – a large pampas grass within her small border! After I had my lunch I was preparing to return and stopped to look out of my window at the birds feeding. A bird with quick flighty movements, jumping up and down the stems of my bamboo, caught my attention.

Unfortunately the video camera wasn’t set up so I never caught it on film. I will make a point of looking again tomorrow. This, for me, has been the fun part of observing the birds – spotting the unexpected amongst the predictable behaviour. For example the blue tits buzz about quickly from feeder to feeder – they are not usually seen feeding on the ground.

Speedily bouncing along the ground is exactly where I usually see today’s surprise lunchtime guest! Only it is first thing in the morning, just before daylight, that I would expect to see it. I have been trying for sometime to see it again and catch it on video. I know I won’t get a photo as it is too quick! If I get it on video I can grab a frame and get a still shot. Maybe I should explore the photo shot setting in my video camera – just thought of that, never found that successful in the past. From memory the picture was a bit blocky – but I could try it again.

So who was mixing it with the rest? Today saw the Wren out and about during sunlight hours – maybe this is usual but I have never seen it then. It is tiny, fast and very difficult to spot. It was because its behaviour was so very different from the other birds, it got noticed today! It was almost comical to see it navigate through the bamboo canes, the ground below then a quick flight up to the bird table and drop to the ground again. There were chaffinches on the ground and other birds at the table – for its size it did not appear intimidated at all. No creeping around hiding behind the plants today either– it looked like it was on one great big adventure!

I hope to catch some film or photo shots of the wren soon and will post them here when I do.

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