Week commencing 25/5/15 we had a fantastic birding week. On Tuesday 26th May we went to Washington WWT and had a great time! There were a number of rarer birds there as part of their conservation effort but there was also the common garden birds as shown here. These birds were baited at a bird table filled with various foods. It even included a squirrel proof cage which wasn't squirrel proof at all! I've never seen so many bullfinches in my life, certainly not as many in one place. There were at least 4 who came to feed including one female. 

 These pictures are taken with a 500mm mirror lens and even though they were quite close, these are still cropped, but they are well focussed with a lot of detail in the feather even at ISO 5000 in most cases. The highlight was the jay-a very cautious bird, not seen at close quarters at all, and the greater spotted woodpecker that managed to find the fat and peanuts stuffed in the tree bark. You can tell its a mirror lens because the bokeh (the out of focus circular blurry bit behind the birds) is caused by the mirror lens.

 I also like the picture of the magpie that had found a food stash in the tree. You can clearly see the blue iridescence on its wings beneath its white feathers. Its a stunning bird close up.

Avocets are always a joy to see. Such a smart and delicate bird but one with a temper! They often see off birds feeding close to where they are.