A song thrush to cheer up a foggy morning

I arose about 8-30am and went down to make tea and feed Bomble.  It was very foggy and cold as I looked out through the back door and I noticed that the sunflower feeders for the d=birds was nearly empty, probably because of the squirrels.  As the kettle was boiling and I had fed Bomble I put on some shoes, despite being in my dressing gown and went out to restock the feeders.

The first feeder nearest to the house was very cold and i realised that it wasn't just frozen, but there was the remnants of snow on its metal cap. No wonder the birds were gathering.  I quickly added sunflower seeds all round and put some suet pellets on the hanging tray.  

I went back to bed for a while to drink the tea and when I resurfaced to brew some coffee about an hour later there was a real throng of varied birds flying all about the garden.  They seemed to be taking strategic turns to approach the feeders in some sort of order of seniority closely linked to the level of aggression they could display.

It was the usual suspects of tits, robins, blackcaps, goldfinches, bullfinches and nuthatches with the occasional visit by a blackbird, who once in place was hard to shift from the tray, the only feeder it can manage to access.  i didn't bother to get my camera but just watched from our warm back room through the double-glazed patio doors.

Just as I was about to go upstairs again to get dressed I spotted  a pair of jays suddenly fly down onto the rhus tree from which the feeder tray hangs.  This I had to record as I am always glimpsing the jays but seldom get to photograph them, so I rushed upstairs to my desk.  But whether my movement disturbed them or something else, they had disappeared by the time I'd returned.

I hung about and stated to take shots of the various scenes of interaction and displaying between the birds, but knew that the images would be poor through the double-glazing and at such a distance.  Eventually, I slid the doors open and took some shots of some tits, goldfinches and robins testing how the camera responded with auto ISO at various shutter speeds.

Suddenly a jay appeared in the tree at the end of the garden and I just managed to film it before it flew away across the valley.  Then another jay appeared, probably its pair, flying towards and then landing in the rhus tree, but as ever hidden behind the branches.  They are such shy birds, although they do't appear afraid of other birds.  But as I moved my camera slowly round to point at it, this slightest movement disturbed it and off it flew.  I caught a couple of frames of its flight but the auto-focus was latching onto the branches and I couldn't lock focus.  My quest continues.

Instead here is a rather attractive Song thrush (Turdus philomelos) which landed behind the rhus tree on the branches of the neighbours clematis climbing over her shed.  It obviously chose that spot because of camouflage.  I was still behind the patio doors so when it took off towards the last of the berries on an adjacent rowan tree, I couldn't get a sharp image.  so this will do to remind me of my misty and cold morning watching the birds in their daily task of finding food for their survival. I don't mind the expense of supplying some food as they provide me with much pleasure and entertainment and keep me from more boring things.