Coal Tit

R and I were expecting a visitor today, so I didn't have much time for fitting in errands, exercise and photos, and I thought the quickest thing might be a trip into Stratford, and a return visit to Holy Trinity churchyard. When I got there the little coconut shell feeder on one of the yew trees had only recently been filled, so I sprinkled the seed I'd brought along the mossy tops of some of the old stones, then stood in the shadow of a large tree and waited. Within seconds my offering had been spotted, and the bolder, or hungrier, among the churchyard's many birds began visiting the stones and selecting their preferred seeds. I was especially pleased to manage some reasonable shots of the Coal Tits, because they're so small and fast I usually find them quite hard to photograph, but I took several other shots that I like as much as this one, and I've just posted a quartet on Bluesky, if you'd like to see them.

What with one thing and another, I didn't make it back home until about five minutes before H turned up from the Frozen North, but it had been such a productive morning that I felt quite justified in sitting around chatting to him for the rest of the afternoon. My only error of judgement had been an impulse purchase of some Christmas garland at Stratford Garden Centre, when I stopped in there to buy fat balls for my own garden birds: by the time I arrived home it had transferred multicoloured glitter onto every single surface in the boot of my car, including my big camera case, my camera strap, and all the outdoor clothing I leave in there for layering up on birding days. I tried to get the beastly stuff off, but as ever with glitter it was a lot keener on applying itself to things than being removed, so the next time it's cold enough for me to wear my fleece hat at the owl field, I'm going to look like a large, angry Christmas tree decoration.

Sigh.