Nuthatch with sunflower seed

Yesterday I took out my previous camera, a Canon 50D, and charged the batteries again as Woodpeckers was going to try using it. This morning it was sitting on the dining-room table as Helena had snapped a couple of pictures earlier this morning.

As I ate my cereals for breakfast sitting by the doors which lead out to the steps down to the patio I noticed that birds were feeding rather frenziedly probably because it had been so cold last night. The frost covering the landscape was beginning to melt and clouds were spreading in from the west. When I had finished eating I couldn't resist picking up the camera and it seemed incredibly lightweight in my hands. As it has a small sensor, I knew that it would enlarge the resulting image compared to my current camera's full frame sensor, and the zoom attached to it was longer than my more expensive newer zoom.

So I tried taking pictures of the birds feeding close to the window through the double-glazed doors. I could see from the rear screen of the camera that the results were very different to my more recent efforts, so it was a useful test to compare the equipment. I can't use this particular zoom on my full frame sensor as it would damage the sensor. But I really could see the quality shift between the two. Now i must start playing with the extension tubes on the better zoom and camera, to get closer to subjects.

I filmed blue tits, great tits, goldfinches, bullfinches, blackcaps, robins, dunnocks, as well as a male and female blackbird. But I was most pleased to see this nuthatch appear on the feeder, as I have never seen one come so close to the house before, which proves that the weather and food supply must be poor at the moment. It stayed for at least a minute and ate a few seeds before flying off back to a large tree at the bottom of the garden. I waited for it to return to try and catch it in flight, which is always very hard, as like kingfishers they are very swift.

As I sat perched on the edge of the table I saw a fox cross through the hedge form our neighbours garden and walk down to the bottom of our garden. I haven't seen one in daylight for many months, and it did look rather old and slightly mangy. I hope it is alright. It didn't seem frightened and looked like it owned the garden.