On a frosty morning bundled up in woolly jumpers, hunkered down in a wooden hide, the sounds of birds chirping and my camera clunking are the only sound for several hours.
At 6am on a chilly Sunday morning my alarm blared, letting me know that it was time to get up and get in the car. After throwing on my thermal leggings, a woolly cardigan over top a fleece, and of course a bobble hat, I fed the cats, picked up the camera and prepared myself for stepping out the door. A 30 minute drive later and I was high up in the hills meeting the local photographers I was going to be cooped up with for the day.
After the hellos' were said, we each prepared our cameras, hunkered down in our chosen hide holes and prepared for the sun to rise and the birds to arrive. The gentleman who created the hide let us know which local bird we could expect, along with timings, plus the visiting neighbours that stopped by the previous night. A badger, a tawny owl and a pine martin had all stopped by to have a munch on the snacks he leaves outside for them, and although we all knew we wouldn't see these beautiful creatures during the day, the rugged wildness of the area was made clearer.
The first birds to arrive were a mixture of Coal Tits, Great Tits and Robins. Each one fluttering down for only a few seconds, only to shoot away as soon as the cameras started to click. After the first hour however, they were used to the noise and the sun began to rise up over the distant mountains. With the sun emerging, so did the rest of the birds. Blackbirds, Blue Tits, Chaffinches and Dunnocks' all started to come down to the feeders so we could photograph them.
As the sun rose higher I suddenly noticed the birds begin to act a bit more nervous. Suddenly a Sparrowhawk shot past out of the woods, scaring all the little birds out of the clearing and into cover. It was only for a split second that I caught a glance of the bird, only recognising it from the feather colouring, but it took around 15 minutes for the little birds to be comfortable to come back down to the pond and feeders.
Suddenly some movement caught my attention out the corner of my eye. Glancing over to the right from my hidy hole, I noticed something climbing up the nearest tree to me. A Treecreeper! I immediately pointed my camera in his direction and began snapping some shots. He was only there for, at most, 30 seconds, before flying away, not to be seen again for the rest of the day. The Treecreeper is one of my favourite birds and I felt blessed that it stopped by for a fleeting moment for me to witness him.
The bird we were all looking out for however, was the Jay. A member of the Crow family, the Jay can be difficult to spot as they are very shy woodland birds that rarely leave the cover of the trees for protection. We had been told by the hide owner that they liked to stop by for breakfast around 9.30am, and although we heard them cawing in the tree line, not a soul decided to land for us.
The rest of the morning was mostly the same, we watched and photographed the little bird, enjoyed the silence of the wild forest, and huddled tightly into ourselves, embracing the chill on our noses and the thermals against our skin. Just as we were debating wrapping up for the day, as it was already well past lunch, the caw of a Jay caught our attention. In the tree line to the left we saw the beautiful pink flash of a Jay heading into the clearing. One landed on a branch and I pointed my camera, lined up the shot, and just as I was ready to press the button, it flew away. I had been too slow to press the shutter and this missed photo proves that you need to be fast with nature (just keep clicking, you'll get something in the shot at least)!
Feeling determined that I was going to catch this Jay on camera, I continued to scan the tree line until suddenly, another flash of pink, and a Jay landed in a distant tree. I instantly pointed my camera and clicked. Two seconds later and the bird was gone, but I caught it! I was the only one to snap a photo, purely because I was scanning the area constantly, but it paid off!
After that victory, I was more than ready to head home, warm up with a nice cup of tea and some soup. A great chilly day out in nature.
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