There was a real sense of excitement for me today in the garden. This beautiful little male Siskin – Carduelis spinus came in to the garden at lunchtime today. This is only the second time in 24 years that I have had them in my garden and I am thrilled. In position in my lower hide I was taking photos of a Goldfinch …. the one pictured…… and I saw her showing some aggression to another bird above. Then I saw a “bump” and it was obvious that another bird had perched below on the sunflower hearts. I expected it to be another Goldfinch so panning my camera down to the “new” arrival I was absoloutely gobsmacked when there in my viewfinder was this lovely little bird. It was on the feeder for around a minute and I was again all thumbs and fingers and couldn’t get the camera sorted properly. I did manage this great photo though but it is just a tiny bit soft around the beak.
4 responses to “Siskin – Carduelis spinus”
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This photograph is beautiful. You are an exceptional photographer. It’s hard to believe that you find all these birds in your garden!
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Well thats a nice one for the garden – my record on the feeders so far is a couple of starlings and few blue tits! Hopefully some others will find them soon!
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Hey neil,
Thanks for saying nice things about my pics. Yes they are all with the Sigma 50-500. I do a little bit of photoshop editing on them. I always sharpen slightly, depends how much they need. But you cant polish rubish. But most important thing is getting as close to the subject as I can, you need to be in really good light as well. The Pentax doesn’t cope well with high ISO ‘s, images are always grainy.
So fastest shutter speed possible, …… I set the camera to AV (aperture priority) …, then close to subject as possible, and always on a tripod or on a solid surface. I use a remote to make sure I eliminate any camera shake from pressing the shutter. Only about 10 % are any good but I think that is fairly usual by the sounds of it. Most of my recent images from the garden are from my hide, I have two, one I made myself out of bean poles and a camo tarp. The other is a seat hide. Really good bit of kit. The birds are used to the hides as they are permanently next to feeders. It aint rocket science, you are much much much more educated than I am so I am sure you can do much better than me. Incidentally I always love you photos and think we all like other peoples stuff for obvious reasons. I have got a really good plan for the Blackcaps today, the hide has been moved a foot or so nearer and today we are due some bright weather so watch this space.
Cheers again,
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Thanks for your comment “Microchip Cat Flaps”. I guess you are as interested in wildlife as me but I have to say that without the predatory cats in the area we would have a lot more birds in the garden. Cats predate more than 5 million garden birds every year. It’s a real problem and owners that let their cats roam free are the main reason. Owners should be made to be accountable for their cat’s transgressions and by compelled to keep them in doors. So I do not condone your “cat flaps” because it perpetuates the notion that it is acceptable to allow your cat to come and go as it pleases. If it were a dog roaming over everyone’s property to predate the local wildlife there would be real legal issues and I can’t see why it should be any different for a cat. Still, that’s my opinion but I have to say that cats have had a real impact on my quality of life over the years which is very selfish of all the cat owners out there.l You ought to go in to the cat cage business because that would be far more acceptable to me and the 5 million birds alive today that will be dead by this time next year.
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Wildlife in a Suburban Garden 
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