The female Blackcap was around this morning and I was glad to see her. I haven't seen a male for several weeks. As you can see she is feeding on the ground around the bottom of the feeding station and taking sunflower hearts.

Then we have a nice portrait of another Goldfinch, one of the garden regulars this past month or so. They are in and out the garden constantly throughout the day. I have set up this lichen covered perch to create a good photogenic scene. The birds fly down to it before moving on to the feeder. This was taken with my Sigma 50-500 telephoto lens and I mention that because I have been experimenting with another lens today as well to try and improve the sharpness of the images in low light conditions.


This Greenfinch was a welcome sight. Because of the disease that has had an affect on populations they have been less common in the garden this year. This bird is certainly a female. 

The Goldfinch below was taken with my Tamron 90mm F/2.8 1:1 Macro lens. With this lens stopping down to F2.8 gives me a faster shutter speed. However with the lens being 90mm ,  I have to be very, very closew to the subject. This picture was taken from my hide at around 18 inches from the bird. At that distance the birds are very wary and I think they saw their own reflection in the camera eventually which spooked them. But, it did prove how close you can actually get when you are in the hide..

This head study below, was again taken with the Tamron macro lens. I also used the cameras "built in" flash and was surprised that the bird did not 'spook" when the flash fired. However with the flash firing at such a close distance there is too much light on the subject and it is consequently over=exposed. I will be experimenting further with this lens. I particularly like the way that you can see reflections in the bird's eye, that is actually the sun above the garden fence.