A Great Perch
Not a finch! A couple of beautiful Starlings made a brief visit
The familiar Blackthorn tree thrives best in direct sunlight and in moist soil … so clearly it is perfect for rainy Britain ;-) The Blackthorn is known for its sloes, the purple fruits used to make sloe gin. It blossoms in early spring with beautiful small white flowers. These flowers appear before the leaves, and make the whole tree explode in a dense white cloud of flowers.
A couple of pairs of Great Spotted Woodpeckers were active outside the hide
Where am I going with this? Well, you may have guessed it from the heading ;-) In 2021 I first visited Dean’s hide in Dorset (www.windowsonwildlife.co.uk). It is a great hide for photographing UK’s woodland birds. It was September and the birds were a tad tired and ruffled after a busy nesting and breeding season. I did get a shot of a male Bullfinch – a beautiful finch – but it was a rather weary looking chap with old scruffy feathers. I made a note to come back in spring, and that is what I did last week. The hide is excellent, with a reflection pool and many perches you can arrange as you want. But I didn’t need to do anything when I arrived. Dean, as always attentive and helpful, had already sourced a perfect perch – set up just below a few feeders in a position which would tempt birds to land on it. And you guessed it – it was a beautiful Blackthorn branch.
Blackthorn - A perfect perch for the month of March
As I unpacked my gear, I settled on my objectives for the day. I would mostly ignore the reflection pool and focus on the pristine perch. My aim was to photograph as many finches as possible on or flying above the Blackthorn. And the bonus would be a male Bullfinch on the said perch. I already have a few images of the Bullfinch, but not anything I’m too happy with. There is always a better image out there and for the Bullfinch I had definitely scope for capturing a much better photo.
First landing - A male Greenfinch on the perch
… quickly followed by a Goldfinch
The weather was rather dull. Thankfully there was only sporadic rainfall unlike most of the last few months. It has been truly wet in England. Beyond anything I have experienced as far as I can remember. The sun shone faintly through the clouds for a few moments, but otherwise the light was rather flat but not too dark or dull. For photography of the perch, I mounted a 400mm lens on a gimbal and plate which was well suited for the task.
The Goldfinch didn’t hang around for too long …
It was a pleasant day in the hide on my own. It was peaceful and quiet apart from the surround sound of the chirping woodland birds, busy preparing for the nesting season. It made up for the 5am start and the hurried breakfast in the car (a cold ‘hot-cross bun’ 😊).
A male Siskin on the perch
In the end I was pleased with the results. The Siskins (member of the finch family) were out in force, ditto the Greenfinch and the Goldfinch. As usual the Chaffinch were busy on the ground picking up dropped seeds. There were plenty of other ‘usual suspects’ including many Tits (Blue, Great, Long-tailed, Marsh), Nuthatch, Jay, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Blackbird and Robin. A couple of Starlings made a visit in their beautiful spring plumage. But my focus was squarely on the finches.
Greenfinch temporarily suspended
A female Greenfinch in fading light
And, eventually, the patience paid off as a couple of Bullfinches arrived. First the female landed on the perch. Although a fine bird, it was the resplendent male I wanted. It seemed reluctant to use the perch and dived straight for the feeder before making a rapid retreat into the woods. But, eventually I got my shot as a majestic male Bullfinch fleetingly rested on the Blackthorn branch. Bonus objective achieved 😊 Many thanks to Dean for a well-run hide.
Got you! The splendid male Bullfinch on the Blackthorn …
… and then it took off!