The Woodpigeon

We have regular daily visits to the garden feeders by Woodpigeons Columba palumbus and these birds have become remarkably adept at accessing the smaller, hanging seed feeders. Of late, the parent birds have been joined by two juveniles who tend to feed on one of the platform feeders.

This photo of two juveniles, taken earlier today, is not particularly sharp - taken on a Nikon Coolpix P510 at full zoom, through the kitchen window and hand held at 1/60th! The juvenile lacks the white neck patches of the adult bird although they do already have the diagnostic white wing flashes. These two youngsters clapped their wings noisily as they took off in tandem.

I am now getting everything packed for my journey tomorrow to Rutland to visit the Birdfair 2013. I will be travelling by train: 1st leg on First Capital Connect from Brighton to St. Pancras International, then a change to East Midland trains to Leicester and the final leg on Cross Country trains to Oakham. The plan is then to take a bus for the 12 mile journey to Uppingham and the Crown Inn.

Meanwhile another photo of Bertie:

And some attractive flowers in my garden. Anyone know what they are?

I hope to post from Rutland if I can find a sufficiently strong Wi-fi signal.....