Flyladyphotography By Wendy Cooper

  Back in February, we decided to have a little trip to the North Norfolk coast to blow out the cobwebs.  It was a bright, sunny and chilly weekend and on the Saturday afternoon after lunch, we paid a visit to Cley next the Sea, a Norfolk Wildlife trust reserve.   The reserve consists of saltmarsh, shingle beach and reed beds and not too far from the Visitor centre, there are a couple of scrapes with nice views from the hides.  There are also plenty of walks out to the beach across the reserve, although they are still on the list to explore! As you walk to the hides, you are mostly walking along the edge of the reedbeds and as we approached the first hide, just before it, sifting through the mud for tasty morsels were a Ruff and a Redshanks.         The pair of them were quite close to the path and unconcerned by by being watched at close quarters, so we made the most of such good views. From the hide we could see, some way off...

  Well the other weekend, I set myself up in the garden, well wrapped up against the cold, to watch and count the birds visiting my garden.  On one side of the garden, there is a big bay tree and a nectarine tree, which have feeders placed here and there amongst the branches.  I sit up near the house, on the opposite side with a cuppa and the camera and watch the regulars coming and going.  The feeders contain kibbled peanuts and sunflower hearts, fatballs or  a standard birdseed mix with some dried mealworms added in, all of which, when it is cold, disappears at a steady rate.  There is also a small pond and a birdbath where the birds drink and bathe.   We have a regular flock of sparrows who congregate in the honeysuckle at the end of the garden and chatter away until mealtime when they move up near to the baytree and then take turns at the feeders, often with one coming down first, then calling the others to join â         ...