Nethergong Birding

With the camping season over and the place all to myself to enjoy the wildlife, I have made a feeding station in a clearing in the top wood in the hope of tempting in some Jays and other birds to photograph from my hide during the winter months. This worked well last year with some of my best Jay shots taken. With the help of Jed who during the week puts out some peanuts on the logs, I'm hoping that the birds soon find it and return every now and then. With a small window this morning before yet more rain appeared late morning, I arrived on site at 07:15 and quietly set up the hide in view of the feeding station and settled in to see what would turn up. My only observations in the past week when I have walked by have been a Carrion Crow and Magpie, with Jed seeing Pheasant also using the station. I had only just got set up and it wasn't even a good light when I heard Jays calling in the wood and soon after, 2 Jays arrived on the logs and soon began to feed. They seemed quite settled and I would assume have visited a few times. With the light awful at the moment, I just spent the time watching them through the camera. They fed up and then flew a short distance where I could see them burying them before covering with leaves. In the next hour or so they returned quite a few times and seemed to accept the hide and clicking camera. With the light picking up but never sunny, I was able to grab a number of pleasing images as they fed happily a few metres away. They really are a stunning species to see up close and fingers crossed, I shall give it a go next weekend weather permitting and hope they return in the sunshine. Other notable birds seen or heard whilst in the hide included 2 Raven flying over calling. 

Jay