After nearly 3 weeks of suffering with a trapped nerve in my neck/shoulder, I’ve not been able to get out to do any photography. So on Christmas Eve I stuck the camera on a monopod & stood in my living room watching the feeding stations.

All shots were done with the Canon 100-400mm on an ISO of 800.

We had some Goldfinches on two of the feeders, it was seeing them which prompted me to take a few shots, but by the time the camera was set up, they had moved to another feeder which didn’t affords me a clear view of them from the patio window. I hope to get some shots of them again.

Whenever there is food about for the birds, there are squirrels. We’ve not seen the black squirrels for a few weeks but happily they are now back. Just one visited on Xmas Eve but we have had 5 or 6 in the garden at once, the others won’t be far away.

Of course, the Grey Squirrels are never far away.

All shots, as usual, processed in Lightroom 2 and completed in Phototshop CS4. Noise levels on the 20D are not very good & these shots were run through the Imagenomic Noiseware filter to reduce the high noise levels.

Exactly two weeks ago I suffered a problem with my neck/shoulder. I described it as a trapped nerve which sent pain from my neck into my shoulder & down my arm. I’m not sure how I did it but it may have had something to do with sitting awkwardly for prolonged periods at a time.

Being a bloke, I didn’t do anything about it for a week hoping it would get better on its own. It didn’t. I’ve now been to the osteopath 3 times and forked out the best part of £100 and it’s no better than it was two weeks ago. Apparently, it’s called apophysitis & it may take some time to clear up. Yesterday I had some acupuncture-type treatment.

To top it all I started to develop a cold-type cough yesterday & every single bloody time I cough it sends a shock of pain down out the side of my neck, down my shoulder & into my arm. Thanks a bunch!

What’s this got to do with photography. Well I’ve not been able to pick the camera up, much less take any photos with it which is so annoying since I actually have time right now & for the next few weeks to do as much photography as I want.

Talk about Sod’s Law!

I may have mentioned before that I intend to upgrade my equipment in January 2009. This will involve replacing the trusty old 20D with something a little more updated.

Initially I was toying with the idea of the Canon 1D MkIII or the more expensive 1Ds MkIII, however, the Canon rumour mill is suggesting that replacements for either or both these cameras will come in 2009. I therefore don’t want to spend the money on a camera which will be replaced possibly only a few months later.

The 5D MkII is out now and looks promising. I’m now leaning towards getting that in January and then a 1D MkIV (or whatever it will be called) if Canon announce that next year.

I get my Canon rumours from the Northern Images website. The latest info is suggesting a possible announcement by Canon in the first quarter of 2009.

In the meantime, I’ll have some fun with the 5D MkII together with some new lenses.

Of course, the perils of leaving food out if you have squirrels in the area are that they invade your feeding stations.

The following shots were actually taken last week, before the previous post on setting up the feeding stations. Sadly, we’ve not had any black squirrels on a day where I had the camera handy, but I’m sure they’ll be back.

We’ve been in the current house for a number of years & every year we feed the birds. This is an ideal opportunity for some wildlife photography.

Although we live in the middle of a town, we have a nice selection of garden visitors, given that the garden isn’t really that big.

We have hedgehogs under the sheds, mice in one of the sheds, lots of frogs who visit our waterfall. We are lucky enough (although some would say not) to have black squirrels who, with their more widespread grey brothers & sisters visit the garden nearly every day.

Squirrels present a challenge to anyone who wants to feed birds. They are very forceful when there is free food in the offing. Most bird feeders, especially those made of plastic, are easy prey for a squirrel so don’t waste your money putting peanuts in plastic feeders; they’ll get ripped to shreds.

I have five feeding stations in the garden, all of which have a variety of food. & all are within easy reach of my 400 or 500mm lenses from the house. By providing a variety of foodstuff you will attract different types of bird.

Don’t forget the birds who prefer feeding from the ground. The tray in the fourth shot is a purpose ground feeder consisting of a wooden frame on short legs with all the food on a wire tray.

I utilise the following foods:

• Sunflower seeds
• Black Sunflower seeds
• General bird seed mix
• suet cake with various flavourings – orange/blackcurrent/mealworm/nuts
• suet pellets
• peanuts
• niger seed
• fat balls

Occasionally I’ll make my own fat cake consisting of lard mixed with birdseed that I put in the blender. I then tip this into either the plastic commercial fat cake cases or coconut shells.

I bulk buy most of the food at a local farm shop in large re-sealable sacks.

It takes a while for the birds to realise all the lovely grub is available (although we do feed throughout the year, I probably triple the amount of feed in winter).

The feeders have been up a couple of weeks, so far we’ve seen:

• Blackbird
• Thrush (the most common – and loud)
• Sparrow
• Dunnock
• Robin
• Collared Dove
• Wood Pigeon
• Magpie
• Blue Tit
• Great Tit
• Coal Tit
• Long Tailed Tit
• Green Finch
• Chaffinch
• Gold Finch

I’ve yet to see our Jay visitors & we have had woodpeckers but I’ve not seen them so far this season.

So far I’ve only taken shots through the living room window, but I’d like to get some camoflage material and set up a little hide nearer the feeders or maybe set the camera up near them and take shots remotely.

I’ve given up the battle against these guys. I put the nuts in squirrel-proof metal containers & just buy more of the other food for everyone to share.

Our garden has some large hornbeam trees and is surrounded by trees in our neighbours’ gardens so there are plenty of places for the birds to sit as they checkout whether it’s safe from them to go to the feeders or await their turn, this provides some nice opportunities for some more natural shots rather than on plastic feeders.

I was quite pleased with the following two shots, a young starling & my first shot of our Long Tailed Tits.