Yesterday I made a shallow bird bath/drinking station with a seed feeder built into one end and set it up at the eastern edge of the coppice next to the veggie patch. I wanted to wait a few days before attempting to take pictures of the birds drinking and washing. Because I'm impatient, and while waiting for the birds to become accustomed to the bathing station, I decided to set up the pop-up hide under a nearby yew tree in the hope that they would also accept the hide after a day or so.
I was thinking along the lines of wrens, robins, fiches and tits being the likely visitors as they are fairly abundant at LBF. I was curious to see how long it would take until the birds felt comfortable to take a dip, so I set up the trail camera to check in and see when the birds actually start to use their new ensuite bathroom. Once the birds were settled, I fully intended to spend some quality time in the hide with my new (refurbished) Nikon D500 Camera and my new (refurbished) Nikon 200-500 zoom lens!
So today (Day 2), it was a cold and misty so I did not bother to check the camera trap until about 1pm and did not expect to find much. On checking the footage (with the camera trap still strapped to the tree), the first three video clips were disappointing because the camera lens was misted up, so I promptly deleted the videos. I could see from the still previews that the fourth and fifth videos had managed to capture a Jay and a Great Tit and the misted up lens had started to clear... I felt a little happier.
When I saw the preview screen of the sixth video, I became very excited, I could clearly see an image of a bird of prey but could not tell if it was a Buzzard, Kestrel or Sparrowhawk. The preview screen is tiny about 2" x 1.5" so it's not easy to see in any great detail; it was with growing excitement I pressed the playback button on video six... The results are in the video below, enjoy! Feel free to watch this beautiful pair in full screen mode.
