A half century....

Happy New Year all.

Today is a bit special for me in that it is my birthday, the one where I reach a half century. Where has the time gone?

It doesn't seem like 40 odd years since other living beings became my obsession. At this age, above, it was catching butterflies, small mammals in sunken sweet jars and minnows in the river, or looking for birds nests that took up every daylight hour. God knows where I got the Rook from...

So, continuing on a theme, I started my 2014 bird list locally. The first species added was a Tree Sparrow calling outside the bedroom window even before I got up, closely followed by Dunnock and Woodpigeon .
Due to ever deteriorating weather, the days tally ended on a very moderate 29 species, around the garden and village.

 
This Blackbird is one of the first photos taken with my new toy, a Canon 700D ( a very unexpected present from my better half). Given a few weeks practise in better light (and with some help from my friends cos I'm clueless) there should be a few more bird shots illustrating the blog to compliment the notes and sketches...

Cheers!