Great Tit Feeding On Sunflower ....

[RedRobin]

I have already taken several hundred other photos of the Great Tit pair which regularly visit my wildlife garden and feed on the sunflower plant seed heads and this is the action shot I was after.

I purposely leave my sunflowers up to fully decay and hence provide seeds for the birds. It looks untidy and messy but that is not my primary concern!

GREAT TIT FEEDING ON SUNFLOWER by Robin Procter, on Flickr

[THANKS TO EVERYBODY WHO LIKES AND/OR COMMENTS ON MY IMAGES. ALWAYS VERY MUCH APPRECIATED]

 

[Box Brownie]

And your patience has paid off in spades.....it is a cracker

PS makes me want to plant a few sunflowers myself!

 

[Rustydon]

Great action, well caught Robin

Russ

 

[Cobra]

Very nice Robin ( you that is, I know the bird is a tit )

PS makes me want to plant a few sunflowers myself!

Good plan, I have just the spot

 

[Stuart Philpott]

That's fabulous Robin !!

stu

 

[RedRobin]

makes me want to plant a few sunflowers myself!

Good plan, I have just the spot

.... Sunflowers are really easy and very rewarding as they are such a 'happy smiley' looking plant. It's fun seeing how tall they will grow too.

Start off with individual seeds in small containers indoors, watering only once per day and in the evening. When they are about 6 inches tall you can put them out in the garden just for the day to acclimatise them but still in their original small containers. Once they are about a foot tall you can plant them in the garden no closer together than about 18 inches (but distance is not critical) - It helps to use some compost when you plant them. Again water them in the evening but once they have reached about 3ft you can just leave them for Nature to look after them. Often a bamboo stick string tied (not tight) to each plant will keep it growing upright and when days are windy.

They are low maintenance and very hardy but don't plant until the frosts have ended.

If you have grown too many before you plant them in the garden, your friends and/or their children will probably love one as a gift. You'll doubtless get some seeds left over for next season.

 

[RedRobin]

And your patience has paid off in spades.....it is a cracker

.... Thanks!

The 'patience' factor in my case is perhaps slightly misleading and is more 'perseverance' but the difference is academic after you have nailed the shot.

I say misleading because in reality I shoot a lot from what I call my 'Kitchen Hide'. I have my camera mounted on a small Jobu Jr-3 Deluxe gimbal on a Skimmer (looks like a frisbee!) which lives on my kitchen window sill when I am home. The window is open and my kitchen curtains are M.O.D. Army Tank Camouflage netting so I can be at the window without spooking the birdies. I think the neighbour's daughter is now used to seeing my huge 500mm 'penis extension' lens sticking out through camouflage netting - Well I think she is because I showed her some of my photos.

This means that every time I go to the kitchen I can check what's going on in my wildlife garden. And because I leave the window open I can hear from my front room the calls of any birds which might interest me and go and check it out. My rough wildlife garden has small ponds and wild trees and bushes and brambles etc and would not win any landscaping awards. I trim it to allow me uninterrupted camera shots. There are bird feeders as well as log piles etc. I am no longer married (single 20 years and keeping it that way!) and my daughter has grown up and of course left home and so no-one can even suggest or hint that I should do anything different - "But dahling, we need a new kitchen and I wonder what the neighbours think about our garden, I would love a sun terrace". Oh, and "Can we really afford that expensive new camera you want?".