Research by Kings College London has found that everyday encounters with birds improves mental health. They went as far as to suggest that visits to places with plentiful bird life could be prescribed by doctors.
Now I didn't need the research to tell me about the benefits of my encounters with birds; my regular visits to Stocker's Lake had proven it to be true for me. One thing love about my visits are the variety of birds that I regularly encounter and try, mostly unsuccessfully, to photograph.
I tend to think that the birds I see fall into one of three categories
Firstly, there are the water birds, the ducks, geese, swans, gulls, herons, egrets and cormorants and when I think about them and photographing them, I think of them as in, on, by or flying above the lakes.
This week’s highlights included a barnacle goose, a pochard, some gadwells and some tufted ducks.
Next there are the songbirds; the robins, blackbirds, wrens, dunnocks, woodpeckers, tits, sparrows, jays and magpies which I tend to think of as in trees, flitting from tree to tree or on the ground.
This week highlight was an ever cute long-tailed tit.
Finally, there are birds of prey, the red kites, buzzards and occasional sparrowhawk. I think of them flying high in the sky, though has once or twice I Have seen them in trees.
However recently this unscientific segmentation and the situations I see the birds in, has been challenged and I have created a new mental group - big birds in trees.
This week it was an egret and cormorant that were tree-sitting.
One of the things I like about this new group is how it offers a new perspective when it comes to photographing them. I try to use foliage and branches to frame the shots. It does however have some challenges, the danger of focusing on a branch or leaf not the bird, or the bird you want to shoot suddenly moving and being partially covered.
You can decide how well I’m doing - see below
(Obviously herons, egrets and all build their nests in trees so big birds in trees isn’t that unusual but as they are never near where I can photograph them I don’t really think of them nesting in the same way)
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