Bearded Tit poses on the boardwalk at Rainham Marshes

On Monday my camera and I went for another walk round RSPB Rainham Marshes nature reserve.  The sun was shining and it was quite a still day - so I was lucky enough to encounter a male Bearded Tit that popped out of the reed bed for a few minutes in order to search for tasty titbits on the wooden boardwalk.

At first he was in the normal pose birds get into when I am around - with his backside facing me while he scoured the ground looking for tasty morsels.

He then turned sideways so that I could get a better photograph.

He then hopped around and was looking in the other direction.

The bird flew off into the reeds for a few seconds and then popped out again and began looking for food again.

 He had got such an amazing face and I love his little yellow-ringed eye.

This last photograph shows how tiny the Bearded Tit was and how tall the reeds were.  Once he had flitted back into the reed bed, there was no chance of me seeing him again.  I knew where he was for a short while as I could see his movement as he hopped from reed to reed and the stems swayed with his weight.  Then all went still!

Birds on a rowan tree in Kensington Gardens

During November my camera and I went for a couple of walks in Hyde Park and Kensington Gardens.  I spent several hours lurking near a rowan tree that was covered with lots of bunches of red berries, hoping that the birds would not spot me near their tree.

With patience I managed to take photographs of the following birds:

A Jay hanging upside-down as it reached for a small bunch of berries

A Starling with a berry at the end of it's beak

A male Blackbird reaching out towards a small bunch of berries

A Blackbird with a berry in it's beak

A Magpie contemplating the world while sitting amongst a huge amount of bunches of rowan berries

A close-up of a Jay sitting on a branch where there were hardly any berries left

A Mistle Thrush reaching out towards a huge bunch of berries

A Mistle Thrush staring into space while perching amongst the berries

A Wood Pigeon was looking around searching for more berries

A Redwing was wondering why there were so few berries left on the tree!

Needless to say, this is just a small selection of the photographs I took while getting cold near the rowan tree!