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Writer's pictureWildlifeKate

An hour in the Hub…..

I have had a couple of exciting visitors in the garden this week… the lesser red poll earlier in the week and now a female blackcap has been visiting. I wanted to spend a bit of today in my hub, trying to get some photographs of this beauty. She is quite nervous and I had to ensure I was all set up and if I needed to move, I did it very slowly. She came to the fat balls and fed for a few minutes at a time, giving me the chance to photograph her….


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I had blackcaps visiting all winter last year, so I hope this female’s mate will appear on the feeders soon. I have seen the male in the area, but he has not yet ventured onto the feeders. I captured this clip of the female earlier in the week… keep an eye out on the HD Hub feeders and see if you can spot her.


The photography opportunities are proving to be pretty good from my hub and I wanted to create a feeding platform that I could ‘dress’ to give different opportunities for photographs. The birds are used to me changing the feeders and set-ups here all the time, so are very receptive to new perches and platforms etc! I took a square of wood that had been painted on one side for protection. I also had a small bracket designed to be screwed into a surface to hold a feeder tube. I screwed it into the base of the platform and then inverted it, mounting it onto a pole I had been using for a feeder. It is eye level from the hub, so perfect for photography. 


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To test it, I placed a few pieces of wood, bark and moss on the platform and some food in the central hollow. 

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By the time I had walked back round into the Hub, a blue tit was on it! It was just a matter of minutes before the great tits and coal tits were checking it out… and then I could not believe it when the female Great spotted woodpecker also arrived! The set-up I had arranged was not ideal… too much distracting moss, but I know the principle works, so if the light is good tomorrow, I will be looking for some more ‘props’. This is a great way to create different ‘scenes’ for you photography and the birds will soon get used to the fact that food is available. My birds are pretty special as they will take to just about anything I put out as they are so used to the food being presented in so many different ways.

I was really pleased with a couple of the shots I got today, but know there is massive potential to do much better…. so watch this space… and my Flickr account for my recent uploads.

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