The birds return

As the snow retreated from the sheep field next to my garden, the birds quickly returned to forage for food.

The starlings came in great numbers  – scores at a time

–  and pecked away voraciously.

The fieldfares withdrew from the melee of such greedy guzzling.

The redwing felt left out.

The thrush looked on with disdain.

The lone blackbird peered from a safe distance, beyond the fence.

The colourful goldfinch found his own quiet patch on the farm track, seemingly oblivious to the goings on.

Patterns in the thaw

Winter is often portrayed in pictures displaying mid-distance or panoramic features  –  fields, trees, buildings coated in snow.  But  as I looked out through the kitchen window yesterday morning, my attention was drawn to the many ‘micro-landscapes’  –  mini winter scenes  –  formed by the thawing snow, and all just a few feet away.

I’ve presented a small but varied selection below.  Each of the areas photographed was less than 1 metre square.

Click the photo to enlarge.

In the first, the ice crystals glisten in the sunlight like jewels in a tiara

Sometimes there is a suggestion of frozen movement

The third presents a scene of contrasting textures and colours.