The ivy with hidden treats in amongst them
At first I placed it on the bare hand rail and then after 5 minutes changed to the ivy. Within seconds of me changing the location of the seeds, the birds were straight down and feeding in amongst the ivy. They must have been watching my every move. In fact the birds along this stretch will come within a few feet of you if you stop. They have been fed so many times by walkers that every human that stops for a few seconds is a potential food source. A perfect example is here below. A couple of walkers stopped to chat to me and I gave the chap a small handful of seeds and asked him to stretch his hand out. Within seconds he had a Robin feeding out of his hand. To say he was gobsmacked would be an understatement.
A very tame Robin
Whilst all this activity was going on at ground level, I was aware that a large party of Redwing and Fieldfare had just landed in the oak trees above me. I guess there were about 50 birds in total plus at least 3 Bramblings. The photos below are very poor quality. I'm afraid they are what bird watchers would call a record shot, a quick photo to prove they saw it or as in this case them.
A poor shot of a Brambling
And an equally poor shot of a Redwing.
However at least the imagery at ground level was a bit better and I managed some nice shots of Marsh Tit, Great Tit, Blue Tit, Coal Tit, Chaffinch and two individual Blackbirds. Just check out the difference in beak colouring. One was yellow the other very orange.
Marsh Tit
Great Tit
Blue Tit
Coal Tit
Chaffinch (male)
Blackbird (yellow beak)
Blackbird (orange beak) and a bit of swagger to go with it