Yarner Wood

We took the dog for a walk up at Yarner, near Bovey Tracey today. I do love mandarins! Three drakes and a female present by the car park.

Puffed up, sails up and looking gorgeous! I like the way the zebra flank stripes continue into the water in this shot.

A soft piping call was uttered by this male.

Five species of tit were present on the feeders. The one I most wanted to photograph, marsh tit, spent milliseconds on the feeders and never posed away from the feeders themselves. Above, blue tit. Below great tit, then blue, long-tailed and finally coal tit. I could have spent ages photographing the birds up there today but my family don't share my interest in birds so I had about 10 minutes max!