The Caterpillar Service – Day Seven
Today the Long-Tailed Bushtits are working as hard as ever to gather invertebrates:
After a week I’m much happier with my photographs and feel they are getting better. I think this one really shows their essential character:
Long-Tailed Bushtits obviously have very special life skills. Quite how they manage to find such a vast treasure hoard of caterpillars is a mystery to me. They’ve been genetically attuned to identify tiny signs of every type of their prey.
I love their alternate names of Bumbarrels and Mummyruffins.
I’ve been lying in the brambles on a wet slope in the sun for hours now and I’m tired and hungry. Thankfully there’s a sudden bout of Thomas Hardy style sympathetic weather as the clouds appear, it gets cold, and there’s not enough light to get good photographs. It’s time to go.
I have a memory card that is metaphorically bursting with images and a mind that is full of memories of a glorious day.
Will they still be there tomorrow?
More Long-Tailed Bushtits
The Caterpillar Service – Day Eight I only have a snatched hour with the Long-Tailed Bushtits today. I still get some lovely views. I've been trying… read more
The Caterpillar Service – Day Six Here's the scene next to a busy public footpath: It may appear tranquil but deep within the brambles is a… read more
The Caterpillar Service – Day Five The caterpillars keep on coming. Beak-fulls of them. Green ones, brown ones, grey ones and orange ones; they've all been… read more
The Caterpillar Service – Day Four It's Day Four of photographing Long-Tailed Bushtits for me. After all, what is there to do when I've got no… read more
The Caterpillar Service – Day Three It's Day Three of following the Long-Tail Bushtit family on waste ground near my house in South Devon. I say… read more
The Caterpillar Service – Day Two Yesterday I spent five hours on a public footpath overlooking a Long-Tailed Bushtits' nest. I'm happy that I wasn't disturbing… read more
The Caterpillar Service – Day One The call of the Long-Tailed Bushtit is quite distinctive. It must be, because even I can recognise it. 'Tsurp', they… read more