Nesting long-tailed tits

A friend sent me an email to say he had found long-tailed tits nest building in a large dog rose bush near where he worked, so this morning I went along for a recce. The light was difficult as the birds are nesting on the south face of the bush and the nest is deep within the tangled branches. This means that first thing I was shooting into heavy directional crosslighting but I did like the shot I got of the bird with a feather but ultimately, that angle didn’t work. I then had to move to get the sun falling on the bush but this inevitably meant shooting with the tangled rose bush as a very close background which is far from ideal as it gives a distracting OOF area. I got a few shots I liked and I was pleased to get them with feathers and nesting material. Of course, I was putting the feathers in a suitable position for them to collect :¬)

They are well on with the nest construction now and I think over the next day or so they will begin collecting soft lining materials in earnest so I will have another go then and, if they don’t get predated, I will shoot again when they are feeding young.