Nightingale Shimmy

He was doing a shimmy on the branch and loving the ray of sunshine striking through the trees to help in the drying off! Unbelievable I'd never spotted one before especially so close and suddenly I have had two within a fortnight! Amazing for such an incredibly reticent and shy bird which is so rarely if ever seen. I have obviously got a good spot here in these woodlands.

Hugely diverted by this squirrel I'd been missing out on my nightingale having a bath in the pond! Tilly, on a lead, good as gold, hadn't clocked the rodent gambolling round the front of the Hide. Watching it coming round to the open side in full view I was a tad unprepared for both animals coming nose to nose..I don't know which was the more startled as Tufty shot up the tree looking down teasingly as Tilly below went a bit nuclear! I clicked merrily away.

A sideways glance later and I caught sight of this little fellow. Swinging the lens through 90° grinning from ear to ear that I should be so very lucky, I managed to get a few shots. He preened and shook his feathers to shake off the water droplets! You can't help but admire the colour of his tail feathers which are a deep russet but look so drab and brown on an ordinary sighting. Lovely, no actually thrilling to watch. A very special moment!! Just couldn't wait to get the chip in the computer to see what had come out.