Winter Visitors

A trip to the bottom of Carrock Fell this morning to see the Blencathra meet and catch up with friends visiting the area. It was as forecast, blustery showers with (brief) sunny spells. It was also 5'c. We were amazed at the turnout, and after half an hour of socialising the hounds moved off; and so did we. Home!
We have been seeing a bit more of some of our winter residents and visitors of late. We were pleasantly surprised to see a Brambling in the back when we came home. We didn't see much of them last winter, although plenty the winter before. Perhaps this year is going to see a large number of them again.
We have Dunnocks in the garden all year, but through the summer months, they seem to disappear amongst the shrubs. I had my camera ready to try and get a shot of one of our Wrens who has recently started to appear on a regular basis (another bird we see nothing of all summer). The wren frequently sits on the goose, but never when I have the camera ready. This time the Dunnock decided to fool me.
We also have two Robins in the back, plus at least another one in the front. Again we see very little of them in the summer.
And for this last shot you'll need to double click or get your binocs out. Living in an area so full of natural habitat does mean that a lot of the birds we get when food is in short supply just abandon us when natural resources are abundant. The Partridge family are a classic example of this. Daily visits for months on end, and then nothing for months. Suddenly they have started to reappear - although they rarely come in just yet, they just keep scurrying past having a recce