Eventually!!!

Most of us "birding types" have that certain image of a particular species that in our minds eye we would love to nail a picture of, in my case the Jay was my quarry. It has always been a mythological bird in my life, you hear that it is an easy bird to see if you go to the right place at the right time of year, but so far it has kept its distance from me! I have been very fortunate to capture thousands of owl images that the every day folk would die for and I'd gladly trade some of those encounters for seeing some Jays. After five years of trying to get get close to them they have always proved to be elusive. I have tried on many occasions to get a "record shot" of this "shy away from the camera" bird and failed every time, but I wasn't going to give up that easily!

 

This year we have been graced with a continental influx of them into the UK, so no better time than now! A few birding friends have beaten me to "getting up close and personnel" and achieved some stunning images (well done guys) but this has only given me more encouragement.  After countless visits and thirteen quids worth of peanuts at my feeding station at last it had a few visits, and believe it or not whilst being graced with their presence I had my camera with me!  The light wasn't brilliant as it was late in the day but these are by far the best images I have achieved to date.  

 

I will no doubt be visiting these gems again over the next few days,  I know it is a long shot but I'm keeping my fingers crossed for some better light and hopefully some better images?