Video - Some male house sparrows

This is a short video of some male house sparrows on my weeping beech tree.

The first snow of winter has arrived - in spring!

This morning we woke to a snow-covered estate. The bird feeders were busy from dawn. This blue tit made for a very colourful figure amidst all the white!

A goldfinch takes flight

A nice shot from this morning. The light is very good, allowing for fast shutter speeds. This goldfinch had been chased away from the nyjer feeder by one of his own and had alighted momentarily on the top of this evergreen bush. I managed to get a good capture of the take-off - although it's not fully in frame.

Learning about Irish garden birds

Hello and welcome to my new blog about Irish garden birds. I've recently taken an interest in birds, having been a keen amateur photographer for many years. Sadly, I've never been able to identify any more than a handful of birds - birds such as crows, seagulls, magpies, pigeons, robins, swans etc.

One of my favourite photographs so far. A great tit taking off from a branch

So I set myself the task of learning to identify birds that I did not know. My wife Ann bought a bird feeder at Christmas and we hung it in the tree in the front garden and, pretty soon, there were lots of birds arriving! My friend Matt Byrne, who is a bird watcher and photographer, and another friend, Michael Fox, have been helping me to identify those birds that I have photographed.

The main aim of this blog is to help me to learn the various types of bird that come to my garden, as well as a place to show the photographs of the birds that I have taken. It is not in any way meant to represent the knowledge of an expert, but rather of a complete novice. I hope you enjoy my photographs.