WENT TO SEE RED AGAIN.

Sorry about this but on Wednesday afternoon I went on the short trip to see Red again (The Netherwood Redstart). I'd been out shopping most of the morning and after lunch I needed to get out there even for a short time and with nothing been reported locally Red was the obvious choice.

Got there at 1.30 PM and true to form Red soon showed up.As I've mentioned before he favours a private paddock that's about 40m wide and 120m long that is surrounded by a 2m high hedge with a barbed wire fence inside.The only viewing point is a gate on the S side in the SE corner.Red sits on the fencing on the W side near the SW corner approx. 30m from the gate.Hence the struggle to get decent shots.

Red was in his usual spot on Wednesday so I had to use the SX50 to get some shots.

After about 40 minutes Red caught me out and instead of going back to his usual perch after one of his fleeting visits to the grass he flew right past me and landed on the fence on the E side very near the gate.Hells Teeth this is what I'd been waiting for all these visits.He was well in range of my 400 lens.Got some great shots then? Afraid not. Disaster struck ! !

When Red landed I was in the open leaning on the gate so I had to get to cover smartish else he'd be off.A couple of steps to the left was needed to get behind the hedge.Easy then? No.The hedge here is a combination of Holly and Brambles and I got too close and got snared up.Two Bramble hooks in the back of my hand and four in the sleeve of my new woolen jumper.Lots of heavy duty swearing took place as I struggled to free myself which took ages.When I was free and tried to focus on Red a Robin disturbed him and this is the shot I got as he flew off. Damnation ! !

The good news was that Red did come back to the E fence but not as close as before.Did get some better shots but missed out on some stunners thanks to the hedge. 

This last one is taken with the SX50 rather than the 7D with the 400 lens.Not bad but a bit soft.

Red has given me great entertainment over the last few weeks and did again today despite the hedge incident.The jumper by the way did not come off too well.