Bullfinch and rowan berries, Sizergh Castle Gardens

Rosy-crowned willow and an ice-blue lake

Sunlight sets the frozen lake ablaze at SIzergh.   Spikes and tufts of frosted water-plants  stipple the ice and birds' footprints are etched into it.  The crown of a willow glows rosy.  The morning is still and bitterly cold.   A clear blue sky tells of winter weather from the North, an intense blue fading to pallor all mirrored in the icy lake. Hoar frost casts a spell on the landscape with  wondrous patterns on shrubs and seed-heads, wherever frost crystals take hold.  Now for the berried trees and shrubs I have photographed through the autumn.

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In early November we came upon a Rowan, Sorbus Vilmorinii, with a rich crop of berries.   We could hear bullfinch calling and several fed deep in the branches.  This morning the sun shone directly onto the tree.  Most of its berries had gone and here was  one of the culprits.  A beautiful bullfinch gorged on fruit, its crop stuffed with berries.  In reaching for fruit the bird was acrobatic,  showing its plumage of deep pink, white and black.  The bullfinch  must have been aware of my presence but  went on feeding so I had a long contemplative  while and returned about an hour later for more.  Having waited for this opportunity I wasn't about to waste it.

I was lucky to have a beautiful bright blue sky behind a bullfinch which chose to feed on berries out in the open and not deep in a tangle of branches.   Looking back on a visit on 4th November I see how few berries remain and that they begin to show white.   Will this food source last until the February hungry gap?   Early in autumn garden birds feed  on rowan, long before  harsh winter weather sets in.  With today's temperature at zero birds will need to stuff themselves during the short daylight hours. 
There could scarcely be a better photo--opportunity to record this lovely rowan and a resident bullfinch this year.  So I show the bird in a multitude of poses.