The above wonderful photos are from Wikimedia Commons (which I didn't even know existed until about 2 minutes ago!!!) Many thanks to the photographer Jerzy Strzelecki.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_Redstart
Surprisingly, these topics ARE related. In the past week I have noticed a female Common Redstart in our paddock. Today I saw the male, and was lurking by our (grubby) bedroom window, camera in hand, this morning. Of course, the moment I grabbed the camera was the moment the wretched bird decided it would look for food on the far side of the paddock and then zoom back past me so quickly I couldn't photograph him. They are obviously nesting somewhere in the vicinity of the paddock - a pair used to nest in a cranny in the top of our old cart shed, years back now.
Anyway, I realized it wouldn't have been much of a photo as the windows were disgusting, inside and out, so I have just been trying to clean them. Trying is the operative word here, as they are big old sash windows, and there is a bit in the middle (top half of the bottom sash), which no way can you reach from inside. The bottom half of the top sash requires me to hang out over the window, standing on the inside sill, and hanging on grimly with one hand . . .
So, windows are done, and hopefully I may get to take a suitable photo when the male is lurking again - he was on the Hawthorn bush earlier, right by the stream bank. Watch this space . . .
