Way back in April, I had a few days off work, the weather was hot and sunny, and I'd previously made arrangements to visit a fellow blogger, Adrian, who was up in the Lake District, parked up in a beautiful spot at Patterdale; a stones throw from Ullswater.
One particular morning, after getting up with the lark, we headed off to the waters edge, armed with our cameras and the two dogs. A few pictures were taken, and I watched a couple of Blue Tits flying around from a nearby tree.
Suddenly they were locked together as one small ball of blue and yellow feathers, and fell to the ground.
The following shots were quickly taken, before an inquisitive Molly, or was it Archie, intervened. They quickly flew up into the trees, and all became calm again.
But, for a few moments, a ferocious battle had taken place.
Sorry about the picture overload, but it was fascinating to observe.
Lots more fascinating subjects over at World Bird Wednesday.
54 comments:
no overload at all! tiny ferocious feathered lions!
Fantastic sequence!! Boom & Gary of the Vermilon River, Canada.
I'd forgotten that........it makes a superb set.
Great sequence of shots. A tempest in a teapot!
Thanks Theresa. It was quite a battle.
Thanks Gary :-)
Cheers Adrian :-)
Thanks Robin. We saw a different side to them that morning.
Great captures Keith.
I've never seen Blue Tits fighting like that before.
There's no such thing as a picture overload on your site, Keith. Who knew such sweet looking birds could be so volatile? I'm kind of glad the dogs broke up the fight.
Andrew, that was the first time I'd seen them fight like that.
Thanks Linda, very kind of you.
Yea, I'm glad the dogs stopped it too.
I have seen several fights like that but always by the time my brain registers that I should be taking images, the fight is over and the camera is still down and off... Great Shots and thanks for sharing them.
Absolutely staggering series. Any one of them would be considered classic, that there are so many pictures of the Blue tits at battle is a visual treat beyond compare. This is nature photography at its finest. Bravo!
Hi Kieth..Wow that's quite the battle...the photos are superb an never to many !
Amazing to get them,although I hate to see those things happen!!
Good for the dogs for there help!! : }
Hugs my friend!!
Awesome series of photos. Looks like it was exciting to watch.
Fantastic photos. Even tiny birds can have ferocious battles!
Goodness! They were really going at it, you don't think of Blue Tits getting stroppy like that. Amazing captures Keith, fancy forgetting you had them!!
Now that is somethging you don't witness very often with this species. Super series of images Keith.
What a drama :) Great photographs!
Don't be sorry! These are spectacular shots. What a gift!
Excellent sequence!!!!!!!!
I agree with the other comments...no such thing as overload. Especially when the shots are this good.
Whoa...they really were going at it!1 Great action shots!!!
What great captures of all the action! Those little guys were really going at it! They are such pretty little birds!
Awesome series! Why the battle? Is it a territory thing?
Fascinating and ferocious little birds! Wow! Intersting to see this aspect of their behavior. They seem too cute to do that! :-)
Usually, I'm rather annoyed when Benny (a JRT) hops into the scene I'm trying to photograph. He never fails to send my subjects off in a hurry. In this case, I would have been relieved.. but only after achieving these fine captures. Well done.
Hey Keith,
Great sequence!!!How have u been?We have postponed our trip to uk(heard we need to do a lot of walking)maybe when Hiya is a little older.We are instead going to Switzerland and France in Aug:).Hopefully we will be able to get a few good shots...
Shantana
Great sequence Keith. Perhaps it was a fight for the super featherweight TITle!! {;(
Sorry!
Fabulous shots and definitely no overload. What an opportunity and how fantastic that you captured that gruelling duel.
Hi there - I have onlt seen this species of bird attack each other once (a long, long time ago!) - and I thought at the time "Its a good job these things are not bigger - they could rip your arm off!" - Clearly nothing has changed.
Great set of pictures.
Stewart M.
Thanks Dale. I usually do the same in these circumstances; just stand there watching. This time the camera was straight up to my eye. :-)
Springman, thank you for your comment :-)
Thanks Grace. The dogs made good referee's lol
Thank you Horst.
Thanks Mick. It was quite a battle.
Thanks Jan. Yea, I need to keep on top of my pictures, and sort them out properly.
Cheers Frank. They really surprised me with their behaviour.
fjällripan, thank you :-)
Thank you Gail, glad you enjoyed them.
Modesto, thank you.
Thank you Elizabeth :-)
Thanks Sondra :-)
Thank you Pat. :-)
Eileen, thank you. I think the fight was probably over territory.
Thanks Shelley. Yea, I've never seen these little birds behave like that before.
Thanks Hilary. I dread to think what the outcome could have been had they not been disturbed.
Shantana, thank you.
Things are quite busy here; lots to sort out.
Hope you all have a great holiday :-)
Thanks Trevor.
lol good comment mate ;-)
Thank you Arija. One of those right time and place moments :-)
Thanks Stewart. Yea, like you say, good job they aren't big birds. I've never seen that sort of behaviour between these birds before.
Fantastic sequence! So cool! Looks like the dominant one is going to peck the other one's eyes out! I wonder what it was all about.
A brilliant series of shots Keith. I don't think there are enough in this area to cause any altercations.
Not a picture overload at all! Wonderful captures of the Battle of the Blue!
Great series. Either it was over a woman or territory or something more important. Wonderful pictures - no overload here.
well caught! Blue tits can be surprisingly ferocious!
Great action my friend. I always love coming back to your wonderful blog and catching up on all that I've missed. Great stuff Keith !
Oh dear, territory is so hard to maintain ;)
Thanks Hilke. It was a real battle for a few moments. I'm guessing it was over territory.
Thanks John. I've never seen them fight like this before.
Thank you John, (Maine). Glad you enjoyed them.
Thank you Bill.
It must have been over food then lol
Juliet, thank you. These were pretty ruthless while they were scrapping.
Cheers Nick. Appreciate your comments mate.
Thank you Sarah. It's moments like these, that I'm glad I'm not a bird ;-)
You could never ever do a picture overload! Every one of your pictures is always so good -- and you really really needed all of these to tell the story (I felt almost as if I'd been there watching).
Such pretty little guys -- glad their adventures did no permanent damage!
Hei vaan...
Katseli Sinitiaisen hommia. Hieno kuva sarja.
Onko siinä Äiti-Sinitiainen kurittamassa vallatonta poikastaan...?
Tervehtien Eko..
Suomi/Lapland/Kuusamo
Thanks for your comment Sallie :-)
Eko, thank you for your comment.
That might be correct.
Brilliant photos.
Wonderful work. A stunning set of close up images. Beautiful.
Thank you Bob :-)
Fotokarusellen, thank you :-)
Wow. You post pictures of those little guys a lot, and they're beautiful. It's surprising to see their dark side. Those are some great shots, they capture the motion perfectly.
Wow,glad you kept the camera clicking,awesome sight.They were really angry about something,the one bird was really flogging the other,great moments captured,thanks Keith,phyllis
Amazing captures Keith. Never seen Blue Tits fighting like that before.
Thanks JoLynne. A popular little bird here, but surprising to see this 'side' of them.
Thank you Phyllis. It was quite a sight to see.
Roy, a first for me too. Quite a battle.
o my, I´ve never seen anything like it. I know they can be agresiv, but like this....
Great serie of shots, uniqe ones.
Thank you NatureFootstep. It certainly was a fierce fight.
Wow, nasty little critters. A great record of behaviour captured in your images well done Keith.
Thanks Bob. Never seen them quite like that before.
Post a Comment