A small often solitary perching bird that Wikipedia says can mate more than a hundred times a day.

Is that one of your photos?

Yep.

Nice!

The bird gets a lot of the credit for sitting tamely whilst I manoeuvred into position.

I have blue tits, a chaffinch, and a fluffy young wagtail - all of those being more skittish and took greater effort merely to get in-focus shots. Will probably process them tomorrow and see if any turn out ok.

"I have blue tits"
You need to wrap up warmer.

That's admirable shagging.

What a brilliant photograph!

Mrs WilliamA and me were walking along the coast at the end of last year when we saw a sparrow sized bird hopping about by the path. We stopped and watched it for a while and it seemed very tame coming within a couple of metres and not seeming bothered by us at all. A couple of hours later we were walking back and saw a load of photographers who seemed to be photographing a load of young to middle-aged women gathered around one of the benches by the path, doing stretching and other healthy things. Other walkers were waiting patiently on the path either side. One of the hazards of a morning walk is that you occasionally come across groups of youngish women who break their practice of swigging Chardonnay to don Lycra and charge around the countryside. These particular women left and Mrs WmA and me started off along the path only to be met by horrified howls of "Oh no" and "Just a couple more seconds" and the sight of the same little bird flying off. 

Turns out it was a Bunting and that the photographers had been snapping it and not the women. It remains a mystery as to why we scared it off and not the cavorting exercisers who had more or less surrounded the poor thing apparently oblivious to its presence. 

But anyway, as I said, what a brilliant photograph. Is it near where you live?

I don't have the patience for that sort of thing, I'm more of a run-and-gun style photographer, though I cut my teeth on (superslow) kodachrome with a polarizer and a tripod -- really good for developing an eye for composition, because so laborious.

Thanks. :)

It's near where I grew up - was out for a walk along the canal last week, which is fortunately devoid of Lycra-clad nuts, only the occasional dog walkers and casual cyclists.

Part of me wants to learn a bit about bird behaviour and habitats to take better pictures, but at the same time I'm kinda happy just wandering along and seeing what I find.

I wouldn't say I'm particularly patient - I just walk along listening to the songs and look when something sounds close.

Insects can require a lot more patience, harder to get sharp and composed, but at least when they're disturbed they'll land nearby and/or return a few moments later.

It's a belting photo.

I find it hard to be sure sometimes - two sides of going to a camera club is seeing top quality work which can be inspiring, but can also make it hard to measure against.

Well then my assumptions about how you took that image, shivering in a blind etc., were all wrong.

Took me a while to figure out what "shivering in a blind" meant. In English English we call them hides. :)

Y'all talk funny.

My dad called them machans

Tiger killer?