Chat show

Flushed with my Corncrake success I turned my attention to another old favourite of mine, Common Redstart. I have never had any success taking photos of Redstarts either here in Latvia or back in the UK. However, there was a male bird coming into the garden quite often, so seeing as I was on a roll I thought I would try and take some shots.
It favoured one corner of the garden in particular, so I set up my gear on a low tripod, spread my jacket out on the ground and waited. Lo and behold I managed to get some decent shots. In fact as time went by I think he was aware of my presence but choose to ignore me. So I ended up getting some very nice shots (in my own humble opinion).

Not the most pristine individual, apart from being a bit tatty, he was also moulting a little around his face and head. Still, I will never get such a good opportunity to photograph a Redstart so I can't complain.
One day I had left my gear out while I popped back in for a cuppa and could see from the living room that he had decided that my lens made a very agreeable perch.

The female was a lot less conspicuous and frequent. In all the time he was there I saw her maybe three or four times. But what's seldom is wonderful, right?

Female Common Redstart, Jurmala, Latvia