Arrival singular, as we only have one bird at the moment, but unusually for a Spring bird it has lingered nearly a week. I was initially worried about it, but it seems pretty perky, and getting close to it is time-consuming. It does tend to become accustomed to my presence, though there is a definitely a minimum distance it is comfortable with. Trial and error, but I think I have it sussed now, and if I keep that and am still, it does sometimes hop closer. Today I photographed it twice, and predictably the final encounter was the best. This time I used a tree trunk as cover, resting my lens on the slight curvature as it met the earth. This physical barrier seemed to reassure it for some reason, and it remained closer than it had been all weekend. Or maybe that was just how it appeared as today I had my 800mm with the 1.4x converter bolted onto it ;-) My favourite is the first one in the "This afternoon" section - it has everything I like in a bird photo - a nothing background, a sparkling eye, low to the ground, and.....a Wheatear!

Yesterday (500mm)

This morning

This afternoon