Bird photography enthusiast and Retford Life reader Lee Mason has sent us a couple of his latest pictures and said:
“In June of last year, I suffered a heart attack and was taken into Bassetlaw Hospital. Just the day before, I had been birding and walked quite a long way down the Chesterfield Canal, so I was thankful that I was at home when it happened. To cut a long story short, I was then sent to the Northern General Hospital in Sheffield, where I underwent a quadruple heart bypass. As you can imagine, this is not an easy thing to recover from, so my birding activities were severely limited after this time.
“My fiancée, Alison, and I have slowly been getting back into the swing of things throughout the autumn and winter, but have not really ventured very far. However, I regularly walk through Kings Park and often spot some delightful birds on our doorstep. I captured this picture of a great tit on a twisted hazel bush, and thought that the colours and shape of the branches made an interesting scene. Great tits are common birds, which often visit our gardens and parks. Their striking colours and bold black stripe make them very attractive. Around this time of year they can be heard calling “tee-cher, tee-cher” to establish their territory and find a mate ready for the breeding season.
“Listen and look out for these beautiful birds all around our locality and see if you can spot one or two in your garden. You can read more about our birding exploits at www.featheredfriendsthroughthelens.wordpress.com.”