Photographer strikes up unlikely friendship with wild garden birds which now eat from the palm of his hand

11 個月前
Stunning images show how a photographer has struck up an unlikely friendship with a selection of wild garden birds - which now eat from the palm of his hand. Villager Jim has spent the last three years patiently taming blue tits, robins and great tits which lay their nests in his Peak District garden. After finally managing to entice the birds with live mealworms, they now follow him wherever he goes and he is able to handfeed them. And this week he was able to capture his feathered friends landing on his wife Jo's palm for the first time after they eventually took a shining to her too. Amazing video footage also shows Jim feeding the birds which flew in to land on him while he was lazing in his back garden hammock. Jim can be seen relaxing while multiple birds swoop down for a feed - with a great tit sitting on his foot while at one point another perches on top of his iPhone. Wildlife snapper Jim now says he now feels like the "Pied Piper" as they regularly come in to land on him as he walks around his property. He has even nicknamed his three favourites Georgie the great tit, Deirdre the blue tit and Bobbin the robin after striking up his unusual friendships. Jim, who lives in the village of Foolow, Derbys., said: "It has taken me about three years for these birds to build up enough trust in me. "There's about four or five blue tits, great tits and robins which will come to sit on my hand now. "I began by offering them live mealworms, they work much better than dried ones or bird seed as they see them moving and think 'I want some of that'. "It took a lot of time for them to come and land on my hand but now I can sit in my garden or walk up my driveway and they are just there. "It happens the most when they are nesting during breeding season. They are a lot braver as they are desperate to feed their kids. "You can barely feel them when they land on your hand, it's like holding air. "And when they grab on to you with their feet, you know they must really trust you because the size difference is enormous. "My wife has been trying to gain their trust too and only managed to do so this week, which is how I was able to now take these photos. "But she squealed the first time, which scared Dierdre off. So they were a bit wary to return but all of them did. "Before then it's been impossible to juggle my camera while these birds are sitting on my hand to get any good pictures. "You have to shoot multiple frames really quickly as they come into land because they move so fast. The sound of the camera clicking doesn't scare them either. "When I walk through my garden I feel like the Pied Piper as there's a big line of birds queuing up behind me. It does feel quite special."