Eurasian Jay

Above: Jay.
Below: Jay (Tuscany, Italy).

Jays are a member of the crow family, are resident in the UK all year round and are, in my opinion, one of the most attractive British birds that you can hope to see.

Finding them is fairly easy, photographing them is a little more tricky. They tend to prefer woodland or at least areas with some trees, especially oak as they are particularly fond of acorns. In fact they eat mostly acorns, burying very many and, it would seem, remembering where they put most of them. I have a large oak tree in my garden and although jays are not a regular visitor to my garden, in September when the acorns fall I have had as many as 6 jays collecting them. They can fit at least 5 acorns in their crop and another in their beak. Although acorns are their favourite food, they will also eat nuts, worms, insects and even young birds.

As crows go these birds are king when it comes to colour. They are mostly salmon pink, with this pink being on the back, neck, back of the head, breast and belly. The tail covert and rump are pure white. The face is also white with a black moustache and the crown is white with black streaks. The tail is black and the wings are mostly black, except for a salmon pink forewing, a white central patch and a patch of checked electric blue on the primary coverts, almost like a small patch of mosaics, clearly seen in the photos on the left. The beak is black and the legs are a buffish shade of flesh pink.

Jays are fairly common in the north west but some places you are sure to see them are Woolston Eyes, Dunham Park, Tatton Park, Marbury Country Park, Risley Moss, Rixton Clay Pits, Mere Sands Wood, Rostherne Mere and too many other places to mention.

So what about photography? Where's a good place to photograph these birds? Well lets start by saying that apart from an occasional bold individual, I've found these birds to be very timid and they usually fly off noisily at the first sight of a human. For that reason, you'll probably need somewhere with some cover, like a hide. I suggest trying the following places, in reverse order of my personal preference...

3) Rostherne Mere. They do turn up in view from the main hide (The Boyd Observatory) from time to time but seldom close enough for a good picture, but it is possible. I have taken some shots here, before I got my 500mm lens, which were not too bad.

2) Marbury Country Park. They do appear on the fallen tree in front of the hide overlooking Budworth Mere but again some patience is needed. Sometimes I've been there and they have never shown from the hide and some days they have been there all of the time.

1) Risley Moss. The woodland hide at Risley Moss is my favourite place for jays. Not because they are regularly posing for photographs. Far from it. Although they do show most days you'll need to be patient and probably make several visits before one decides to land in just the right place. However, when they do, you can get some really nice pictures. I like the one top left that I was lucky enough to take at Risley Moss on a very rainy day.

Good luck!