Wednesday 23rd May 2012, My local moor

I have walked over a track on my local moor near Silsden lots of times, mostly in my fellwalking days as a pleasant means of keeping hillfit. Now as mainly a wildlife watcher and aspiring photographer I have discovered I walked past a little wildlife haven so many times without noticing anything I am amazed!

First sightings tonight were a redpoll and a robin, one of them a welcome first clear shot!

Lovely melodic birdsong rang out around me as I walked carefully, offpath now and wary of breaking twigs. The descending notes of a willow warbler are amongst the easiest to identify, closer contact with this lovely bird has allowed me to learn how to get a little closer even when not in camouflage gear.

A small flock of goldfinches were in evidence, in gardens they can be surprisingly approachable here in the wild this was the nearest I got!

Two more willow warbler shots follow, different light and angle gives the bird a different appearance which highlights the difficulty of identity sometimes...the light colour of the legs is the key.

Time for home now as the sun begins to set, luckily there was just enough light for another redpoll shot as I spotted it on some gorse at fairly long distance.

Oh the setting sun...

Not really my forte but I like to have go, more usual for me a daft one to finish with....sunset o'clock!!!