16-18th November 2013, More short walks but plenty to enjoy

 

Still limited to short walks near home at the moment but at least the weather was kind over the weekend. I decided to have a walk around my home valley of Airedale on Saturday and it was a great delight to find some fieldfares back and feeding, they are still very nervous but will become easier to approach as they stay longer.

 



 

This wonderful oak tree is a fixture (literally) on my walks around here...

 



 

 

Robins are becoming very prominent with their cheerful songs ringing out from fences, trees and buildings...

 





A look westwards up the valley provided some lovely colours...

A rabbit basked in the sunshine, though it wasn't very warm!

Goldfinches are another very visible bird at the moment, often in groups though this one seemed happy enough with its own company.

Heading out to the east of Silsden I found a chaffinch posing...

A juvenile swan went all bashful on me :-)

Leaving the canal towpath I used a lovely little lane to return to town, the trees and bushes that surround the lane often yield good bird sightings. Today I could see large groups of long tailed tits, feeding and moving around almost non stop, I had time enough in hand to wait a while, and a while longer and still more! Eventually I found one willing to stay still long enough for me to get a decent photograph..

I didn't have a lot of time on Sunday but managed another canal walk, the light was dreadful but it was dry and a little warmer.

My first sighting was a robin perched on a fence...

The chattering, rattling alarm call of a wren alerted me and I paused by the tree from which the noise emanated. I focused the camera lens on the area where the noise seemed to be and waited, sure enough eventually a wren emerged into a clear view for me.

And a bonus too as its mate emerged too...

With a little time for another short wander on Monday I decided on Rombalds Moor as my destination, straight away a red grouse on a wall top although the sun was in the wrong place to capture the colours well.

The views up Wharfedale were beautiful...

Another grouse offered a better angle...

Up the valley and towards Lancashire the skies were dramatic...

And finally as we relaxed in the evening a lovely moon shone brightly...

As always, many thanks to all who read and comment, don't forget the comments come to me first for approval. Many thanks to new reader Tom who has corrected some of my uninformed though enthusiastic identifications of insects and dragonflies, I continue to learn :-))