Waiting for Spring and some pleasant surprises

So far winter has passed with no serious snow fall or freezing conditions, occasional flurries of the white stuff and the odd need to scrape the car windows before early morning journeys may be signs of a temporary change in our weather, we shall see!

Bright days have been all too few, we seem to get day after day of dull grey skies that do little to lift the spirits or the shutter speeds. Despite vast improvements in camera technology and the availability of processing software that can enhance an image there is still no real substitute for some real early morning or late afternoon good light.

I ventured over to Wharfedale one morning and managed to get a dipper in fairly close...

This caught me by surprise and I overexposed the shot, losing the detail on the white throat...must try harder!

A male goosander was having a wing stretch...

I spotted a distant kingfisher

At my raptor watchpoint a female sparrowhawk flew in and landed in a tree for a few moments before flying off

A short while later a young hen harrier flew through, distant but unmistakeable to the experienced eye!

Looks like a young male with the slim body, great to see.

We had a day at RSPB Blacktoft Sands, nr Goole and a great day if you are within travelling distance.

Plenty of ducks to see with some wigeon in close...

Stonechat in the reeds

A kingfisher landed close by but flew away before I got the camera on it, heyho :-)

A few marsh harrier shots, mainly juveniles as most of the adults migrate and will return over the coming months...

Back home and out on the moor on a sunny day, the red grouse males are challenging...literally at times!

Red kite are becoming very common sightings for us, happy days!

A peeping grouse...

My new hen harrier site has been visited with some success...

We had a couple of days up in East Cumbria, near the RSPB reserve at Geltsdale. What a stunning place, mile after mile of wild moorland and home to very special birds. A very kind local pointed out a good place to see black grouse so a pre-dawn set off and we found the location, and the black grouse too. They often spend time in the tops of bushes, a female demonstrated that.

We probably just missed the "lek" the males fan their white tails and parade and fight for the attention of the ladies. Male black grouse...

Another shot of a female...

Then it was on to Geltsdale, this was going to be a long day, long walks and lots of binocular checks and some cold fingers firmly crossed.

The reserve is huge with various options for walks, our own experience plus a healthy dose of local advice led us to concentrate on a few walks to good vantage points.

Distant male hen harrier, despite much hard work we were unable to get closer views but what a delight to see.

Scanning around for the harrier we discovered another treasure, a hunting short eared owl, with sightings scarce at home this year this was another delight!

The following day was notable for rain, rain and more rain, enough said!

Since seeing the young male hen harrier at my new location I have been hoping for some decent light to get some really good shots, maybe hope pays off...in the company of a great mate....what an absolute treat and reward for my patience...

Wow, what greater reward could I have wished for, a stunning bird and a delight to see.

The rewards for patience are wonderful, and it feels like almost like nature does reward patience.
I shall never stop preaching this way above the pay per shot hides where artificial shots and values abound, they alter the natural behaviour of wildlife by feeding predatory birds for the pleasure of photographers and the financial rewards that follow, they will say it is no different to garden feeders, believe me it is. The birds that use feeders are able to re-adapt to different foods, seeds, berries etc at different times of the year. Predatory birds need instinct and razor sharp reflexes, if the meal is provided too easily they lose that, and that is passed on in their genes. The young won't move away from an easy food source and so it goes on.

One of the best examples of this is the osprey feed ponds, tiny pools with hides close, these set ups are drawing more and more young birds which are disrupting nest behaviour of previously reliable parent ospreys. The young males, drawn by by easy prey will attack the nest site trying to attract the females attention, several nests sites have failed because of this in recent years...all in the name of photography, really...it saddens me.

If you see birds of prey while you are out at this time of the year it is a great time to watch out for "display" flights from them as they will soar up on thermals to attract a partner or to re-bond with an existing one. Sometimes locking talons and tumbling down together it can be an exhilarating sight.
If the tumbling continues to the ground or near it, this may well be birds of the same sex competing for a partner or territory but this is a much rarer sight.

Please support wildlife by staying away from artificial set ups and by not supporting photographers who use them.

Many thanks to all who read the blog, please don't forget if you do comment that they come to me first for moderation, the support of all readers is much appreciated.

Moving towards winter 2016

The leaves are falling, the daylight hours are getting shorter it can only be late autumn. Although there are probably less bird species to see they are easier to spot with less foliage on the trees and if the paths remain reasonably dry some great days can be enjoyed.

We had a long weekend up in south west Scotland with our friends John and Karen, a lovely cottage near Dalbeattie was booked for three nights and we met up with them at RSPB Mersehead for an afternoon's bird watching before heading off to locate the cottage.

Many thousands of barnacle geese arrive from northern climes at this time of the year but our first bird was a lovely greenfinch...

The barnacle geese were all around in the fields...

Shoveler duck (male) out on one of the lagoons...

Easy to see how they gained their name!

The geese came in close now and again...

...and then as often happens with recently arrived migrants, something would spook them and thousands would circle round before landing again!

As you can see the weather was not too photo friendly!

Returning the next day the skies had brightened and a sweet robin posed nicely...

A yellowhammer too

If it wasn't for the intrusive twig!

Out at sea the sky was interesting...

Reed buntings showed well

A male pintail duck

Ken Dee Marshes is another great RSPB reserve in the area and we always pay a visit when we are in the area.

Plenty of common species show well and a the now uncommon willow tit has a stronghold here,

Blue tit

Nuthatch

Coal tit

Great tit

Willow tit

Nuthatch again

And another blue tit

Fieldfare in flight

Rather than head straight home on our day of departure we called at a little nature reserve near Lockerbie, red squirrels thrive here and come amazingly close with a little bit of patience. It is amazing how close the world of wildlife photography can be and within minutes of being there I realised two great Facebook friends were there, great to meet Stuart and Gill and we had a good chat between snapping away at the squirrels. Another gentleman who was using the hide introduced himself and so the circle of like minded wildlife photographers increases! Great to meet you Tony!

Anyway squirrel shots...

As usual a great trip with dear friends, virtual friendships made a little more real and a new friendship too.

Back home and reports of waxwings all down the east coast and heading our way, I got a report from a mate of them near Silsden and we dashed off to find them. We do not get these visitors from Scandinavia and Siberia every year, how true the stories of them being a sign of a cold hard winter to come are I don't know, but they are stunning birds.

Just my luck a grey and murky day but at least we had sightings and photographs.

I kept a routine check on the waxwings hoping for a brighter spell of weather

Finally a bright day arrived!

A red kite from my raptor watching...

More waxwings!!!

 

Although we have had some great sightings at my raptor watchpoint including, goshawk, hen harriers, peregrine, merlin, red kite, sparrowhawk, buzzards and kestrels recently not much has been close enough for photographs.

Some small birds are really comfortable there and one of my favourite photographs was this blue tit.

 The sun is usually setting when I leave the watchpoint giving me the opportunity to stop off on the way home to get a shot or two.

Splendid ends to splendid days, me and nature seem to get on quite well. The love of being out there in natural surroundings enjoying what the day brings is calming, peaceful and relaxing. The company of my friends at the raptor watch is treasured, learning is never over and I still have a long way to go to reach the levels of knowledge I aspire to...plus we enjoy a fair few laughs!!!

Many thanks to all who read the blog, don't forget if you do comment that they come to me first for moderationn