Last week my friend Jane and I visited Sizergh Castle in Cumbria in the hope of seeing Hawfinches. We pulled into the car park in bright sunshine but it soon started to snow. A thorough search of the area failed to produce our quarry so we went for a short walk in the surrounding countryside; the coldness of the weather did not diminish our appreciation of this beautiful part of the country. After photographing common birds such as Robin, Wren and Blackbird, we returned to the car park but there was still no sign of the target birds. We decided to head south so we could lunch a Leighton Moss RSPB.
Passing through Milnthorpe the clouds unleashed a veritable snow blizzard of Dickensian proportions. It was almost a total whiteout! We drove on to Leighton Moss where we enjoyed a picnic in Lilian's Hide. I prefer to eat outside to maximise the wildlife viewing opportunities.
But to say the weather was changeable was grossly understating the situation. In the film version of H.G. Wells' classic novel The Time Machine, the time traveller views the passing days as a strobe of night and day; similarly the weather that day fluctuated rapidly between bouts of sunshine and mini snowstorms driven in by a bitter Easterly wind.
Undeterred by the elements we enjoyed a great day's birdwatching. One of the highlights for me was the newly built shelter by the bird feeders where we enjoyed great views of common woodland birds and scarcer birds including one of my favourites the subtly beautiful Marsh Tit. We rounded the day off with a very welcome curry in nearby Carnforth.
The weather has been very changeable recently but there are signs that Spring is underway; daffodils and crocuses are beginning to flower and woodland birds such as Song Thrush and Great Tit are in full song. I have yet to see my first Spring migrant, but a Wheatear and White Wagtail have both been seen at Leasowe this weekend.
Marathon training is progressing well (touch wood!) ; I managed a long run of 20 miles yesterday which brought my total mileage for the week up to 48 miles.
After visiting my son in Liverpool today I stopped of at Hale near Speke to look for a Great White Egret but I found only a Little Egret. I drove on to Moore Nature Reserve and spent some time in the woodland, hoping to see Lesser Spotted Woodpecker but again I was unsuccessful. Nevermind, the feeding station at this fab reserve was packed with birds including Great Spotted Woodpecker and I also glimpsed a Willow Tit. Bird of the day was a Treecreeper, which is the first one I have seen this year. Insectivorous birds such as this must be struggling to find food in the cold weather, and it doesn't look like conditions are going to improve this week.
I took a few shots of the Treecreeper in poor light in deep woodland and I am fairly pleased with the results in such conditions. The photo below clearly shows the enormous claws that this arboreal bird utilises when climbing.
I've been busy working and marathon training recently so photographic opportunities have been limited. But, as usual, the weather hasn't been conducive to producing decent wildlife images.
On the 24th of last month (February) I ran the Blackpool Half Marathon in a decent time of 83 and a half minutes, which I was pleased with because of a recent hamstring injury. Its two minutes slower than my time at the same event last year but I'm not complaining. After the race I visited Marton Mere local nature reserve but was failed to find any Long-eared Owls; I've seen them here a few times before but they can be difficult to find without local knowledge.
At the beginning of March I spent a family weekend in Norfolk. I had problems with the image stabilisation system on my 500 lens so many of my photographs were unusable. I saw many Barn Owls on my morning runs, often perched on roadsigns or on one memorable occasion sat on the fence in the back garden of our cottage! I love Norfolk, it really is a very bird-filled county.
Brent Geese Over Blakeney
Curlew at Wells
Oystercatcher, Wells
Pheasant
Rooks fighting at Kelling
Song Thrush
Fieldfare
Sunset over Cley Windmill with Blakeney Church in the background.
Mid-afternoon yesterday saw me mingling with the masses in New Brighton, but unlike the shoppers and general public enjoying the first sunny day for some time, I was there for one reason only; waders. Or to be more precise Purple Sandpipers. The jetty on the marine lake is a safe high tide refuge for a variety of wading birds that on Saturday included Redshank, Turnstone, a few Knot and at least fourteen Purple Sandpipers, the first I have seen this year. After a few record photographs I left the bustling cafes and shops and headed for the peace of Parkgate.
On the way I checked a few roads around Irby for Waxwings but without any luck. No sooner had I arrived in the Old baths car park at Parkgate than a ring-tail Hen Harrier drifted across the Spartina. Too distant to photograph but beautiful nevertheless. Moments later the first of two superb Short-eared Owls started quartering the marsh close to the car park; fantastic! These two birds drifted up and down the marsh for the rest of the afternoon, sometimes giving amazingly close views. At one point one of the owls drifted close and high to investigate what looked like a remote-controlled toy helicopter, but I don't know where the operator was. They would have got a shock if the owl had intercepted it!
Later a superb male Merlin perched quite close giving excellent telescope views. It was one of two seen. And the finale to an excellent afternoon's birding was a distant Barn Owl seen heading south towards the ice-cream shop!
Here the owl is investigating the remote controlled helicopter!
It is always very exciting seeing my photos in print, and it's a great honour to have a photo published in the illustrious BBC Wildlife Magazine. So I am extremely excited that the accompanying photo of a Waxwing in Denbigh has been chosen as March's "Photo of the Month"!
I have won a very good Lowpro camera bag as a prize; but the real prize is seeing my photo in a magazine that has been a constant source of education and pleasure for me for nearly 30 years!
Yesterday, Saturday 10th, despite feeling a bit under the weather, I turned up at the Trentham Estate near Stoke to run in the extreme trail event called Hell in the Middle. I have run a number of these events before in the Autumn in the lovely Delamere Forest, but this was a new venue for me; and a new time of year, there were more than a few flakes of snow falling from the grey skies as we approached the venue.
The event set-up was great with car-parking close to the start along with a good selection of cafes nearby for that essential post-race refreshment.
After only a short delay the first wave crossed the start line at ten minutes past ten. The initial route zigzagged across a grassy field, luckily it had stopped raining, but the ground was very soft. After only ten minutes we had to cross an icy-cold river; the water was easily chest-height in places. I thought I would freeze following that early dip, but my technical running gear dried out after a few miles; I pitied the poor runners in heavy fancy dress. The first of many steep climbs loomed and there was snow and hail on the ground. Every steep climb was followed by a body-jarring fast and steep descent over mud, bracken, through trees and at one point down some very slippy wooden steps; there was no respite from the relentless inclines. The one patch of level running was even across a shallow lake before a hands-on scramble up another very steep hill.
I knew I was somewhere in the top dozen runners, and my position was constantly changing as I competed with fellow Hellrunners. Another crossing of the river meant we were only a mile or two from the finish. I managed to overtake another competitor as we raced back across the field; then another who struggled over a fallen tree in the woods. A final leap down a steep embankment, and I sprinted for the finish.
My watch had stopped working so I don't know my exact finish time. Trailplus estimated the distance at about 10 miles but that has yet to be verified, it felt more like 8 (very tough) miles. I calculated that I was in 9th position, but, even though the race was chipped, the organisers thought that I abandoned the race! I have emailed them and am waiting for a reply. Nevertheless, I was very pleased with my run and celebrated with a much-needed bacon roll and cup of hot coffee.
Last Sunday was dull and overcast, but as I hadn't been out with my camera for a while, I drove down to Burton marsh to relieve my DSLR withdrawal symptoms; I had to photograph something, anything. I was hoping that there might be a Short-eared Owl quartering the marsh in the late afternoon gloom, or a few thrushes feeding on some berries. There were some Redwings and Fieldfares foraging in a field but they were distant specs in my viewfinder, and there was no sign of any owls. But there was an obliging Kestrel perching on some low bushes and occasionally hovering close to my car. These beautiful birds are not as common as they once were; a casual birder is more likely to see Buzzards perched along motorway verges these days. So I was pleased to see no fewer than six different Kestrels on my short jaunt around south Wirral. Despite the poor light I am pleased with images. I have included a sunny image of a Kestrel taken in March 2011 at Parkgate as a comparison. I also travelled to Leighton Moss again a few weeks ago to watch a starling roost which completely failed to materialise, but I've posted a couple of shots of Robin and Greylag Geese from that visit.
