Odds and Ends

The last of the batch of images I took on my recent walk around the lakes.
It was good that I was able to take a variety of images as the weather has gone down hill again.

The Ghostly Goose



The pretty Wigeon



And a Mallard with his tail on fire.


Last, but by no means least, the Weasel which I observed in a wooded area alongside a path way. He wanted to cross, but wouldn't while I was around. He kept disappearing and reappearing in slightly different locations on the edge of the bushes.

Black and White

A few more scenes from my walk around the lakes.

A rough old life being a Tufti.

I mentioned in the first post about the rough water on the lakes caused by the strong winds blowing across the parkland. The Willow Tree in this image with its small branches almost horizontal, shows how strong the wind was.


On the largest lake which is quite open, the Tufted Ducks were having a rough time trying to stay in one place. They appeared to be enjoying it though.





Hey we're over here.


In one of the other lakes in more calm waters I shot a few images of this magnificent duck. He certainly looks a bit of a character and is one of my favourites.

The wily Squirrel and the ravenous Blackbird

The second post about my observations on a walk around the lakes on a sunny day.

I observed this Grey Squirrel climbing about a blackthorn bush on the opposite side of a river. You can see from this first image what his intentions are. He wants that Sloe Plum that is on the end of the branch and needs to work out a plan to get to it.


"I think I will get across to that next branch."


"So far so good."


"Ah yes, smells OK."


"And tastes delicious."


You can observe from the next image that he was only about four feet above the water, so it was a tricky operation. Dont worry Squirrel lovers, he wouldn't have drowned as squirrels can swim.


Later I observed this male Blackbird perched in a dead Hawthorn tree. There were still a lot of haw berries on the tree though and he set about eating them.



Down the hatch.




I watched him for a while and as you can probably guess, he ate the lot.

A Rarity on a Windy Day

A windy and rough day on and around the lakes, but the sun was shining at last.



The Blackcap

Fortunately I just happen to walk on a pathway through a wooded area at the right time to get four shots of the female Blackcap (below). That's all I had time for as it then disappeared into the trees.

The Blackcap normally flies off to warmer climes for the winter and would be gone by now (Spain and Italy). I recently read that about 1000 remain over winter in the Southern part of Britain. In this area where I live we are at the extreme Northern edge of its wintering area in England. So this female is either remaining on "Staycation" (using the topical term), or she has missed her take off slot.{:)




I did reveal in the heading that it was a windy day and as you can see around the lakes the water was quite choppy. This image below of a female Pochard Duck shows that quite well. I will post more images tomorrow of my observations.

From the Window

You can always tell when the weather is atrocious in the area where I live. I start taking shots of birds in the tree outside the lounge french windows.

For days now the weather has either been extremely wet and windy or just very dull and windy. None of which is conducive to nature photography whilst out walking or cycling out to my usual haunts. (These images below where all taken through double glazed windows.) The Great Tit and Chaffinch were the only species to visit during the short time I was watching.

Three shots below are of the Great Tit.




Three shots of the male Chaffinch.

Black-headed Gull Antics

Black-headed Gulls particularly when in a group, provide plenty of opportunities for photography which I was able to take advantage of recently. I don't know what food they were diving for, but they seemed intent on getting hold of it.