GROUSE GALORE.

Or is it whiskey galore.A morning on the moorlands in the wonderful Trough of Bowland brought me close to a true endemic british bird the RED GROUSE.I spent an enjoyable morning in perfect conditions taking images of these birds and was on my way home before the walkers and runners had woken from their slumber.A few images of the many I have taken are posted below.Another post of the rest of the birds I saw and photographed on the fells will appear in another posting soon.

Mixed Bag.

The weather has been very kind to us [up north] lately and I have been very busy with the lens,so I have 6 or seven post's to catch up with.The first one is a mixture of visits to various places,kestrel and two of the Toad images were captured at Newton Marsh,the eye reflection of the toad was taken at Carr House Green Common Inskip,while the Roe Deer and Slow Worm were captured in South Cumbria.

ADDERS OUT EARLY.

Gn Monday the 5th March I had a trip to see if the Adders had come out of hibernation,I was pleasantly surprised to find two [what i think are males] basking in the morning sun.I had a wonderful couple of hours with these snakes and felt privieged to be able to get so close to capture the images I have posted below.I have more images to go through of these shy and elusive snakes,and can't wait to visit these wonderful creatures again,so more post's of these snakes are to follow.

Swan at Newton Marsh.

Sunday morning saw me at Newton Marsh were there was plenty of widgeon with a few shoveler,teal shellduck,coots and waternens.Good numbers of lapwing were on territory and plenty of noisy redshank were flying about.A mute swan was bathing,preening and applying oil from it's oil gland at the base of it's tail to waterpoof it's feathers,and I managed to capture a few images and some of the better one's I have posted below.

Mere Sands Wood Grebes.

Last week I spent a few hours at Mere Sands Wood with the grebes allthough they didn't come very close and the light was very harsh I managed to capture a few images.Dave Cookson turned up and we had a good chat while the birds were distant,I would like to thank him for all the help and advice he gave me.I have posted a few images below from a very enjoyable day out  and hope to return soon to try and get some images with more action.

Quick Visit.

Firstly I would like to apologize to some of my fellow bloggers as I am unable to post comments on their bloggs,hopefully I will get this sorted soon.A quick hour at Newton Marsh saw 3 hares,squabbling waterhens,plenty of widgeon,teal,shovelers,coots,with a few blacktailed godwits,redshank,with plenty of displaying lapwings.I have posted a few images from my short visit.

An Afternoon Out.

At the feeding station I managed a few images of Chaffinch,Coal Tit,Long Tailed Tit,Blue Tit and a Wood Mouse.I managed to get on the floor at eye level to the Wood Mouse and like the image I have managed to capture.I travelled to the common in the late afternoon for the SEO's and sod's law struck again as I was in the wrong place to capture any images.I watched them through my binoc's and saw one flush a snipe.Back at the car with all my  equipment away one appeared and I managed a record shot hand held.Christian came over having had the same luck as me and as we were having a chat a SEO cme from right to left at tree top height flying fast and straight towards a small flock of Jackdaws roosting in a tree,they certainly didn't hang about.I don't know if the owl did this for badness or was seriously hunting.Anyway a very enjoyable afternoon birding and nice to meet Christian.