Back to the Trough.

Over the last few weeks on my travels to the Trough of Bowland I've managed to to see lapwing and oystercatcher sat on nests next to the road,included in the images is a common sandpiper's nest with 2 eggs that I found as it walked back to it's nest as Isat in a hide taking photographs of a willow warbler feeding young at it's nest.The willow warbler will be in another post soon.Two images or redshank and one of a commom sandpiper conclude the images for this post.hope you enjoy.

WATER VOLES.

Frustrating times this spring as I visited the local colony of water voles.I have to visit early mornings because the colony is so close to human habitation and as the light this spring has been very poor visiting at 5.30am to 7.00 am wasn't ideal to photograph the voles.Timing my visits a little later in the month created different problems as the vegetation has grown alot higher and the voles are harder to see,and with the steep sides of the dyke it's nearly impossible to capture a decent image of the vole.In a perfect world I would love to spend a lot more time with these wonderful mammals getting close to the water [if not in it] taking close up photographs of these rare animals.THE WELFARE AND PRESERVATION of these voles takes priority over any photograph that I would like to take and I feel privaledged just to see the voles at close quartes.I will leave them in peace checking on them from time to time.I've posted a few images below for your enjoyment.P S The voles seem to be thriving as I saw 8 to 10 individuals on one visit FINGERS CROSSED.

Starlings in the Garden.

I've been in the garden getting used to my new hide,and its amazing just how close you can get to the birds and how relaxed  they are[I can now take it out in the real world with confidence].I took a few images of Starlings for practice and the first rule I learnt was to make sure that you are comfortable in the hide as it makes it that much easier to capture your images.I have posted a few of my images below for your enjoyment.

COTTAM CHASERS.

A couple of weeks ago Geoff Gradwell gave me the nod about four spotted chasers he had seen on one of the local ponds.I visited the pond a couple of times and managed to capture a few images and have posted a few below.A big thank you to gg for the imfo,please visit his website for an interesting insight to the local bird and wildlife of the area. www in search of a Norwegian Blue.

A BIT OF LUCK.

On a recent visit to the Trough Of Bowland I was having a walk when I heard a bird alarming in a tree,I could see that it was a pied wagtail carrying food and a nest must be near by.I retreated about 40 yds and hid behind a tree,the pied wagtail dropped onto a wall and fed its chicks.This was an ideal oppurtunity to capture  some images,Iwent back for the car parking it on the opposite side of the road putting a net up at the window.The birds were soon down feeding their chicks and I stopped about 30 mins capturing images of them feeding the young,then left them in peace to get on with their busy lives.I have posted a few images below for your enjoyment.

TERN AROUND BRIGHT EYES.

Bonnie Tylers hit Total Eclipse Of The Heart with the words [TURN AROUND BRIGHT EYES] seems a good heading for this post.I've taken hundreds and hundreds of images of the common terns of Preston Dock over the last few weeks and found it's very hard to capture eye contact of these birds.I'ts very satisfying  when you manage to capture a few images of the birds in flight  with the eye contact showing,a few of my better efforts are shown below.I will be returning to the docks in 2 or 3 weeks time when the chicks have hatched and hopefully will do another post on the Common Terns of Preston Dock.