Bowland...Curlews

Recently I have spent time in Bowland observing the wonderful landscape and wildlife.I have been leaving home very early morning to enjoy the cooler conditions as it has been too hot during the day as we enjoyed a record dry May with virtually no rain and very warm temperatures.It was a fantastic experience to watch the day unfold and to see the birds and creatures going about their daily lives.In this post I am concentrating on the Curlew.

This iconic bird of the upland areas of Bowland seems to be doing quite well in this part of England.Sadly the numbers of curlews in the UK has halved.A quarter of the world population breeds in the UK and Ireland so this is a very serious matter and there is even talk of the species becoming extinct.Thankfully as I have said I have seen and heard reasonable numbers of breeding curlews in my travels.I have shown below a number of images of curlews and their habitat all taken from the car on my trips to Bowland.It is a lovely and iconic bird of the upland areas and I hope it remains in this part of Lancashire for many years to come.

Hope you enjoy my images below.Thanks for looking in and next time I will post images of owls seen on my recent travels in Bowland.Meantime stay safe and well and enjoy the cooler weather and much needed rainfall.

Brown Hares..Bowland

Another month has gone by and life is still very much dominated by Coronavirus.Restrictions have been relaxed a little and we can now travel away from home territory for our daily exercise.I have recently taken advantage and of course have taken my camera to record some of Bowland's wonderful scenery and wildlife.

For this post I have concentrated on brown hares.It is a wonderful area to observe brown hares.Whilst driving the quiet roads and lanes you frequently come across brown hares enjoying the early morning dew laden grasses for breakfast.Sometimes the hares will depart very quickly but other times they will stay put enabling some nice images from the comfort of the car.You will notice in a couple of the images brown hares "social distancing" as we should all still do !!

I have shown below a selection of some of my favourite images from my trips.On my travels I also saw lots of other wildlife including curlews,grouse,barn owls,roe deer and of course the special scenery that is Bowland.I will of course post more images from Bowland next month.So in the meantime stay well and safe and enjoy the wonderful weather which has been such a feature of May.

Lockdown..Covid-19..Easing of Restrictions...The Birds and the Bees

Recently the restrictions on movement have been eased.One can now go out for exercise for longer and travel for an unlimited distance.I have taken advantage of this and have made a couple of visits to locations not too far from home for exercise armed of course with my camera.Before heading out I spent time in the garden on a warm and sunny morning photographing the bees that were visiting the welsh poppies in my garden looking for nectar.This was quite successful and you can see the results below.

I then visited a local nature reserve and the Tern Colony at Preston Docks.The common terns had only recently arrived and were few in number but those present were getting on with mating as can be seen in the images below.At the nature reserve I managed some nice shots of a great tit busy eating tiny insects from the vegetation.The highlight however of recent outings was a visit to the Lancaster Canal where it was nice to see numbers of ducklings and cygnets escorted by their parents enjoying exploring the bankside vegetation. The young swans were a particular delight hitching a ride on mum's back.

It is also that time of the year when I like to get up very early and visit Bowland looking for the wildlife around before most people are out and about.I hope to post images from my early morning safaris in due course.Meantime thanks for looking in and stay safe and well.

Lockdown..Covid -19..Bike Ride

The UK is still in the grip of the deadly Coronavirus.Seven weeks of lockdown have helped in passing the peak of the outbreak but we are still in a severe situation losing hundreds of lives daily.I decided to get my bike out again for my daily permitted exercise and enjoyed a hilly but pleasant ride in the warm sun around the back lanes of Samlesbury and Hoghton.It was hard work at times and I think I did a couple of miles pushing the bike up steep sections of the country lanes.

However I was always on the lookout for wildlife as I rode along and after pausing to photograph bluebells in a woodland I spotted a pair of roe deer just about within range of the camera lens.I managed a number of images before the deer moved off and you can see the results below.A brown hare appeared nearby and again I grabbed some images before it departed.There were also butterflies enjoying the sunshine and I found an obliging green veined white nectaring on roadside forget me nots.

It had been an interesting ride of around 15 miles and I returned home very tired but very well pleased with my efforts with the camera.We might be able to get out more following the Prime Minister's address to the nation this evening as we ease our way out of lockdown.Thanks for looking in and stay well and safe.