Last Post.....A Visiting Rarity

I was confined to barracks again making preparations for the New Year and clearing away the last of the snow and ice from the paths. After lunch I settled down with a coffee and was very surprised to glimpse a redwing. This was a bird I hadn't seen in my garden for a very long time and I hurriedly grabbed the camera and waited for the bird to reappear.
It did eventually show itself but was very shy and the very poor light didn't help matters. It was taking shelter from the fierce easterly winds behind a holly tree and was obviously interested in the few dozen berries remaining on the tree. It stayed around the garden for a good hour or so and I did manage one or two shots to record the event. It may return tomorrow when conditions may be better for photography and I will be waiting. If it doesn't this will be my last post of the year so I will take this opportunity to wish all my followers a very happy and healthy 2010.

Season's Greetings

Just thought I would do a quick upload before getting involved in the Christmas Festivities.
It has not been possible to go out this week owing to the extreme wintry weather we have been experiencing. There have been some nice sunny afternoons following heavy overnight snowfalls but the roads have been treacherous and I didn't want to risk getting stuck in some remote spot and unable to get back home.
So my activities with the camera have been confined to the back garden and I have tried to capture the typical Christmas Robin in the snow. A couple of my efforts are shown above together with a couple of the snowy garden. I hope all my readers have a wonderful Christmas and I wish you all a very Happy Christmas and best wishes for the New Year.

Owl Be Seeing You

It has been some time since I had an addition to my blog.  The very wet weather in November had prevented me from venturing forth with the big lens. With December came more settled but colder weather and as I write the first snows of Winter are here with very frosty nights but bright and sunny by day. I was therefore tempted out this week in pursuit of owls and harriers that I had heard about in the Bowland Fells.
On my first visit I did see both hen harrier and short eared owl but very distant and certainly not within camera range. I returned again to find that both species were not about, probably they were feeding elsewhere in the vast expanse of moorland where I had been searching. However all was not lost and on a brief walk I discovered a hillside barn where a little owl was enjoying the afternoon sunshine. This sunshine was brief lived as frequent and heavy snow showers were being driven in on a bitterly cold easterly wind. I quickly grabbed the camera and managed some decent shots from behind an adjoining stone wall. The owl left the barn and posed nicely for me on another stone wall and made a nice composition in the brief sunny interlude between snow showers. I was well pleased with the results and left for home as the weather worsened and brought in the first significant snow to the Bowland Fells.
I may hopefully return before Christmas to see if there are any Short Eared Owls or Harriers about and may have some more images to upload but if not I would like to take this opportunity to wish my readers a Very Happy Christmas and Best Wishes for the new decade in 2010 and many thanks for following what I hope has been an interesting account of my adventures in the Lancashire countryside. The images above show the little owl and the surrounding fell country of this very beautiful and very special part of Lancashire.