Pink....Red....Yellow... and... Grey

Last week I managed to get out and about a bit with the camera. Most country roads and tracks were now accessible without a four wheel drive and I visited favourite locations in the Pilling and Cockerham area. It was  very cold with a strong and wintry northerly wind still bringing the odd snow flurry to the exposed farmlands and mosslands of this special part of Lancashire.
The Eagland Hill area of Pilling is always very good for an excellent selection of birds at this time of the year and is somewhere you can almost guarantee to see large flocks of pink footed geese and some of the other specialities of Lancashire like corn bunting, yellowhammer and tree sparrow. The speciality I had come to photograph and one that had so far eluded me was the Grey Partridge. Grey Partridge are in serious decline throughout many parts of Britain due to changes in farming practices and intensive use of insecticides. Thankfully Lancashire still retains a healthy population and along with corn bunting and tree sparrow  appear to be doing well.
I spent most of the time photographing the birds at a feeding station on the edge of farmland. If you sat in the car and waited patiently numbers of birds would come to feed on the seed left for them. I enjoyed the action for a couple of hours or so and then did a quick tour of other locations . I had some excellent close views of pink footed geese enjoying the afternoon sun in the centre of Pilling and a very brief view of a barn owl which flew across the road where it was impossible to stop due to the traffic.
All in all I had enjoyed two afternoons in this quiet part of Lancashire with a very nice selection of farmland birds to keep me busy with the camera. The images above show Pink Footed Geese...Red Legged Partridge... Yellowhammer and Grey Partridge.