Brockholes.. Christmas

Christmas has now been and gone and I just wanted to publish a brief account of three fabulous afternoons I spent down at my local Nature Reserve at Brockholes just prior to Christmas. The temperatures had been sub zero for many days and in the countryside the powdery snow was undisturbed and still lay as it had fallen during the previous week.
I had decided to walk down through local woodland so as to avoid the treacherous and very icy roads. It was a lovely walk and after crossing the footbridge over the M6 Motorway a wonderful wintry scene awaited me as I made my way down through Boilton Woods towards the Nature Reserve at Brockholes.
There was plenty of activity along the hawthorn hedges lining the public footpath through the Reserve. Fieldfares, redwings,song thrushes and blackbirds were the predominant birds to be seen but many others were present including a water rail which appeared very briefly but managed to avoid the camera.
I have shown above a few images of the scenery and some of the birds present. In Part Two of this account I will post more images of the lovely winter scenes and also of a hunting fox which it was my good fortune to come across as I returned home through the woods.