Deer Watching

On some of my recent visits to Leighton Moss I have been fortunate to see red deer.Not the hoped for stags but hinds,one of which had her fawn with her.This was lovely to see as the hind brought her fawn out of the reedbeds for some very welcome excercise.The little fawn charged around for ten minutes or so and I had difficulty staying in contact with the camera.Idid manage a few reasonable images of the red deer from Leighton Moss and they are shown above.Hopefully on a future visit I will be fortunate to see some of the magnificent stags which are present and will very soon be gearing up for the rutting season.Hope you enjoy my efforts shown above and  thanks for looking in.

Waders and Egrets

I visited Leighton Moss again this week and decided to visit Lower Hide where I hadn't been for some time.I spent an hour or so there but it was extremely quiet and a move was called for.Simon had joined me and we thought a move to the Allen and Morecambe hides would be better.It proved to be a very good decision as on arrival we could see lots of waders in front of the Eric Morecambe hide.There was a large group of black tailed godwits and a group of redshanks together with a number of little egrets.
These birds were very close to the hide and provided some great views and opportunities for the camera.Even better was the summer plumaged spotted redshank in amongst the redshanks.There was also a winter plumaged spot red and I made the best of this opportunity to photograph these lovely birds.
The waders were spooked by a sparrowhawk and this provided a great shot of all the godwits up in the air.The little egrets also came close in their quest for food and again provided nice images of these elegant herons.After a disappointing start it turned into a great session down at the Morecambe hide.Hope you enjoy the images above of the godwits , redshanks and egrets and thanks for lookijng in.

A First and a Second

On Saturday I had the good fortune to be invited to photograph the two barred crossbill that had been discovered at Browsholme Hall ,Bashall Eaves.This was the first time this bird has been seen in Lancashire and it is indeed a national rarity. I understand there are some currently in Shetland but it is a very scarce bird and one I was lucky to see. The crossbill was coming to seeds at a bird feeding station in a private garden and during my stay returned to feed three or four times. It was a juvenile and lacked the colour of the adult birds but the prominent double wing bar was a striking feature of it's plumage. The images below are the best I could manage and at no time was I able to get all of the bird in shot.It was however an interesting encounter with this scarce visitor to our shores and Mike and I would like to thank Barrie and his wife for their hospitality during our stay.

On returning home I was enjoying a coffee when I noticed an insect hovering around a phlox plant in my garden.I immediately recognised it as a humming bird hawkmoth.I rushed upstairs for my camera and managed to grab some images before it departed. I had seen one a good number of years ago feeding on fuschia in my garden.I was thrilled at managing to capture some images of this striking moth which again is another uncommon visitor to Lancashire.All in all an exciting Saturday and once again thanks to all at Browsholme Hall for the welcome and opportunity to see their special visitor.

 

Leighton Waders

This week I visited Leighton Moss where I hadn't been for some time.The very warm weather continued and was drying out parts of the reserve leading to plenty of mud. This was much to the liking of the various waders I saw during my visit.The star bird was a wood sandpiper which although distant could be seen feeding in the muddy edges and was visible from the Grisedale hide.Although distant I did manage one or two record shots seen above.
On view in front of the hide was a common snipe showing off it's beautifully marked plumage.Three images are shown above of the snipe.Also feeding in front of the Grizedale hide were a group of young lapwings,again showing their lovely plumage.A visit later to the Allen Pool produced another nice wader,a greenshank strutting in front of the hide.It was difficult at the Allen hide as the strong afternoon sun was directly in front and made photography tricky.Hope you enjoy some of the waders from Leighton Moss and thanks for looking in