Bowland Mix

I have made  a few visits recently to Bowland to catch up with some of it's wildlife.The arrival of the summer visitors is very slow.The weather has been up and down as usual and it hasn't really warmed up yet in this part of Lancashire.The numbers of pied flycatchers and redstarts seems well down and a visit to a Bowland wood usually quite good only resulted in one singing pied flycatcher and only one redstart.I did however manage a few images of the redstart singing from a treetop.The best bird from the woodland was however a treecreeper.This is a bird I have never photographed and I was quite pleased with the results.The treecreeper allowed a close approach and was unconcerned by my presence.

Lapwings and curlews also seem thin on the ground this year but I did catch up with some and it was nice to see one or two lapwing chicks looking for food and closely guarded by the adult birds.One of the special birds seen and photographed recently and very uncommon in Bowland was the sand martin.A small colony exsists close to the road in the sandy banks of a small stream and I was able to photograph the birds prospecting from the comfort of the car.

Brown hares also seem low in numbers maybe due to the very wet winter we experienced last year.I did however come across three individuals on my travels and managed a few shots.It is a delight to drive along the very quiet and almost at times deserted roads and lanes of Bowland  The last image of a lamb with it's mother sums this up nicely as the road snakes it's way up towards the boundary between Lancashire and Yorkshire.Hope you have enjoyed my images from Bowland and you can be sure more will follow in weeks to come.