Ospreys Return

The recent settled weather had helped the returning ospreys on their journeys from West Africa to their breeding sites in the Lake District.Ospreys are now well established in certain parts of the Lake District and nesting sites are at a premium as more and more ospreys arrive each year.Well known sites such as Bassenthwaite,Roudsea and Foulshaw Mosses have been occupied now for a few years and the breeding success has been very good.

This year I visited a new site in a secluded part of the Southern Lake District which currently is occupied by a pair of ospreys and hopefully they will remain and rear a family.I have shown some images of the site,all taken from some distance away so as not to disturb the birds.It is a particular photogenic site with the nest atop a scots pine tree on the edge of a lovely wooded area.The first image is from a previous season when one of the ospreys flew by to check me out.

Also in this area I saw a large herd of red deer,mostly hinds with one or two young stags.I was able to get some nice images of the deer as they grazed on nearby grassland.I will return to see the ospreys at a future date when hopefully they have been successful in raising a family and the young have fledged. Hope you enjoy my images and if you are in the southern part of the Lake District keep an eye out for ospreys as they are becoming more common as time goes by.Leighton Moss is a favourite fishing location and the estuary of the River Kent at Arnside is another spot where you may be lucky to see ospreys looking for fish.Thanks for looking in and I will be back soon with more from my travels.

Bowland...A Few More

Just a few more images from some of my recent visits to the Bowland area of Lancashire.The numbers of breeding waders has slowly increased and it was very nice to see and hear the calls and flight displays of the curlews.Apparently curlews are nationally in decline but it is still possible to see reasonable numbers on the upland meadows and rough pastures of Bowland.

Lapwings also seem to be doing ok and are already sat on eggs.It will be encouraging to see the chicks very soon now as they get use to this harsh upland habitat.It was nice also to see a few brown hares enjoying some warm afternoon sunshine.The usual red grouse were still posing for the camera close to the road,the female shown below is a perfect example of cryptic colouration as she blends in beautifully to the moorland grasses

Finally shown below was yet another redshank posing on a roadside fence post and guarding his future nesting site.It was nice to be able to approach slowly and carefully and grab a few images from the comfort of the car.The oystercatcher was also a nice roadside subject posing on the wall.Hope you enjoy this further selection from Bowland and I will be back soon with more of Lancashire's wildlife.

Shooting Grouse

I am of course referring to shooting red grouse with the camera.At this time of the year I like to return to the Bowland area of Lancashire to see what birds have returned to the moors to breed. I have made a few visits recently and after a slow start things are at last improving.The better weather of late has helped and reasonable numbers of upland waders and red grouse can be seen on territory.

I like to drive slowly along some of Bowland's quiet lanes and backroads.There is not much traffic and most of the birds can be photographed from the comfort of the car.My main quarry was the red grouse and at this time of the year they can be seen on territory perching up on heather or the rough moorland grasses.The females are usually close by but are much harder to see as they keep low and rely on their superb camouflage for concealment.As well as the grouse I have shown images of lapwing,redshank and oystercatcher.The redshank perched up very obligingly on roadside fence posts to have their portraits taken.I have also shown a couple showing Ingleborough and Pen y Ghent both of which still had snow on the summits.

I will show more images in my next post from Bowland with more of the same and brown hares and curlews.The curlews were performing their wonderful display flights high over the moorland.Thanks for looking in and enjoy the weekend's weather which is set to warm up and bring more colour and life to the countryside.