Owl Time

My thoughts at this time of the year turn to owls,in particular to barn and short eared owls.A couple of recent trips had proved fruitless but I opened my account last week when returning from a day out with Martin to a wader roost at Morecambe. On the way back Martin showed me a little owl perched in it's roadside tree and I grabbed a few images from the car one of which is shown above. I later learned of the whereabouts of a number of short eared owls which had been showing well in South Lancs.

I was keen to see them whilst they were still around so Trevor and I duly arrived at the location on the mosslands of South West Lancs. Immediately we were watching three short eared owls quartering the large area of rough grassland and they were later joined by a barn owl.We were not alone and we enjoyed the company of a number of other local photographers.

The owls performed well until fading light late afternoon forced us to pack up and head for home.It had been an excellent session and although the owls never came really close whilst we were there,I still managed some shots with which I was well pleased . I paid another visit yesterday but there was no sign of any owls. There had been bad weather since my last visit and it had turned very wintry.Hopefully the owls will be back and I look forward to seeing these magnificent birds once again. Hope you enjoy the account and the images I have posted above and thanks for looking.

Another High Tide Surprise

Back in October Martin and I had a nice surprise when photographing a high tide wader roost at Rossall. On that occasion a snow bunting briefly dropped in and we were delighted with some excellent views and images of this not too common visitor to the Lancashire coastline. This last week we enjoyed a similar experience when we visited a high tide wader roost at Morecambe.There had been more high tides and very strong winds in recent days and we visited this new location not knowing what might turn up .

Many hundreds of oystercatchers were gathered on the salt marsh as the tide advanced and we decided to walk along the shore to hopefully get nearer to the large roost. On the way there we suddenly spotted an unfamiliar bird on the roof of some nearby buildings and we were delighted when it turned out to be a black redstart.I had only seen one or two abroad and it was a new bird for Martin.We managed one or two shots before the redstart vanished and we decided to make an effort to find it on our return from the oystercatcher roost.

We enjoyed the comings and goings of the oystercatchers as the tide reached it's peak and we kept busy with the cameras trying to get some action shots. On returning to the car we picked up the black redstart again as it flitted about among the buildings of a leisure club. It was not easy to get our shots as this busy little bird was constantly on the move and eventually we lost it again.

Back at the car more waders were assembling on nearby rocks and we enjoyed the excellent views of godwits ,lapwings and redshanks .Also present was a female eider duck which had come out of the sea to preen and rest. What a good session it had been and I have posted above some images from the day of the oystercatchers,a nicely posed black tailed godwit and the female eider duck on the rocks. The post is headed with a couple of images of the delightful black redstart which had really been another surprise visitor on the high tide. Hope you enjoy my efforts above and thanks for looking in.

Feeding Frenzy

This week I have made a couple of visits to the Pilling area hoping to see some owls.There are good numbers of short eared owls in the country but none have yet reached the Pilling area.A few years ago there were daily sightings of short eared owls and birdwatchers and photographers flocked to Scronkey near Pilling to see these magnificent owls at close quarters. I was one of the lucky ones and obtained some wonderful images of these special birds.Hopefully some may still arrive to delight us again.

Despite the lack of shorties my visit was made memorable by the sight of huge numbers of starlings feeding in the fields at Eagland Hill Pilling.These would be birds from the roost at Blackpool North Pier spending the day at Pilling before returning to Blackpool in the evening.I wouldn't like to estimate the numbers of birds present but it would certainly be many thousands and they kept me busy with the camera for a couple of hours as they moved around the area.I hope the above images give some idea of the spectacle at Eagland Hill but again it is something that must be seen to be appreciated.

I was lucky later with a brief sighting of a barn owl and a ringtail hen harrier near Scronkey but the light was poor and I was not quick enough with the camera. All in all though it had been an exciting couple of afternoons in the Pilling area made memorable by the activities of the vast flocks of starlings.Also shown above a shot of a couple of roe deer enjoying the afternoon sun. Roe deer are never easy to approach and those above were quite some way from the camera but they added some variety to the week's sightings. Hope you enjoy the images above and my account of another week in the Lancashire countryside. Thanks for looking in.

Seaside Spectacular

Blackpool is a well known seaside resort and is famous for it's entertainment at the Tower and other nearby attractions.What is not well known however is the wonderful and very entertaining display which is currently showing nightly at the North Pier. I am of course referring to the spectacular starling roost which is taking place every evening around 4pm.

It has been my good fortune to visit Blackpool on two occasions this week to observe and photograph this fabulous spectacle. On my first visit the weather was very nice with a lovely sunset to enhance the spectacle.On my second visit it was not sunny and a cold and raw wind made it unpleasant to stand around waiting for the action.The starlings however gave a wonderful display and on each visit they flew around the vicinity of the North Pier for around half an hour. I don't know how many starlings were present but my conservative estimate would be around seventy or eighty thousand ... maybe a lot more.

It was indeed a seaside spectacular and a privilege to watch.Shown above are a few of the many images I captured but it is not easy to convey in pictures alone what a wonderful experience it was to see this vast throng of starlings performing their aerial displays before going to roost amongst the buildings and structures of Blackpool's North Pier. Hope you enjoy the images I have shown and if any of my readers are able to visit Blackpool it is a spectacle not to be missed.

More From The Moss

Leighton Moss that is..I have made a few visits recently and just thought I would post a few more images from those visits.It has been very good recently with a nice selection of waders present on the shore pools.the starling roost building up nicely and some nice views of otters and deer.

The otters were seen from the Lower Hide but were too far away for decent images.Hopefully one day I will be lucky with a close encounter with these beautiful animals. I was lucky however with a nice close sighting of a roe deer,never easy to get close too and the young buck's image heads the blog.Red deer hinds also popped out of the reeds at the Jackson Hide to have a look at Martin and I as dusk was approaching.

Next week promises some decent weather and I will probably return to Leighton Moss to see what is out and about at this special RSPB reserve.In the meantime enjoy the various images above of marsh harrier,preening teal,greenshank,little egret,pheasant and the deer. Thanks for looking.

Snipe and Starlings

This week I returned to Leighton Moss on a pleasant dry afternoon. There were surprisingly few cars at the Morecambe pools car park and most of the time there were very few visitors.I joined a fellow photographer from Penrith and we enjoyed some super views of the large numbers of common snipe currently on the shore pools.
We were kept busy trying to capture the behaviour of the snipe as they fed and preened within range of the big lenses.

I have shown above some of my better efforts and was particularly pleased with the ones showing the not very often seen orange tail feathers as they preened. There were between forty and fifty snipe on view and at times they came out and fed in the open but at the slightest sign of danger they would quickly return to the cover of one of the small islands at the Eric Morecambe hide.

I spent some time observing and photographing the snipe and as dusk was fast approaching I left to see if I could catch sight of the starlings as they came into roost.Itwas not easy to find the best spot to observe the starlings but I finally went up to the far end of the reserve and watched them from the roadside by Island Mere.The rain was beginning to arrive but I managed one or two shots before it became too dark. On one of the images above a mass of starlings can be seen with the four o'clock train to Barrow just visible below. All in all it had been an excellent afternoon session at Leighton Moss and I look forward to some better images of the impressive starling roost in the weeks to come.

Salmon Run

This week I paid a couple of visits to a Cumbrian river to try and obtain some images of salmon leaping up one of a series of waterfalls and white water in the lower reaches of the river. The salmon fishing season had finished at the end of October and hopefully there would still be good numbers of salmon coming up the river to reach the spawning grounds in the higher mountainous upper reaches.

On both visits there were sufficient salmon leaping the falls to keep the cameras busy.Mike joined me for the first visit and Martin on the second. Neither had seen this spectacle before and conditions were ideal as we set up the cameras. It was not easy to anticipate when a salmon might come out of the water and reactions had to be very fast to capture the action. We did succeed and the results of our efforts are shown above.

We were pleased with the results and we also managed some images of other fish eating residents of the river namely goosander and grey heron both of which posed nicely for the camera. The only event which spoilt the afternoon session for Martin and I was the arrival of a party of canoeists who used the white water of the waterfall to practice their techniques and this was a signal for the salmon to vanish and we also sadly moved on. I may be back to see this wonderful spectacle a little later in the month when hopefully some salmon will still be coming up river heading for their birthplace high in the Cumbrian fells.