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.

High Tide Surprise

Last week Martin and I visited Rossall Point at Fleetwood to watch the waders roosting at high tide.There had been a series of ten metre tides and this combined with a good weather forecast would mean that Rossall Point should provide ideal conditions for some good photography. Ed Roper from the famous Wigan 10 camera club was already in position when we arrived and we had a nice chat before settling down to photograph the waders.

It was very quiet to begin with and only a handful of sanderling and turnstone were present. Thankfully as the big tide came in more waders were displaced from further along the coast and they arrived in good numbers on the beach in front of us.It was very enjoyable photographing the birds as they jostled for the best roosting spots as the big tide pushed in.The sanderlings in particular fluttered in the air before settling down to roost and gave some great opportunities for the cameras.

The great surprise of the day came as a snow bunting suddenly dropped onto the sand right in front of the lenses and we hurriedly took advantage of this wonderful opportunity to grab some images before it departed. It came back very briefly and gave us a few more chances before joining up with another snow bunting and they both headed up the coast towards Fleetwood. Snow buntings are uncommon visitors to the Lancashire coastline and we were definitely in the right place at the right time to take advantage of this great opportunity.

The tide was on the turn and we decided to move on to Blackpool to view the starling roost at Marton Mere. Again we enjoyed an excellent time at the mere and did witness thousands of starlings coming into the roost. Hopefully we will return to Marton Mere to obtain more images of this great spectacle and this will be reported in a future blog. Hope my readers enjoy the images above of the wonderful day at Rossall Point. The images are of the sanderlings and one or two of other waders present notably ringed plover and turnstone. The blog is headed by a couple of images of the bird of the day,the snow bunting which briefly graced us with it's presence.

Return Visit

For this week's visit I returned to Leighton Moss where Martin,Geoff and myself had a good day with the cameras last week.I started off at the Allen and Morecambe hides and was joined by Dave Cookson and Steve Dolan who had been at Leighton Moss since the early hours but had not seen much. It was indeed very quiet and Dave and Steve decided to move to Fleetwood for the remainder of the day.I stayed put but went onto the main part of the reserve to see what was about.

It was a beautiful sunny day and there were lots of visitors to the reserve. My first port of call was to the grit trays hoping for a sighting of the bearded tits but none showed whilst I was there.A very nice buzzard however showed above the causeway as it enjoyed the ideal flying conditions and I managed a few shots as it soared off into the blue.Next I spent time at the public hide and was again rewarded with some shots of a sparrowhawk soaring overhead.On next to the Lower Hide for a hoped for sighting of the otters which have recently been showing well but I was out of luck again. However on the way there I spotted a group of red deer feeding in a field on the edge of the reserve.My timing was spot on as a magnificent stag suddenly appeared and I was kept busy with the camera capturing the action of this family group of red deer.

Later I returned to the coastal hides and by late afternoon the light was perfect and there were more waders present than there had been in the morning.For the next hour or so I enjoyed these ideal conditions and managed some nice shots of greenshanks,lapwings and one or two snipe that were still around.The sun had almost set as I left and starlings and fieldfares were coming into roost. Close to the car park were a group of roe deer but I was not quick enough with the camera before they were frightened away by two passing trains. All in all a splendid day with good weather and some memorable sightings of red deer. Images of the buzzard,sparrowhawk,red deer and waders at the Eric Morecambe Hide are shown above.Hope you enjoy my account and images from a super day at Leighton Moss.