A Ruff Bit Of Weather...

Well I woke up this morning a 9:45 so I decided to get up and head out to see what I could see out and about; sat down stairs eating my toast, I glanced up at the clock 8:45.....? "confused" before my mum shouted from the other room, "so did you remember to turn your clocks back last night".....DAMN... an extra hour in bed and I forgot... But still I headed out in hope of photographing a few geese over at Martin Mere WWT. On arrival, there were lots of geese present but all very distant causing problems for a photographer like me that only uses a 300mm lens; not to be disappointed I carried on walking round soon to be rewarded with the opportunity to photograph 2 of my favourite winter birds, the first of these was a fine male Pintail that came cruising by very close to the hide; I really do think that these or one of the most beautiful birds that you will see over this season; I hope that you like the pics...

whilst I was there I also snapped up this very sorry looking female, obviously had a hard breeding season...

the second little critters that I got to photograph were a couple of Ruff my favourite winter wader, they come in so many different colours from all white to almost black a superb little bird; I hope that you like the pics, this is the first time I've been able to see these birds up close:-

Well I hope that you like the blog, feel free to leave any comments,

thanks always Lee Harrison.

Dinner time trip...

I had an hour to spare on my dinner today so I headed off to my local park in hope of photographing the Gray Squirrels that I know inhabit this area and if patient enough, you will usually get close up views. Thankfully this proved to be the case, within 10 minuets, the first one had appeared but kept its distance in a near by tree,

unlike the second which came bouncing out of a bush and happily sat feeding no more than 3 metres away from me; such a lovely little animal, I know that there not indigenous and they are causing awful problems for our native "Reds" but I'd hate to see them leave.

anyway I hope that you like these pics:-

Whilst I had the opportunity, I took the chance to take a few close up profile shots to see the real beauty of these beautiful animals


Anyway I hope that you like this blog, not bad for an hour. Please feel free to leave any comments, I am always interested to know what you think,

thanks always Lee Harrison.

Nice little break....

Well, all work and no play makes Lee a sad boy, so when I finished early on Monday, I decided to head down to a local park, to see what was around; with just over an hour to play with, I headed down to one particular area that usually throws up a few photo opportunities; on arrival I was nicely surprised to find a Nuthatch flitting around occasionally coming down to feed seemingly oblivious to my presence; feeling rather honoured to watch what is usually a very wary and skittish bird at such close quarters, I quickly settled down and snapped away

"Nuthatch"

Whilst I was sat there watching this stunning little bird, a few others decided to put in an appearance:-

"Song Thrush"

"Great Tit"

Well I hope that you like this selection of pictures, hopefully I'll be able to get out a bit more with half term quickly approaching,

Thanks always Lee Harrison.

Motionless Movement...

I recently came across some pictures that I took earlier on in the year, I went for a romantic weekend away to Ingleton with my other half; whilst I was there I decided to drag her up the hardest walk I could find to take some photos and never even put them on my blog but she enjoyed it really and hope fully it was the first of many weekends away:-

These are just a Few of the many pictures that I took on this weekend,

I hope that you like them and you visit again,

Thanks always Lee Harrison.

An Autumnal Feel...

It's such a beautiful feeling, to be wrapped, warm under the covers but oblivious to the brief world that shows it's self occasionally this time of year. Outside a crisp autumn fog is slowly burnt off by a soft but persistent sun, to reveal a world that sparkles in the wind, spider's webs transformed into strands of pearls and leaves glisten saturated with dew; so I decided to drag myself out and see what I could see...

...

" Pearls of Nature"

...

As it was an early start, we decided to travel a little further afield and give Leighton a visit. On arrival things didn't look to promising, no sighting logged in, no signs of the 2 Great White Egrets that have be hanging around for about 2 week now, it was cold damp and the sun that they had promised, showed no sign of show its self.

In the first hide 1 eclipse male Pintail, Buzzard but generally quite quiet, in the second things seemed to be heading the same way, Gadwall, Teal, Mallard, Heron and a single Snipe we had just decided to leave and find somewhere to eat when the heavens opened, so we decided to stay; this proved to be one of our better decisions, within 5 minutes a Bitten came flying a cross, quite distant but nice to see all the less,

following this within seconds, in flew a large egret, and it was the one we were hoping for, the Great White Egret it drifted in and landed a the far side of the pool, the 3rd that I have seen this year but by far the best views as of yet.

"Love the size Comparison"

After watching this magnificent bird for just under an hour, we headed off to Allen's hide to see what was around, on the way we came across a very friendly little Robin sat feeding on a near by fence,

When we reach the hide, there was quite a bit going on, Greenshank, Redshank, dunlin, massive numbers of Black Tailed Godwit a count of 1005 with 1 Bar tailed Godwit mixed it numerous little egrets and a very co-operative Heron, such a majestic bird when seen soaring across the waters so effortlessly,

but slightly less agile when coming into land...

Last but not least, this Redshank such a cracking little bird and so readily overlooked,

Well I hope that you liked the blog, thanks for taking a look,
.

thanks always Lee Harrison.

A Rare moment...

I recently had a day out over a Southport, managed to see a very distant Great White Egret but appart from that the birding was rubbish so I decided that I would turn my attention to the landscape, as it was such a beautiful evening... A rare treat this "summer" if you can call it that:- so here they are:-

Well short but sweet hopefully, back out tomorrow, think Leighton Moss might be favourite,

Thanks Always Lee Harrison.

Big Birds 'n' A little Competition...

Well first of all I would like to apologise for the prolonged lack of blogs but due to recent illness, and the return back university I have been over loaded with work and unable to get out but hopefully that will change, a day off tomorrow and a day out. I'm so undecided what to do, Great White Egret... Leach's Storm Petrels... 2 Long-billed Dowitcher or maybe I'll just chill at a local patch????? I'm so confused...


I have managed one day out since my last blog, so here we go... Not quite our feathered friends but a big bird none the less.


I hope that you like them:-

Red Arrows

RAF Merlin

DC-9

Hawk

Typhoon

Vulcan

Well I no it's a bit different but i hope that you liked it for a change, I'll be back to the nature tomorrow.

Right now a quick competition, you don't win anything (well I will send you free print of any one of my photo's if you want) but i thought it might be a bit of fun... i took this picture last year, when the film came back I noticed that it was an amazing optical illusion.

Can anyone guess which way the planes are traveling in relation to the photographer (me)...

well good luck, to enter my comp, either leave a comment below and please leave an email address or email me on leeharrison2@msn.com,

Thanks always Lee Harrison.