Martin Mere feels the "Cold Snap"...

Well it's back to Uni and back to the insular life that are assignments... but still I'm not one to complain, I managed to get out a few Fridays back to Martin Mere, where most off the water was still frozen... I hope that you like them...

"Evening Mere"

"Ruff"

Possibly my favourite sight of the day was seen Whooper Swans running across the ice to challenge a nearby family but when it came to stopping, everything when wrong and the male they where after just stepped to the side and watched as they slid across the ice on there bellies.

"Whooper Swans"

On leaving the reserve, I came across this Heron, trying to feed in the flamingo enclosure, the light was fading but I took the opportunity to take a few shots...

Well I hope that you like the blog, sorry that it's been a while but Uni calls...

Thanks always Lee Harrison.

So Snow Beautiful...

Well I had a day out on Friday and I decided a twitch was in order, I started the day early and headed over to Crosby Marina in some ungodly temperatures and despite what the Clock says, it was the morning. Crosby was a place I had never ventured to before, so on arrival I was full of anticipation and hope of seeing the Black Necked Grebe, that has been providing fantastic views very close to the edge for the past week or two, on seeing the lake all I could notice was the large covering of ice and snow that seem to be suffocating all life from the lake, on a closer look, here were two very small pockets of open water, holding a mainly Mallards and Coots with a few Tufies and Pochard mixed in but not sign of the Black Necked, around the lake small numbers of Snipe where roosting up, a few Meadow Pipits scurrying around for food and a single Stonechat flitting around, as I was scanning around three Goldeneye did a low fly by, providing a good photo opportunity...
From here I drove down to Ainsdale Beach in hope of seeing the two Snow Buntings that have returned for there winter residence, last year I spent many many freezing hours searching for these little beauties, thankfully this year proved to be a bit more successful; my first trip out for them and my first tick for 2010, there they were feeding ravenously along the tide line, I lied down in the snow on the high tide line and wait for them to come to me, they fed all the way along and came to within 4 feet of me before taking flight and feeding further down the beach, it was an amazing experience and something I will always remember, I hope you like the pics...

I think that this is my favourite picture, I don't think that it's the best but when looking at this picture, I get the feeling that the Bunting is staring off into the distance reminiscing about the day and I know that this picture will always remind me of the joy and pleasure that I felt this day whilst watching these two beautiful little birds...

After this I headed up-to Hesketh Out Marsh, to try and connect with the Bewick's that have been seen around but there was nothing to be seen when I got up there but nothing could break my spirit, so I headed down to Mere Sands Wood, there wasn't much around but a very ambient light coming through the trees, so I'll leave you with these three pics, I hope that you like them...
Well I really hope that you like this blog and that you will stop by again,

Thanks always Lee Harrison.

Something stoataly Different...

Some people complain about the cold weather but I Love it, it bring out a unique beauty that only a good cold snap can reveal and this sometimes makes wildlife do things that they wouldn't usually.

...

Well the weather was a bit rough, so we decided to stay local and have a walk around a local lake, not feeling to enthusiastic, I plodded on and my spirits were soon to be lifted, as I wondered down the path, my Mum noticed something scurrying along the bottom of a fence, on closer inspection, it turned out to be a Stoat, obviously Hungry and desperate for food it bounded around the field it not a care in the world for use standing around photographing it but we kept our distance so no to disturb it but just as we decided to continue with our walk, it gave us one last appearance and jumped up on a near by fence, a very nice encounter, I hope that you like the pictures

After this very pleasant sighting, I wasn't really that bothered if I saw anything else which turned out to be good thing, apart from one Dipper and what I think was a marsh tit but I couldn't be certain(either way it was a bit of a treat it's self as they aren't common around here), nothing else was stupid enough to face the cold so I took the the opportunity to take a few landscape shots, I hope that you like these as well...
Well I hope that you like the blog and that you'll stop by again,

Thanks always Lee Harrison.

Feeling A Bit Ruff...

Well it was the morning after the night before and my head felt like there was still a party going on up there but I was determined to get out, so I went for the easy option and headed over to Martin Mere With a large bottle of water and a few paracetamol; on arrival things seemed quite, a few hundred shelducks skating around the frozen lakes and the usual couple thousand whoopers waddling around on the ice, there was a very nice turn out as far as the geese were concerned thousands of pinkfeet, at least half a dozen barnacle and a single Red Breasted Goose, which is a very easy tick as far as most birders are concerned but it made me happy; during the day, not many photo opportunities arose but as I was waiting for the swans to be fed, a group of three ruff decided make a good appearance but only two stayed around long enough to be photographed unfortunately the light was quite poor so I had to shoot on a higher ISO than I would of liked to but still I hope that you like them...

One of the thing that I love most about Ruff and the reason that they are one of my favourite waders is that no matter how many you see, you will never two with the same marking, this is why I separated these two out with this sentence, even though they are subtle differences they make all the difference especially when it comes to summer, they can vary from almost entirely black to pure white, a truly amazing bird...

After this very pleasant sighting, I stuck around to see the swans get fed to take a few snaps, by this time the light was awful for photographs but I hope that you like them...

Well that you for viewing my blog, please feel free to leave any comments,

thanks always Lee Harrison.