7th-13th February 2019
Fur and Feather
An ambition fulfilled
February 7th
South Gare and then Saltholme - a day out with Sheila. We started at a fairly windy South Gare in the naive belief that we might find the elusive lapland bunting. You guessed: we didn't. However I did manage a couple of nice shots of snow buntings hiding in the marram grass.
We moved on to Saltholme to escape the wind. Much calmer there and we set off for the Wildlife Watchpoint with the promise of a friendly water vole. It eventually appeared once the noisy birders in the hide had left. Only problem: it was too close for my 500mm lens and so I had to step away from the window further into the hide to get a focus. Not easy when the vole's appearances were so fleeting. Anyway, here's my best efforts. I think they capture it quite well...
Water voles do have orange teeth.
February 11th
Langdon Beck and Fishburn. I didn't find any black grouse close enough for really detailed photos but this group, whilst not strictly a lek, were displaying in one of the fields close to the Langdon Beck hotel.
I drove on to Fishburn for a second visit to try to see the Pallas's warbler. Success this time as I saw the bird well once and briefly a second time but it was always moving too quickly for me to grab any photos. Had to settle for this wintering chiffchaff. The back lighting makes the legs look unusually pale.
February 13th
In the Peak District. Having never been lucky enough to see mountain hare in Scotland I decided to try the Peak District with a local photographer as my guide.
We set off along the Pennine Way...
An exhausting day with a success story at the end. We saw and were able to get close to golden plover and then, from mid-afternoon, we spent time lying in the heather and whinberry [aka bilberry] in the company of one particular hare whilst two others were active on the hillside behind us.
Grouse were widespread and they were actively in courtship mode.
Golden plover. Photographically probably the star turn of the day. We spotted this head sticking up over a ridge. Eventually we worked round to approach from the other side so the lighting would be better. Just a bit!!
In this final plover photo you might just detect that the bird was not alone. There's another in the top left corner!
As the hares are largely nocturnal they become more active in the afternoon. I saw 5 in the end plus one recently dead hare that was minus one leg and its head, so presumably it had been predated by a raptor. Here goes: mountain hare photos - 3 different hares in these shots.
Feeding
Dozing
Alert. This one was about to run for it.
The friendly one. We spent an hour sitting close to this hare whilst it groomed and nibbled.
Feeling pretty tired [we walked about 6 miles on very difficult terrain at times] but the weather was very good and I stretched out in the heather for a rest.
