Highlights

I've found myself falling behind with updating this blog, 

partly because of other commitments, and partly because 

there is so much I could write about. So I'm going to try 

and just do a few highlights instead. 

Here's the highlights from the past week.

Last Friday Morning ~ We woke to snow! A rare occurrence this winter, only had one fall before now, right back at the end of November. Knowing that the forecast was for a warming day and not wanting to waste the clear skies and scenic views I allowed myself a few minutes after dropping my daughter off at school to visit one of my local patches: Park Hall Country Park.

The clear blue skies, low sun and crisp, fresh snow didn't disappoint and it was a beautiful morning. After taking a few pictures and walking ... not very far really, I heard a buzzard and turned to see it land in a tree overlooking a rising field of virgin snow. After a few minutes of repositioning to attempt to record this scene, inevitably perhaps the buzzard moved off. I managed to get a few images but none of them had quite the same impact as that first location. Regardless it was beautiful to see, made all the more special by the fleeting conditions that morning. 

I love the hidden world you are able to glimpse more clearly after snow - rabbit footprints mooching down a path, fox tracks stalking around the edge of a field, a few hopped prints from a bird bracketed by wing marks in the snow indicating a rushed departure. Nice to be out on a day like that, even if only for a few minutes.

Tuesday Morning ~ I was out around the farm where I manage woodland again today. I had arrived early, just before sunrise so had an early start but even before I parked the car I had seen 3 or 4 Barn Owls. They really did look spectral in the half light against the heavy frost on the fields that morning. Just minutes later what has to be one of the most beautiful sunrises I can remember seeing was breaking over the horizon. I only had my phone camera with me but wasn't going to miss recording that view.

Within 5 minutes of leaving the car I had seen 5 deer of two different species, several species of duck including Teal, a Little Egret along with several other water birds (I was walking along a drainage dike bank). The frozen ground had a perfectly recorded history of what had passed that way (the last time it was soft at least) - deer slots were prolific but badger and fox tracks along with game birds were frequent. 

I ended up walking 6 miles around the farm that morning, and what a morning, just a pleasure to be out of doors. The final bit of the walk included collecting the camera trap which I had placed out there last week. I managed to get another video of the stoat which was my initial target. I hope it won't be the last of my encounters with the little predator.

Thursday Morning ~ Another cold and frosty morning dawned, albeit a dull cloudy one. A lot has been said about the mild winter we've had so far and even now we've had a bit of a cold snap there are still little relics of that mild weather, like this flowering Daisy, one of quite a few I found in this frosty field on route to a short walk through some local woods. 

A little further on, in the woods, I was tracked along my route by birds, small flocks of Long-tailed Tits, Chaffinches, as well as a Tree Creeper and a Gold Crest. The Gold Crest is a particular favourite of mine. I love seeing them, and so often it starts as a game of hide and seek - the first glimpse is usually just that, a glimpse of something inconceivably small flitting in the vegetation, after a few more flits and glimpses you realise that it's one of two birds: a Wren or a Gold Crest, and then... finally a decent view and that flash of gold. I love those moments, they brighten my bird watching no end. I also love the old wives tale that they hitch a ride to the UK on the backs of Woodcock because there is no way a bird that small could fly across the sea itself! Photo's from oil rigs and boats in the North Sea covered in migrating birds, including a good share of Gold Crests indicates otherwise. 

Along with the weeks nature highlights an update to the 1000x1000 challenge.

I'm up to 15.7 miles (way behind, some serious catching up to do!) and 74 species (doing OK, need to keep on it though). 

Richard