I am posting some images from recent trips to Leighton Moss and into Bowland. My main objective was to photograph purple heron and red grouse. My efforts were shown in earlier postings. At Leighton Moss whilst waiting for the heron to show a trip down to the Eric Morecambe hide was good for snipe.
Four snipe were very close to the hide and gave great opportunities for close up shots of this beautifully marked bird. I have included an image showing the superb cryptic plumage on the snipe’s back.
Trips into Bowland looking for grouse gave me some nice images of a common buzzard close to the roadside which stayed long enough for me to take its photo. Also on the Bowland trip a stonechat and brown hare close to the road were very nice to see and photograph. The final two images were from Mere Sands Wood Nature Reserve where I hadn’t been for some time.
It was generally very quiet but a kingfisher and kestrel showed well in front of the Rufford hide. That’s all for now to keep the blog ticking over. Hopefully I will be out and about again in due course and bring you more of Lancashire’s wildlife. Thanks for looking in and enjoy the weekend.
Brian Rafferty
I am based in Preston. Lancashire. This central location enables me to travel easily to a wide variety of habitats in the North of England. I tend these days not to travel very far as I find that there is plenty to see not very far from home. On my own doorstep are a wonderful variety of habitats - natural woodlands, open fells and hill country, unspoilt river valleys and I have easy access to the delights of the Lake District and Yorkshire Dales National Parks. As you will see from my bird images much time is spent at the wonderful coastal sites forming part of Morecambe Bay and the Ribble Estuary e.g. Marshside and Leighton Moss. In recent years Digital Photography has taken over from Video and as time has moved on I have acquired more and more equipment - as you do!!
Leave a Reply