Out and About

Finally have a car, and after a week of I've put it to good use. Trying to get out and about to as many places as my petrol budget will allow. 

Recently had a friendly voice tell me of a few places to watch a lovely set of fledged wrens chicks, beautiful to watch. The area is a wildlife hotspot, everything from small birds to passing Otters, and grazing Roe Deer. 

From standing the wild flower meadow, sounds could be heard in nearly every direction, it was like wren paradise.

Nuthatches were also present.

A juvenile dipper was making good use of the stream, flying back and forth, and there seemed to be no fear of my presence.

Song Thrush wandering around eying up the worms.

After an hour or two in the wild meadows. I decided to head to Bassenthwaite lake to watch out around to see if any sighting of the Osprey could be seen. Although i dint see it i did have fun with the local Mallards, who seemed very keen to know what was in my camera bag.

After another few more shifts at work, it was time to head back out, but this time take the camera to work. Started off my walk around Centre Parcs and headed towards the Bird Hide that they have, my first visit there infact, and when i arrived i wasn't disappointed. There was more than enough to keep my shutter button pressed down.

The pigeons were making good use of the bird feeders that where dotted around and catching the odd seed that fell from the many birds that were feeding from it, great tits, coal tits, chaffinches, bullfinches. An often occurrence around the hide was a sparrow hawk flying around at immense speeds and swooping for tit or two.

The Red Squireel that didn't want its photo taken.

Looking for his nuts!

Happily munching away in front of me.

After watching this wood mouse for a while i started to feel sorry it, Every time it tried to venture out of its habitat, it got bullied back in from the "bouncer pigeon".

After a while of waiting around and happily snapping up photos of the red squirrels, the illusive Jay finally turned up. and it made my day!!! hard to believe they are part of the Corvidae family, beautiful birds.

After my little stint at CP, jumped back into the car and headed out to a beck at Cockermouth in search for a Kingfisher........ nice holes in the banks of the river..... but no bird!! =[
I was in the presence of a Pied Wagtail. and later on a Grey Wagtail, nice to see the flash of yellow!

Next stop was Siddick Ponds. Many juvenile blue tits flying around.

Nice to see a good number of Mute swan cygnets.

And the Greylag family.

Haweswater and Red Deer

After a late finish at work, and at the most two hours sleep, the alarm rang and it was time to get ready, and head off to Haweswater, for a hike around the stunning landscapes and to head to the where I spent the majority of time in the winter of last year, The Nab. Last year, I spent some time observing and listening to Red Deer. Watching them run up and down the hills, organising their harems in to order ready to mate. I felt it would be good to see how the species was doing after a number of months absent from their view.

Haweswater was in sight, and the hills looked steeper than I imagined, of course they were not but at this time the lack of sleep I managed to get, any thing from a climb of single step of stairs would have felt like Kilimanjaro.

The small island at the end of the reservoir was looking greener than ever, compared to last year, where the deciduous trees closing down for winter. After finishing off a much needed McDonalds breakfast, I could feel my energy levels increase. The daunting prospect of hiking to the first even level of hill was beginning to fade. However saying that, the initial first part of the hike, was torture, my camera bag was full of equipment as well as food, the lack of sleep had my body crying with pain, I would like to say that I was sweating, but I have concluded that this was tears, tears of sheer abuse to my body. I could feel my urge to eat all my food in my bag beginning to come to light, there was a bar of dairy milk that I’m sure was shouting at me. My student life over the last three to four months had severely taken hold of my fitness levels and just squashed them to nothing.

 After a brief stop, and checking out the view, for some reason I decided to look within the grass on the upland, and found a beetle I had never seen before. The beetle known as an Oil Beetle, was wandering around the grass picking and choosing which blade of grass to feed from. The beetle showed deep colours and contrasted well off the green grass. A very large beetle, with attractive colours and size, I was surprised it had not yet been predated on, especially with the amount of birds flying around.

The views over the reservoir where also beginning to become more attractive too. More valleys could be seen, and the landscapes were breath taking. The views proved to be tranquil and when stopping and listening..... nothing but the sound of birds calling in the background, it was bliss. 

Moving on, two tarns could be seen over head, the marsh/bogginess of the land was also becoming more apparent, the dry weather that we have seen recently seems to have soaked up a lot of the water that appears to have been there, leaving small ponds here and there, which I mistakenly  thought "wont be that deep, probably firm soil, just looks a bit wet", my whole foot disappeared.

After the back breaking part of the hike, I of course went a bit overboard with my drinking water, and probably the rest of my supplies, so when walking by Blea Water, just the look of the crystal blue water, had me wanting to kamikaze off the trail and dive in, drinking every last drop.... literally. Every pond I wandered by was, I'm sure, smiling at me. Hoping for a tiny stream somewhere, never approached, the dirty still water was looking more appealing every second. 

Once at the top of the route, views between the Riggindale Beck and Blea Water, down to Haweswater, took me by surprise. Why hadn't I been here before? To get a sense of satisfaction from such an activity blew me away, or that might have just been the high winds at the time. At least that was one thing to look out for, the weather change. The glorious morning was about to change, the clouds were darkening, the winds there picking up and snow flakes began to fall, however not before I again spot a sighting of a skylark, hopping around.

After a brief rest over looking the views of Haweswater and Hayeswater, the route began to lead towards The Knott and Rest Dodd, before finally The Nab could be seen as well as the valleys of Martindale. By this time the snowflakes were larger and easily seen through the view finder.

Views to the left of us were stunning, scenery from many other crags and pikes could be seen which created a nice deep layered landscape, with many ranges and summits.

 Observing the land over Martindale, the usual sightings of deer were non-existent. During the rut, the deer occupied many fields towards the hills hiding Haweswater. Now the quest to find them began! Scouring the land for any sign of movement, other than sheep. There seemed to be nothing, checking the woodland, panning through the streams, and any movement on the hills, and still nothing. 


Disappointed by this, I began to look around other parts for something else to photograph. As i walked to the other side of The Nab, the next valley that was empty last year was now occupying the grazing animal.


It was a great and breathtaking sighting, watching over what seemed to be between fifty to a hundred deer. Until I looked further and more and more became apparent, just lying down in the long grass, basking in ever changing weather. I needed to get closer. Looking around the landscape, and taking note of the conditions, such as wind direction and noise levels, it seemed the best way to approach them was to head back along The Nab to a converge which was hiding a stream. Walking by a water fall, and into the stream, I was well hidden and out of sight. The wind was in my favour, helping me keep the smells which deer would have picked up upon straight way out of reach. Whilst descending down I could see many opportunities to come back and set up camera traps, as many deer tracks could be seen, a popular watering station it seemed. Once on the level of sight, it was time to switch to stealth mode, hidden by a crag, I stripped from my black coat, to a camo jacket and hood and began the slow but steady crawl to try and gain what seemed a much deserved photograph. To what seemed unapparent to the rest of the deer, one doe was not fooled. Ears pricked forward, and the occasional lip curling smelling of the air, she knew something was odd. However patient and determined not to scare her any further, I lay in the long grass trying to keep as still as possible. After walking up and down hill all day and very little sleep the night before, this was not hard. At one point my eyes closed and I think I fell asleep.   

The doe must have relaxed, or was hypnotised by my snoring, she soon fell back in to grazing on the upland grass, looking rather full in weight as did many others if not fuller, I could say that these does are not far form birth. Great to see as I witnessed the rut the previous season.

However too much excitement and movement caused alarm and the deer began to realise they were not alone.

After rushing away deeper in to safety, perusing them was not even a thought, I didn't want to bring these animals any more stress than they had already endured, especially if they to be in calf.


So after a great few moments of watching them travel to the distance it was time to head to the roads of Martindale and head home, not before stumbling upon a nest of chicks, of which I'm not sure of the species, ravens had been circling around the valley, as well as a kestrel. More research into this will be conducted at later date. But the chicks who were very vocal, seemed to be very hungry. Stretching out from the nest hoping that mother was near by with some food.

The walk back was peaceful, the valley full of lambs bleating every few seconds, and the sun beginning to fall to sunset. Overall a great day, and kick start to more walking in the Lake District, and plenty fresh ideas of things to do in Martindale in order to show case the wonders that they call home.

LadyBird Macro

Not really been up to much since my little adventure back in Northumberland. Been concentrating on designing a magazine for my uni work, however I have been spending a lot of time with the local lady birds. On my way in to Penrith, down the coast to coast route I noticed a large cluster of them on a fence post. The hibernation period has came to an end it seems. After my walk, it was time to grab the macro lens and head back down to the spot and see what I could get. After a good hour of my knees sinking in the soft muddy grass, I wandered back to campus to see how the images looked on my mac. a good scroll through about 150 images, I realised I need to work harder on the macro skills. Some of the focus points I thought I had good detail on the camera obviously didn't agree when processing. I did however intend on some images to be as soft as possible, to try and get a tranquil effect, like the one above.

Playing around with macro has made me want to concentrate a lot more time on this style to see what effects I can achieve and results of it.

Getting the light right is going to one main focus, i have found some of my images the harshness of the light has a bad effect on them. Maybe carrying a small piece of tissue paper with me to diffuse this could help.

The one thing I love about macro is the depth of field you get in your images, the soft, smooth textures of colour's that blend together 

Newbiggin By The Sea

On Wednesday I headed back home to Newbiggin By The Sea. My rucksack packed and camera bag all on my back. The train journey home was as usual, bliss, the countryside views from Cumbria to Northumberland looked a lot better than normal as the sun was shining. Once back in Newbiggin I headed out to the moors, to look at what would be my playground for the next few days. A vast amount of land home to many species and also to the villages golf course. Over the past few months the moors of Newbiggin have been very popular with birders, the banks of the old ash lagoons have seen many Short Eared Owls taking refuge in the thickets of bushes growing there, the Desert Wheatear that spent it's winter on the cliffs of the moor rather than the Sahara Desert with the rest of his species.
After visiting family and friends it was time to charge the camera batteries and prepare my self for the morning.

DAY ONE

Waking up at the crack of dawn, I headed out towards the moors and walked up the steep banks of the old Ash Lagoon's ready to catch the sun rise over the North Sea, however no photos, I appreciated this with my own eyes rather than the viewfinder. After a peaceful thirty minutes, I headed back down the bank and began my search for the Short eared Owls, having my fingers crossed that they would be hunting in grasses for their next meal. I wasn't walking long, when I heard the calls in the distance, then out of nowhere sure enough there was an owl circling around the gorse bushes.

Obviously not bothered my presence he continued to hunt for a further twenty minutes, before landing on the banks to eat his prey.

After standing around for what I thought was minutes in fact had been an hour, mesmerised by the action that was happening around me, I started to walk further when I noticed some movement in trees/shrubs, surprised at was looking at me a quickly raised my camera and got what was possibly the closest encounter I have ever had with a Sparrow Hawk. This bird did seem bothered by me as it did'nt stay in the same position for long.

At this time I couldn't believe my luck, owls and a sparrow hawk in less than an hour. Today the wildlife was on my side. As I walked about I began to appreciate the village I had once dissed as being nothing but what I would call "rubbish".  Before I started University, I was excited to be getting away from Newbiggin, after spending twenty three years here, I suppose I just became ignorant to what was actually around me, however after a short morning back, it got me thinking how much of a gem this place is. Over the rest of the day, my appreciation for Newbiggin grew dramatically. As the sun rose further, the sounds of tree sparrows began to decrease and the sight of SEO's vanished. Looking around I began to think where else I could explore, and remembered a small wood that I used to play in when I was younger.

Walking around the woods, there was only the sounds of gulls in the distance, everything inside seemed barren, the trees that used to be so dense, had become very sparse. Remembering my childhood I could never remember looking through the woods and seeing straight through, obviously my group of friends were not the only ones that thought these trees were our jungle, with a camp at one side the rest of the woods a different adventure everyday. This seems to have had a massive impact to the density of the trees. However I was surprised to find, when I was walking around, acorns on the woodland floor, looking like they had just been used as a meal. After a while, noises from the trees got my attention, after a moment or two, a red squirrel came to view. I couldn't believe my eyes. I have never known for any squirrels to be in Newbiggin By The Sea. After spotting the red, I searched the internet for any sightings, and nothing. On the understanding of this I checked the Red Squirrels Northern England website and no sightings have been reported for my area, so I reported it to them. Quite pleased with my self after that.

I moved to an area close by to the woods, a new plantation, what used to be used as a field to keep horses. Above me, sparrow hawks could be seen hovering the skies, I continued to walk across the long grass till I seen a flash of red. I stopped and observed the area for a while till a stoat popped up.

It was comical to watch him scurry around and pop up every now and again.

As the day came to an end, the sounds of birds became more audible, with a lot of noise coming from a large number of goldfinches, which where spending there time perched on a telegraph pole.

Before the sun set fully I decided to walk back to where I was in the morning and capture the red skies before night set in, and thought I would go for something a little bit different and include the local power stations smelter (which is due to close down in the next few months) and the newly erect wind farm.

DAY TWO

Another early start to capture the sun rise again, this time to photograph it. As the sun began to rise at around 6:30ish, I observed the the horizon for any signs of owls, nothing yet.

After a long wait, no SEO showed up, I began to walk around the areas i covered the day before, in hope of anything that I spotted. For the rest of the day my luck didnt seem as good as the day before. A short rain shower swept over the moors around midday, so I took refuge in an old air raid shelter, that was built in the at the beginning of the first world war for the villagers that used to occupy the moors.

After a lot of time waiting around, I headed off towards a few fields in search for something simple, not as adventurous as other species but some species that don't seem to get as much attention.

A Rook.

 A partially albino Jackdaw

DAY THREE

I thought this was my last day in Newbiggin. I arrived at Carlisle train station waiting on the Penrith train, when I received a message saying that I didnt need to work..... The Penrith train came and went, I was back on the train, heading back to Newbiggin, with more time on my hands, Newbiggin was the place to be, rather than campus doing nothing.

Good job I came back.... after I arrived back, I took my camera out my bag and headed back to the moors, certain that there would be something. Photography is like an addiction.
And sure enough coming back home paid off.
Short Eared Owl hunting.

DAY FOUR

After a hectic yesterday, there was a much needed rest, I spent most of the day looking through images and deciding which ones i actually liked. Afterwards back to the moors I went. 

On arriving there was plenty songs from birds.... Goldfinches,

And Curlew

I had heard stories for while about Foxes being present around this area, but never seen them for my self. However I walked for what seemed hours until I stumbled upon a fox den. I began to think this little sea side village is a goldmine for wildlife, so much to explore and so much to see. My summer is looking good! 

What used to be an old dumping ground for the power station has transformed in to a wildlife hotspot, the ash has somehow grown a mass of reeds, grass and gorse bushes. The old platforms from the lagoons look a lot smaller than they used to. Sunk in the waste, this has become home to a Fox.

Under the platform, the den can easily be seen, with escape routes located nearby.

After spending a lot of time at this den, til literally the sun was setting and for sure nothing was coming about I began to explore more of the top of the old lagoon, it wasn't long before I was again in company of the SEO, before it flew beyond eyesight.

 
For the remainder of the night I spent most of my time sat beside the fox den, in hope that who ever was occupying it would either return or come out. Unfortunately, nothing appeared, obvioulsy aware of my presence. After this I felt that any more time spent outside the den would be harmfull and decided to not to back, incase my presence, disturbed them to abandon the den all together.

DAY 5

The moors are a definite place to be. The amount of wildlife that is around is unbelievable. After spending most of the day just walking about, and taking in what was around for my self rather than for an audience. It has made me more aware of some issues that are faced around these areas for conservation and how to keep the wildlife at the stage that it is at, and to keep the abundance of species to a level where the enjoyment can be received from spectators or to just general people on a stroll.
From time to time I did take my camera out to capture moments that I thought would be an ideal photo opportunity, and just as well, a kestrel which was obviously looking for food kept flying around till eventually dropping to the ground and scooping up his prize..... a vole, which can be seen in his talons.

Dinner time.

 and not far from the kestrel was the short eared owl, doing exactly the same.

After a successful time at Newbiggin By The Sea, I left happy and confident that this had been time well spent.
On my return back to Cumbria, I wrote a number of emails with my findings of the red squirrels that I found inhabiting the area of woodlands to various charities and organisations that I felt would need to know about them. On return, my findings were congratulated my the Red Squirrels Northern England, and Morpeth and District Red Squirrels, and I have been asked to help in numerous ways to protect this species in my area, as well as using some of the photography I obtained in their monthly news letters. Of which I have to say..... it's a good job I went back to Northumberland.