Oop north, tha knows.

Slight improvement to the weather and a trip to Barnsley to see my sister meant there was an opportunity for some different areas to visit.

The first place we visited was Newmillerdam near Wakefield, It's basically a large lake with a dam at one end. A walk way allows access alaround the lake. The day was really grey and overcast so I didn't take my camera. What a shame, there were 3 Herons all almost within touching distance, a Great Crested Grebe, Tufted Ducks and the usual coots/moorhens and mallards.

We then went to Broomhill on the Barnsley to Rotherham road, There is a flash there which is managed by the Garganey trust, a group of local people who are well in to their birds. Again the weather was not great but I did get to see Lapwings, Mallard, Little Egrets, Canada Geese, Greylag, Great Crested Grebe, Little Grebe, Jackdaw, Black headed Gull, Hobbies, Sparrowhawk, Buzzard, Cormorant, Gadwall, coot, Moorhen, Garganey, and fantastically for me a Ruddy Duck, . A couple of shots below. The Ruddy Duck is quite a crop.

Lapwing:

Ruddy Duck:

The Highlight of the visit up north was a couple of trips to Old Moor RSPB reserve, not far from the Broomhill site and a fantastic venue. It is free to members and £2.50 for non member adults. It has half a dozen hides and is wheel chair friendly. There is a shop and canteen which have a good selection to offer. I was told it was a bit early for the high number of visiting birds but there were a good number of Geese and Ducks, there were Common sandpiper, Heron, Grebes both Little and Great crested, Little Egret, Bullfinch, Tree sparrows (yes Tree sparrows) and all the usual woodland birds. These are two of the Great crested grebe shots, it had two fish whilst i was watching it.

All in all it was a great trip oop north.

I'm singing in the rain.

Seems that the rain and crappy weather are just not going to go away. Yes we have had one or two periods of sunshine but isn't it always the way that when that happens there's always something else going on.

Have only managed two short stints with the camera recently, and here are the paltry results.

Went to my local spot for common lizzard and found only two little ones of less than 2 inches in length. This one was shedding its skin.

The Nuthatch are always bankers but these were taken in a spot I've not tried before.

Nearly always a banker are the Great Spotted Woodpeckers.

Ever the opportunist I caught sight of these two cock pheasants squaring up whilst driving down a lane. They were some distance away but it was funny to watch them bobbing at each other then walking a few paces before turning to face each other again and bobbing again. Don't think either particularly wanted a fight, typical male posturing.

Do you think we are likely to get a spell of decent weather soon? I'm not banking on it.

Don't forget to check out my galleries, (top of my links list) I put more than whats here in there and they are usually better to view, go on give it a look!!!

More from Norfolk

Cley Marshes are a fantastic place. I went there on two occasions during my trip. I was lucky enough to see spoonbill on my first visit

There were two present together and for a short while they were close enough to get these record shots.

Also present was this lovely Lapwing. It came so close to the hide that I could not get it in shot at one point.

There were also the usual Geese, Canada and Greylag.

Also present in quite large numbers were Egyptian Geese.

A number of Herons were seen.

There were lots of other birds seen but not photographed, these were Marsh Harrier, Sparrow Hawk, Hobby-which by the way was absolutely amazing to watch, Reed warbler, Little Egret, Black Tailed Godwit, Black Swan, Coot, Mallard, the list goes on and on.

More to follow.

Lifting Depression.

Those of you who know me well will know that I suffer bad bouts of depression. These are often all encompassing and turn my head from everything else. I am caught in one of these bouts right now. Nothing seems as good as before and everything is an effort. This has been an ongoing problem for over 6yrs. Anyone who has depression or lives with someone who suffers knows what i mean.

Photography has given me a direction but even that is suffering right now. In an effort to pull myself out of this mess I decided on the spur of the moment to return to Norfolk this week. Those of you who have viewed my blog before will know that I really enjoyed my trip there in the early spring, my hope was to recapture some of the happy moments.

So Off I went and I spent about two and a half days there, I didn't get as much from it as I'd hoped but I did get some good/very good shots (at least I think so)!!

I'll work through them and post a few here over the next few days or so. Here are the first couple.

This first one is, as you can see, a Snipe.


The snipe was seen at Titchwell, the light wasn't quite in the right direction but you have to take what you can get.

Next comes the Little Egret, Titchwell again, in one of the drains.

Finally a shot of a young Kestrel. I had a really great time stalking this little beauty. I was able to get within 15 yards or so, this pic is only slightly cropped.

The Kestrel was at Snettisham. It was chasing crickets or similar things and was hopping along the ground and sitting on very low bushes. I truly love the Kestrel. Snettisham is a great place but unusual in so much that its a long stretch of beach with a handful of lakes dotted along it's length. I didnt stay to watch the birds at high tide, I'd not prepared myself with food or drink and had arrived early afternoon so the thought of waiting until 7pm without food or drink did not appeal. However I saw a good few species of birds such as, Kestrel, Grey Partridge, Oystercatcher, Greylag, Egyptian Goose, Canada, Little Egret, Curlew, Mallard, and Swallow. I also saw lots of butterflies I can only name Gatekeeper, Peacock, Green veined White, and Small Copper. There were a few others but I have yet to identify them from the Pictures.

My one gripe about Norfolk is the cost of accomodation, B and B or Hotels are a lot more expensive than I expected. I spoke to others who expressed the same concerns. In these times of credit crunch It was hard to justify spending more than a couple of nights, again had I prepared myself properly I'd have taken enough kit to enable me to sleep in my car. It was a spur of the moment thing though.

More to follow.

Slimbridge.

WWT Slimbridge, a great place to get some fantastic pictures, sometimes. Unfortunately on other occasions it can be quite unproductive.

However I was up early yesterday (thurs 7th) due to my bad back and decided on the spur of the moment to have a look.

Here are the pics that i took.

Common Sandpiper.

Heron.

I am told that these are Green Sandpipers, they were certainly different to the common.

The coots, of course.

And finally a young Flamingo portrait that I quite liked, not wild though i know.

It wasn't as good as i had hoped but nevertheless an enjoyable morning.