Kingfisher at Hubbards Hills

I had to go to Louth, a Lincolnshire Wolds Market town today so took Jet for a walk through Hubbards Hills.  It was not the most pleasant of days and the rain was starting to come down heavily as we set off on our walk along the River Ludd though the parkland section of the walk.  I was surprised but delighted to spot a kingfisher sitting on some metal piping across the river.  I stopped and then moved forward slowly and was rewarded with excellent close views of the bird, before it sped off, sapphire-like along the river ahead of me.  Imagine my surprise, then, when a hundred yards later I again caught excellent close views of the bird.  This was repeated several more times over the next half mile or so of river.  What a treat.  It was also good to hear both jay and green woodpecker calling and to see some of the beeches still sporting Autumn colour.

The images below are not from today but are from the archives.

To view large, click on an image.

Kingfisher

Jay in the snow.

A Magical Sunset at the End of a Wet Day.

It had been raining all day today when we decided to take Jet for a quick walk around Irby Dales late in the afternoon.  Not expecting to do any photography, I left the camera in the car.  I should have known better.  As the light began to fade the sky in the west began to clear and we were treated to the most magnificent sunset as the sinking sun lit up the whole sky.  Amazing.

To view large, click on an image.

Atlantic Grey Seals at Donna Nook, Linconshire Coast.

I made my annual trip to see the Atlantic grey seals at Donna Nook nature reserve on the Lincolnshire coast today.  Living so close it's an easy trip but it is to be recommended to anyone interested in wildlife; it is one the best wildlife spectacles this country has to offer.  Donna Nook is home to around 3000 grey seals and in November and December they come ashore onto the beach and dunes to pup and mate.  Around 1000 pups are born each year and this year the first one arrived on October 25th.  On 8th November there were 218 pups, 427 cows and 278 bulls. As well as the seals it was good to see large flocks of brent geese and impressive wader flocks feeding out on the beach and mudflats, every so often rising and whirling like smoke before settling back down to feed.

To view large, please click on an image

Autumn Colour at Swallow Vale

Had an excellent walk with the dog, Jet, today around Swallow Vale Woods on the edge of the Lincolnshire Wolds.  It was a beautifully sunny Autumn afternoon with the beeches absolutely glowing with Autumn colour.

To view large, please click on an image.

Autumn at Horsehoe Point

I needed to do some retakes for my photography degree so a trip to Horseshoe Point on the Humber Estuary was in order.  Picking up Jet first, we set off, arriving in the car park ready for our lunch which we enjoyed before the walk.  It was a beautiful afternoon with a rising tide and a large tanker tied up and offloading at the monobuoy out in the estuary.  The bird life had changed shifts since my last visit; gone were the noisy breeding avocets and their place was taken by brent geese and large mixed wader flocks.  It was good to see large numbers of starlings and linnets too.  Photography over, we began our journey back along the beach enjoying the views of the wader flocks whirling and twisting like smoke as the caught the light; they were being driven off the mudflats by the rising tide, flying up and settling again.  The bird of the day, though, was the beautiful short-eared owl which took from in front of us and drifted moth like over the dunes; beautiful.

Tanker tied up at Tetney Monobuoy.

A Day with Testosterone Fuelled Deer.; The Rut.

When we opemed the door in the car park it was still nearly day and the sun was just rising above the eastern horizon turning the sky and clouds  vivid shades of pink, red and orange.  All around us from the shadows came the primeval sounds of red deer stags roaring and fallow bucks barking to attract and keep their female harems.  Roger and I had travelled from Grimsby to Studley Royal just outside Ripon and next door to Fountains Abbey for the Autumn spectacle of the annual deer rut.  There are three species of deer in Studley: red, fallow and sika and we hoped to be able to photograph them all.  The rising sun gradually lit up the fabulous ancient, gnarled tree that adorn the parkland here, mainly beech, oak and sweet chestnut.  All are very old and often twisted into magnificent shapes.  The Autumn colours here were magnificent: gold, red, orange and bronze still shot through with the vivid greens of leaves not yet changed.

We enjoyed an excellent day of photography and wildlife spectacular.  All three species were easy to find and, at this time of year relatively easy to get close to, especially when using 500mm lenses.  Other than the deer I was surprised to discover that we had excellent views of Ripon Cathedral a mile or so away in the valley below us; it made an interesting 500 shot.  The chestnuts had obviously benefitted from a good summer and autumn as they were raining plump ripe fruits which we were able to collect to take home.  It's not often that English chestnuts are worth collecting.

To view large, please click on an image.

Red Deer

 Fallow Deer

 Sika

 Landscapes