Bretton Update

There were lots of Bluebells around to brighten up the woodland this morning. Pity I failed to anticipate this and bring a short lens with me to capture it!

Peacock butterfly.

Wren

There wasn't much else to be seen in Bridge Royd Wood so I headed for the hide. Just before I arrived I heard some birdsong from within a bush so I decided to hang around for a bit. After a couple of minutes this Blackcap popped-up to see what was going on.

Thankfully I didn't just blunder into the hide and stick my lens through the viewing window or I would have spooked this young Grey Heron who was perched on a log just in front of the island.

One of my favourite pastimes last spring was watching the Bank Voles, Woodmice and Shrews that became partial to the birdseed and nuts at the rear of the hide. It's nice to see that they have returned. Unfortunately I didn't have a flash with me so all today's shots were blurred barring this one which is almost sharp.

Bank Vole

Non-Birds...

...the other day a friend asked if I took any photos of wildlife other than birds. I said I'd like to but there's usually nothing to see. Birds can be difficult to approach but come to think of it, compared to mammals they're quite easy.

I looked back through my collection of RAW images and found a few non-bird shots that are vaguely presentable so here they are...

I woke-up this Fox one spring morning at Adel Dam nature reserve, just north of Leeds. It wasn't at all impressed by my presence and promptly went back to sleep. I suppose it helped that I was in a hide and all he could see was my lens poking out of the window.

No animals here but I thought a reminder of spring was in order during this unusually long period of freezing cold weather we're suffering at the moment. This is a scene from the woods at Bretton Lakes during Bluebell 'season'.

Aren't Woodmouse's cute? My first encounter with one of these came when I was sat at the rear of the hide at Bretton. He was very keen on peanuts!

This young Red Squirrel was a visitor to the garden of a cottage I hired in South-West Scotland.

Below is an adult I came across during a walk on the grounds of Craig Farm during the same holiday. I was renting the cottage from the owners of the farm - West Holmhead Cottage

I had to get up very early in the morning to spot this Roe Deer. I stopped the car in the road and took the shot from the window.

This one was taken a year later whilst staying at the same cottage. The adult Roe Deers tend to leave their young hidden in the undergrowth. That was the case here but the mother chose a place very near to the road. She bolted and left the fawn to fend for itself when she saw me.

Notice the bored look on his face? This Common Toad sat impassively as I arranged the blades of grass so I could get a clear shot of it but I think he was beginning to lose patience at the end. The picture was taken in Strid Wood in the Yorkshire Dales.

I think this is a Four Spotted Chaser? Taken at Allerthorpe Common YWT reserve in North Yorkshire - Allerthorpe Common

I don't suppose this set would be complete without a Rabbit?

A Spotted Wood butterfly. Taken in a wood of all places.

This friendly Bank Vole was competing for peanuts with the Woodmouse pictured at the start of this blog. Here he is getting greedy and trying to figure out how to carry two at a time. I had to use flash with these shots (and the toad) because it was very dark in the undergrowth.