De Stressing!!

After a day dealing with disgruntled Teenagers, I like nothing more than to sit in peace and quiet, (no radio, No TV ) watching the wild life come and go from my armchair, no matter what the weather, before I know it a couple of hours can go by so quickly, the photo below shows you my view from the lounge window, unfortunately taken in the pouring rain, I love watching their routine, starting in the large trees behind then down to the small trees to the left, then into the thorn bush just at the back of the left hand feeder, then finally onto the feeders or the tree stumps, you can also see one of the ground feeding areas frequented by the Reed Bunting of which I now have a pair of, on the most part I have very healthy Great Tits, having not seen the injured one since Saturday I now have one with a very nasty growth on its face, again seems unfazed by it and it is feeding well. My neighbours have reported seeing Black Cap in the area, but as yet I have not had a view of them, so will be having a good look round at the week-end to see if I can add to my list, also had the Coal Tit down again today, it has been quite a while and there is still only ever one.

What A Filthy Day!

What a lousy day!! had no choice but to brave the rain to re fill my feeders, re-positioned the peanuts to try and encourage the Woodpecker again, as only had sight of one once and also put in a new stake for my Night Cam to be attached to, this time on the bank itself, so should give a better view than being attached to the fence posts or the tree stump I have been using, I had only been in long enough to dish up my supper, when I looked behind me and I had a female Woodpecker right there on the Nuts, also had the Reed Bunting straight down onto the bank feeding area, just hope she comes back, still no Nuthatch though!! Only a Week and a half to my Holiday in Jersey can't wait, also just booked a week end away for May and a weeks Holiday for July.

Nightly Visitor!

What a filthy night thankfully the Night Cam does not care about the weather, again had two visits from Foxy recorded at 22.04pm till 22.06pm then again 00.48am to 1.06am both times feeding well, good images caught.

Lovely Frosty Morning!!

Frosty start to the morning seen from my Dining Room window, Buzzards are flying over head daily now, Reed Bunting is a regular ground feeder, still good numbers of Redpoll and Goldfinch and still have three Greenfinch feeding well. On closer inspection of my Fox pictures I am 99 per cent sure that I only have one, with it being disturbed on its first visit before being able to feed hence the re visit later.

Injured Great Tit.

Just before I left to go to the football, I spotted my Injured Great Tit from yesterday, managed to get a quick photo through the window as it was feeding well and did not want to disturb it by opening the window, glad to see it had survived over night and the injuries look a little worse now they are drying up, hope it has somewhere to shelter now as we are being hammered with hail storms. The Silkmen came through again with a good 2-1 win over Tamworth.

Do I Have Two??

Well trust wild life to show you up, just as I say that my fox has never before returned twice in one night, Guess What!! Or is it that I now have two!! the first recording was 00.49am to 00.51am , acting much more unsure than usual, arriving stage left and leaving the same way, where as normally it enters stage right and leave stage left, second recording was 03.07am to 3.14am and as usual went straight for the food no messing, only got three shots of the first visit, so the first two shots are of that visit and the third is from the second visit, so is it my eye's or wishful thinking, or do I in fact have two????

Just to start the day off this is the Sunrise this morning from Bosley Minn.

Attacked Great Tit!!

Sitting in my usual viewing spot this afternoon watching the feeders, I saw a Great Tit with very fresh wounds to it's eye and most of it's breast, it was feeding well and seemed unfazed by the wounds but something had obviously had hold of it, did not manage to get a photo and will be interested to see if it returns tomorrow.

Foxy!!

Only just got the camera in position in time last night, as Foxy came early recorded between 21.35pm and 21.47pm there is no real pattern as yet on time, except that he is getting earlier but even when he comes early he never returns in the same night, but he had a good feed.

Pruning Worked.

Well yes the pruning on the bank worked, got the best shots of the fox yet, but dropped the camera lower than usual and the light has bounced back off the bank whitewashing the pictures, have contacted my good friend Kate (who kindly loaned me the Bushnell Night Cam) to see if there is any way of counter acting this problem, if not will just have to put the camera up higher, fox was recorded between 00.45am and 00.50am. Any help on this matter from anyone would be appreciated, as it would be a shame to dump the photo's!!

Mid Week.

Arriving home at 3-40pm went straight out to prune the bank and fill my feeders, then put my tea in the oven and while waiting for it to cook sat with the lounge window open on my new leather chair (more height to this one for better views) enjoying the bird call and activity around the hedgerow, also two buzzards watched as they enjoyed the thermals this shot taken quickly from the lounge window, after eating my tea still sat in the same place, I then saw the buzzards go around to the back of the property just below the tree line and got good views of them from the dining room window and all this before 5pm, when most people are not even home from work.

Hat-Trick!!

Well just goes to show how wrong you can be, it has taken him a while but hopefully my Fox will now make regular visits, although it's almost as if he knows were the camera is, I keep trying to change it's position but still have not got the shot I want, oh well plenty of time to play around with it and a little more pruning required on the bank, he certainly seems in good condition and likes my dog biscuits!! Last night recorded only briefly between 2.24 am and 2.30 am.

Second Night On The Trot.

I wasn't sure if it would be worth putting the night cam out again last night, but glad now that I did as got the best shots yet of my visiting Fox, recorded from 10.49pm to 11.02pm which is good as that is a lot earlier than the other evening, could do with it being earlier still but cannot complain. Will be leaving more food out again tonight a little nearer to the camera now that he seems to be getting used to the area, although never had him three nights on the trot!!!

Another Visit At Last.

Well having put out some road kill in the hopes that one of the Buzzards would come down, I had another visit from my Fox, who took the chance of a quick snack last night, he was recorded between 11.15 pm and 00.20am, just a quick record from the night cam below, need now to get a security light out there so he can get used to it, with the hope that I can get some better shots in the future, disappointed that I have not heard the Tawny Owl lately though.

Good Ending To The Week!!

Knowing my interest in photography a couple of my students have told me about Parklow Farm, Marton, run by David and Ann Taylor, which is only about 2 miles from were I live, they not only have Trout Pools, but also have Hides positioned around their farm, all hides are situated with photography in mind and face N.E. and from the information on their web site each hide has a mixture of different species and although I am not a great lover of being sat in a hide for hours, this may warrant a visit as it would seem you can wonder between hides, it would seem that it is best to book and there is a fee payable. My good ending to the week also includes my good friend getting me tickets to Macclesfield's next two home matches this Tuesday Evening and Saturday afternoon and with half term only three weeks away (HOORAY TWO WHOLE WEEKS OFF) I have just booked a holiday in Jersey!! Also have started to plan for my October half term which is going to be spent in Spain. I also have to stop playing with my new Apple I Pad and get round to sifting through my photo's and get them up loaded to my Zenfolio site. Have a lot of catching up to do!!

The Moors Revisited.

Had a good friend Di Stone come over for the day and took her up to the moors to meet the Red Grouse, spent a really good enjoyable four hours and saw more than I have seen on any previous visits and they were all pairing up so they tended to stay out in the open longer, pity the sun did not shine as much as forecast but we had a good time never the less, had a pit stop at the Ice Cream Farm and then back home to watch the feeders for Di to have a crack at the Redpoll, adding Reed Bunting and Linnet to my count now standing at 32.

Just Enjoying The Garden.

After work I was able to spend an hour just enjoying watching the feeders, while I waited for my shopping to be delivered, good numbers of Redpoll, Goldfinch, Chaffinch, Long-Tail Tits, sparrows, Blue and Great Tits, had three Greenfinch down together and all quite happy to come down with the windows wide open, but still only had the one Coal tit and not very often, still had no sign of a Nuthatch which I really miss seeing as they are one of my favourite birds, had the Wren today but only fleetingly, as Bosley Reservoir is virtually my back garden decided to walk round to the dam after tea for another crack at the Sunset, the scenic shots below are of the Bridge were I have always got the sunset from before, Bosley Minn were I was on Monday evening and two of the sunset taken from the overflow bridge on the dam wall, the only problem with the sunset here is that it is obscured by trees and buildings before you see it disappear below the horizon and no were near as colourful as Monday evening. On the way back managed to add to the species count when I saw a pair of Great Crested Grebe, total now up to 30.

Sunset Seen From Bosley Minn.

Before going home I called to see if the food left at the Badger set had been taken, unfortunately not, Badgers were seen there last year, but alas they seem no more, ( I have seen two recently dead in the road on the way to Congleton ) I have left the food in place just in case there may be a wondering Badger looking for a Des Res. Then while the weather was still good there was more digging out of the pathway at the back of my property and bird feeders to be filled, then after a quick tea I decided to go up to bosley Minn to catch the Sunset, Bosley Minn is a prominent hill in southeast Cheshire, the long axis of the Minn runs NNE-SSW and its broad summit which reaches to 1,266 ft at its highest point, slopes away to the valley of the Shell Brook in the east and towards Bosley Reservoir in the west, it is the western aspect of the hill facing Bosley which is known as Bosley Minn whilst the eastern side which faces the village of Wincle is referred to as Wincle Minn.

On The Moors!!

Woke early to a beautiful day, had a quick whizz round with the hoover so as not to feel guilty about the house work not getting done and by 8am was on the way up to the Moors, not been since between Christmas and the New Year and it was great to enjoy not just the weather but the peace and quiet, a joy to be able to concentrate on my own photo's without having to worry about passengers not being at the right angle for their shots, could not resist a play around with the Herons at the heronry at Macclesfield Forrest on the way by, I counted 12 just on my side of the Heronry viewing area knowing there is more round the other side not in view until they fly in and out and caught two Great Crested Grebes displaying to each other, on the moors there were good numbers of Grouse, Golden Plover and Lapwing and on the way back saw two kestrel's together on the wires, first time I have seen two together before but only one stayed to have it's photo taken. Was back for breakfast by 9.30 am as had to be back for 10am for my visitor.