First Herps of the Year

The season has started fairly early this year. Last night there were a few Palmate Newts on the move along with a Common Frog. Today in less than ideal conditions (cold wind but sunny) there was a single Adder braving the cold (Alan Heeley and Mike Breedon had another and Alan had the earliest on Wednesday). I'm off to Cyprus Sunday with the chance of the Big Daddy of Mediterranean Vipers the Blunt Nosed although it might be a little early still.

All photos © Carl Corbidge

Winter Birds

About 3 weeks ago I decided to set up a winter feed station a couple of miles from my house. My  aim was to try and got some shots of Bullfinch and Long Tailed Tit which are fairly common in the area. I put up an old hide and left it a few days, every time I went back to stock the feed station the hide had been flattened by the wind and I was half expecting it to be in pieces or up in the trees.
Anyway I had a few hours Saturday photographing and this is what I saw.
Pheasant x 1, Woodpigeon x 2, Wren x 1, Dunnock x 1, Robin x 2, Blackbird x 2, Great Tit  a few, Blue Tit a few, Coal Tit x 2, Long Tailed Tit x 6, Jay x 1, Chaffinch a few, Brambling x 8, Bullfinch x 4, Yellowhammer x 2.

All Photos © Carl Corbidge

A few more bird pics

More Hares and a Goshawk

I had another crack at getting some better shots of hares this weekend. En-route I saw a Goshawk Accipiter gentilis, once the star bird of the Peak District they have been persecuted down to just a few pairs, so it was nice to see one. I also saw a pair of Ravens these don't seem as numerous as they were a few years ago as well.

All photos © Carl Corbidge