July 2020
The summer months are never the best time for wildlife or landscape photography. Sunrise and sunset are too early and late, the light in the middle of the day is very harsh and all the birds and mammals seem to go into hiding. I've been out and about a lot more, and had some nice wildlife encounters, but all too brief for a decent photo. I've seen fox, stoat, red deer, roe deer and hedgehog but didn't manage to get a picture of any of them.
Leighton Moss now has 2 hides open during the day but there isn't much to see on the water. South Walney also has a couple of hides open but with so many people walking or fishing on the beach there wasn't much about. I drove up to Langholm Moor for a change of scenery and saw a few raptors but all too distant for photography.
Maybe August will be better.
Great Crested Grebe
Marsh Tit
Marsh Tit
Treecreeper
Great Black-backed Gull
Chiff Chaff
Tufted Duck
Sedge Warbler
Sedge Warler
Grey Squirrel
Great Crested Grebe
Marsh Tit
Jay
Little Grebe
Great Crested Grebe
Linnet
Meadow Pippit
Blackpool
Great Crested Grebe
Robin
Treecreeper
Great Crested Grebe
Coal Tit
Chiff Chaff
Buzzard
Hen Harrier
Langholm Moor
Marsh Tit
Moorhen
Reed Bunting
Great Crested Grebe
June 2020 - Staying Local
With the lifting of some of the lockdown measures a number of local nature reserves have partially reopened. Some of the footpaths are open at Leighton Moss although the visitors centre and all the hides are still closed. It is very difficult to access any of the water but there is still plenty of wildlife to see, especially the young birds in the trees and shrubs. Foulshaw Moss has a one way system on the boardwalks to avoid passing people but it can be quite slow going walking around. Lovely to get out and about a bit more though.
Wren
Robin
Common Frog
Common Lizard
Young Blackcap
Common Blue
Grasshopper Warbler
Beautiful Demoiselle
Marsh Tit
Moorhen
Nuthatch
Wren
Moorhen
Marsh Tit
Young Marsh Tit
Blue Tit
Bluetit
Treecreeper
Marsh Tit
Red Deer
Marsh Tit
Eels
Marsh Orchid
Mute Swans
Wren
Coal Tit
Cormorant
Grey Squirrel
Cormorants
Common Blue
Little Grebe
Wren
Herons
May 2020 - Lockdown Walks
Common Lizard
Blue Tit
Roe Deer
Blackcap
Grey Squirrel
Shrew
Osprey
Beautiful Demoiselle
Wood Pigeon
Small Pearl-bordered Fritillary
Dandelion
Blue Tit
Buzzard
Common Lizard
Heron
Pied Wagtail
Chiffchaff
Buzzard
Blue Tit
Grey Wagtail
Stonechat
Tawny Owl
Blackbird
Stolen Eggs
Reed Bunting
Roe Deer
Small Pearl-bordered Fritillary
Pied Wagtail
April 2020 - Lockdown Walks
Wren
Field Vole
Bluebells
Goldcrest
Highland Cow
Poppy
Buzzard
Roe Deer
Blackbird
Blossom
Robin
Chiffchaff
Yellow Tip Butterfly
Goldcrest
Lambs
Field Vole
Song Thrush
Tawny Owl
Chiffchaff
Robin
Chaffinch
Wren
Greater Stitchwort
Lamb
Carrion Crow
Buzzard
Field Vole
Goldcrest
Highland Cow
Ransoms
Chiffchaff
Lamb
Bluebells
Song Thrush
Grey Squirrel
Buzzard
Goldcrest
Chiffchaff
All the pictures above have been taken on walks during lockdown. I'm very lucky to have countryside on my doorstep and I've carried a Panasonic G9 with a 100-400mm lens during my daily exercise.
Self-isolation and Lockdown - Stay safe, sane and sanitised!
All the pictures below were taken from my back window during 14 days of self-isolation.
Great Tit
Blue Tit
Long-tailed Tit
Great Tit
Blackbird
Long-tailed Tit
Great Tit
Reed Bunting
March 2020
A strange month, I don't really know what to say. There are photos below from a couple of trips to Leighton Moss at the start of the month and pictures above taken during 2 weeks of self-isolation when my wife was ill.
February 2020
Very mixed weather. Three weekends of storms with very strong winds, some local flooding and a day of snow. The footpaths at Leighton Moss have been a foot deep in water for the last two weeks and wildlife has been very hard to find. There are still lots of small birds in the patches of woodland but most of the pools have been very quiet. There are still marsh harriers around and voles are easier to see as they scurry around on the bits of dry ground. I also found a pair of peregrines trying to drive crows away from a cliff face near my house. It isn't a site I know they use for nesting so I'll keep an eye on that. Maybe March will be better if the storms ever stop.
January 2020
Not a great month. The weather has been mild, but dull and cloudy, and the wildlife seems a bit confused. The local nature reserves have been very quiet and the only real highlight has been watching the marsh harriers grapple at Leighton Moss. I haven't seen an otter for over 6 weeks, which I hope indicates a female has young as they are always more secretive until the cubs emerge to explore the wider world.
I'm experimenting with a new noise reduction tool from Topaz Labs. The dull weather has meant I've taken plenty of photos at high ISO but results from the software have been a bit hit and miss. The first two photos in the gallery below were taken at ISO 3200 and cleaned in Topaz DeNoise AI. The rest have all been processed using Lightroom for noise reduction. Let me know what you think.
