Mallard...

In morning sun.

WeBS

I was asked a while back if I would monitor the water birds at Reddish Vale as part the 2010 WeBS survey.

WeBS is The Wetland Bird Survey and collects important information on the population, breeding and environment of UK water birds.

In their own words..." The principle aims of WeBS is to identify population sizes, determine trends in numbers and distribution and to identify important sites for water birds."

The WeBS survey covers almost every area of the UK and data is collected by hundreds of volunteers from across the nation.

My allocated area of Reddish Vale isn't exactly the most glamorous, but is still none the less important amongst the grand scheme of things.

My first count was taken this morning during very heavy rain and despite the unpleasant conditions it was still rather enjoyable.

One thing I personally like about WeBS is the emphasis isn't just on rarer species such as Avocet and Bittern but recognizes the importance of our more common water birds such as Mallard and Coot.

No images from today's count because of the heavy rain, but I'll leave you with a selection of water birds taken from around the UK in better weather...

In A Flap

A few common Waterfowl species giving their wings a workout...

Canada Goose

Mute Swan

Mallard

Rainy Day Birds

Here are a few shots from a rather wet early Sunday morning shoot around Etherow Park in Stockport.
Because of the heavy rain, I didn't venture too far around the reserve, so I mainly encountered some of the more common residents...

Great Crested Grebe

Greylag Goose

Mallard

House Sparrow Reflection

A Few From This Evening

I managed to finally drag myself out into the miserable English weather earlier this evening after nearly going stir crazy due to lack of photography!

It was actually quite a pleasant day at times today, but by the time I finally managed to get out of the office, the gloom had descended.

I decided to pay a visit to Etherow Park and quickly located the House Sparrow colony I photographed the other week.

The light was fading fast, but I was lucky enough to get a few shots away...

The rain soon started to fall and photo opportunities were fading with the light.

It was as they say "nice weather for ducks" although this female Mallard didn't seem to care all that much about it...

A flock of Canada Geese came flying towards me in the poor light.

Shutter speed was low, so I focused on one bird and panned around on him has he came past.

I've always enjoyed taking slow shutter shots of wildlife in motion and this one although not quite as slow as I would of liked, didn't turn out too bad...

Canal Life

Since I started this blog back in January, I have posted images from many different locations and habitats from around the UK.
It may seem strange then, that it has taken so long to do a post about one of the most important of my local habitats, the canal network.

In the coming weeks, I'd like to share with you some of my favourite places along my local canal network and also the wildlife I encounter on route.
I would also like to explain a little bit about the history of the waterways around Manchester and their impact on the world as we know it today.

For now though, I'll just give you a little taster...
There are two canals close to where I live...The Peak Forest Canal and the Macclesfield Canal.
These two canals meet at a junction at the village of Marple.
From Marple you can take the Peak Forest Canal to Buxworth in Derbyshire to the south or to Manchester in the north via the junction with the Ashton Canal.
Via the Macclesfield Canal it is possible to join other canal networks at Stoke-On-Trent and the Midlands beyond.

Today I was at a stretch of the Macclesfield Canal near High Lane which is a few miles south of Marple. The canals in this area are quite rightly regarded as some of the most beautiful in Britain and are very popular with Narrowboaters and pleasure seekers...

The canal offers a vast variety of flora and fauna and this area is rich in many wild flowers which attract many insects like this Painted Lady Butterfly...

In the grass at the side of the canal towpath there is plenty of clover in bloom at the moment and clover is a big favourite of the Bees...

There's plenty of birdlife to be seen and I couldn't resist a shot of this scruffy looking Robin...

Finally for now, perhaps the most common sight on the canal and every other body of water for that matter...The Mallard!

The First Six Months...A Thank You!

June has been my most prolific month for posting since this blog began back in January, thanks mainly to the many new arrivals that this month has to offer.

When I started this blog, I did wonder if I would be able to do it justice with regular postings...

My main concern was finding things to talk about, but I needn't have worried...Nature throws up something new and exciting every day.

I've also discovered something new about myself since starting this blog...I can't half ramble on!

Apologies for that then, but amongst all the rambling, I hope I've provided at least a few points of interest and better still I hope I've managed to inspire some into taking a closer look at the wildlife that surrounds them...For me this is the most important thing.

The proudest point in my photographic 'career' came last year and it was having my work published in a children's bird book...The thought that seeing my pictures (and those of some much better photographers than myself) might inspire some young child to develop a life-long love of nature is something that fills me with great happiness.

That really is the point of this blog really...To do my little bit in regards to making people aware of nature and the importance of conservation.

So here we are now, 6 months down the line and still going strong and I must say I've really enjoyed doing this...It's been good fun mainly and from messages I've received and comments posted I'm happy that some of you enjoy it too!

I'd just like to say a huge thank you to everybody who has taken the time to read the blog, look at the pictures and post comments...It means a lot to know that somebody is out there!

Finally, the last images from June and the last from Sundays visit to Pennington Flash.

I thought it was only fitting to end the month with more of what has been the theme of the month...New life!

Mallard Ducklings to be precise...

Pennington Flash

I've done a lot of driving in the last week in my quest to photograph wildlife and to be perfectly honest, the long drives and early starts began to take there toll on me, so Thursday and Friday I decided to slow things down a bit and I spent two days in and around the hides at Pennington Flash.

There is something very relaxing about being able to sit in a hide in relative comfort, alone with your thoughts, watching birds go about their business.

In fact sometimes you can get so lost in your thoughts that you forget to fire the shutter of your camera and miss something good!

The main birds of note at Penny over the last couple of days were Terns...Plenty of Common Tern which I had very distant views of and a single Artic Tern which unfortunately I didn't see at all.

Thursday was a rather dull rainy day, but was brightened by close views of a pair of Gadwall and one of my favourite waders the Oystercatcher...

Friday was a glorious day and after an hour or so spent in Horrock's Hide, I was rewarded with some fantastic views of another wader, the Redshank...

There were all the usual suspects at the Bunting Hide, but the highlight for me was seeing the very elusive Stock Dove at relatively close quarters...

The bright sunshine had brought out large numbers of Butterflies all over Penny, including this beautiful Orange Tip that made an all too brief stop on a Dandelion...

A perfect Spring day was capped by the glorious sight of newborn birds following their proud parents all over the Flash.

However some couldn't resist leaving the safety of the family group for a few moments to explore their new world...

Night Fever...

My comedy image of the week was provided by this Black-Headed Gull, who seemed to fancy himself as the next John Travolta...

Mr John Travolta

Black-Headed Gull

Good Friday?

I can't believe it's been over a month since my last visit to the Vale and after a lot of driving recently it was nice to spend a relaxing morning close to home...
There was definitely a very nice feeling of spring on my arrival, with bright sunshine and bird song all around.

It was relatively quiet as well early on, which came as a little bit of a surprise because I was half expecting to be endlessly avoiding the bane of nature photographers the world over...The dog walker!

Don't get me wrong, I love dogs and I'm rather fond of people too...It's just that over the years I've lost count of the times that a good photo opportunity has been lost because of a dog jumping into a river, barking very loudly or simply chasing my target away.

Actually, I'm being slightly unfair...The dog owners can be far worse!

To me, a man carrying a camera on a tripod with a very large lens in the countryside can in most cases be safely regarded as a wildlife photographer...It's hardly rocket science.

So why is it that so many dog walkers feel the need to noisily stride up to the prime location you've just spent 20 minutes quietly and stealthily securing and ask you what you're doing?

"Well actually mate I was just about to photograph that beautiful (insert species) over there...See it? Oh no it's gone!"

Anyway, where was I?

Oh yes I was at the Vale ...

Pretty nice light early on as well and although not quite as close as I'd like to be, I managed to fire a few frames of a female Goosander before she decided that the water at the very camera unfriendly far side of the Mill Pond was much better for swimming in.

You do have to get down to the Vale early to catch the more desirable species and a early start always means good numbers of Cormorant...

Elsewhere on the water, it was business as usual with the normal array of common birds including this rather boisterous Mallard...

Away from the water and a little bit of spring colour was starting to show around the woodland and the hedgerows were very lively with plentiful House Sparrows...

Finally, it is Easter and a time when we should be reflecting on the life of a man that could walk on water, so I thought it was only apt to end with this shot of a Coot...

On Golden Pond

A misty, frosty start gave way to beautiful morning sunshine providing the kind of light that


photographers dream of today at Reddish Vale.


Today's forecast was for cloud, but I've always been one for just getting up early and judging for myself how I think the weather will turn out...This morning, the lack of cloud and crisp frost were obvious signs that it was going to be a great morning to be out with the camera!

Two new Mute Swans seemed to have settled very nicely now at the Vale...Although sadly this seems to be at the expense of the recently orphaned Pen which had returned alone after a short absence last week.

The poor young bird was nowhere to be seen today and I learned earlier in the week that the new arrivals had 'seen her off' a couple of times, only for her to return...I guess the aggressive and very natural behaviour of the newcomers and particularly the Cob finally got the better of our young Pen and she has left for good.

Another piece of worrying news from the Vale is a Kingfisher sighting I made on January 10th may have been the last reported sighting of these beautiful birds at Reddish...The harsh winter may well have taken it's toll on this local stronghold.

I'm praying that the birds have moved a little further down river and will return once their favoured feeding areas are ice free.

My favourite place to photograph at the Vale is the smaller of the two main Mill Ponds because when conditions are right and the sun is rising in the morning sky, you get this incredible golden glow across the water at one end of the pond.

Sometimes however, there simply aren't the birds there to take advantage of these conditions so it can be frustrating waiting for something other than a Coot or Mallard to show.

This morning I was hoping one or two of the very shy Goosander would come into range of my lens, but as usual they stayed at the far bank only occasionally moving tantalizingly towards me before heading back to their safety zone.

One bird that didn't let me down though was one of my favourites, the Tufted Duck.

I have always found Tufted Ducks engaging little creatures and I can watch these birds for hours whilst they dive repeatedly underwater for food.

They really are very beautiful looking things too...

I mentioned Mallards earlier in the post and reading back, I don't want to give the wrong impression...I absolutely love these very common ducks and just like the humble Robin, I can never resist the opportunity of photographing them...

Winter Sunshine

I've been a bit busy today, but managed a quick trip down to Reddish Vale at first light.
After the tragic death of the Cob Swan last week I wanted to pay a visit and see how his orphaned Pen was getting on...Sadly she was nowhere to be seen.
I was told earlier this week that two new Swans had visited and the young Pen who had been very distressed since the loss of her father, seemed to get on very well with the new arrivals.
Although the two left alone that day, I'm thinking perhaps they returned and the Pen decided to take off with them.

It was still a little dark for photography when I first arrived at the Vale, so I had a walk around the Mill Ponds to see what was about...13 Goosander, 16 Tufted Duck and a pair of Wigeon were the highlights.

The promise of winter sunshine had brought out quite a few Anglers and as the sun came up, I knew this was bad news for me and my hopes of capturing some of the notoriously shy Goosanders!

The light was beautiful at times and despite being a little disappointed about the Goosander, I made the most of it by photographing a few of the more common residents...