It was a nice and quiet day, and nature as ever, was full of activity.
The weather, though cold (but not freezing) was nice, dry and sunny, facilitating a country lane photo before I left the lane for the wooded area.
From there, it was just me and nature, no one else, just perfect. Usually, the nearby fields are a hive of agricultural activity, and I’m not one to get in the way of those working the land, that is their livelihood and our food, and in recent months, HS2 activity, which is an abomination, and in my personal opinion, definitely of no friend to nature or the environment.
Less of my opinions, and more of the photos from the mornings wander.
As someone who loves the countryside, a former hill and moorland walker, post accident, I've had to learn to adapt, and it's been very tough. However, I've always enjoyed photography as a second hobby, and when I used to frequent the hills and moors, I was a devil for continually stopping to take photos, of wildlife and landscapes, so I've invested in more dedicated photographic equipment to further this hobby.
Photography, like any other hobby, can be as expensive or not as you desire, because the real art of photography isn't bright shiny expensive camera gear and lenses, its the person behind the camera that composes the picture, not the camera.
The following photo of a shy robin, shows just how light, and shade, can impact a photo.
While photography it is what the person sees, it is an art form, and it can tell a story. However, you do need to have some appreciation of how the light flows over a subject to get the subject appealing.
The first field I passed before entering the woods, had the usual crows feeding followed by the next field, which had sheep, and then once on the woods, it was seeing the birds as you’d expect to see them, foraging and flying around.
The field with sheep may seem uninteresting, but you need to stop, and look around, because a field of sheep isn’t just a field of sheep, there is plenty of wildlife busily at work, feeding, and in a couple of months or so, many birds will be nest building.
This next photo may seem like it is of sheep feeding, but look to the left of the left sheep, there’s a magpie. That magpie was following the sheep as they were feeding. As the sheep bite at the grass, they disturb the ground, and that magpie knew that, and was managing to forage and find food from that disturbed ground.
Walking through the wooded area, there were the usual blackbirds, robins, blue and great tits, among many other species, including the grey squirrel, all foraging for food. Timing can make a lot of difference, but so can nature when it catches you out, as you will see on the following photos, and the first on of a robin. Just as I pressed the shutter, the wind picked up and raised some of the robin's plumage.
 |
| Blackbird (M) foraging |
 |
| An air dried robin! |
 |
| And once the short gust of wind had passed |
 | |
|
This is where not being in a rush, stopping and taking in the view immediately around you pays off, you just never know what you might see. Also, stopping walking, and allowing all the senses to take in what is around you, sight is one, and listening is another. Take the time to listen to the sounds and then using your eyes, look around.
A not so common sight for many, are long tailed tits, a little bit smaller than the normal garden birds we see, but nonetheless, a valuable part of nature. However, the long tailed tits didn’t stop around to be photographed for long.
It may be winter, but nature never sleeps, even though it may seem to. In the wooded area, there were some snowdrops in bloom, and daffodils starting to grow!
Snowdrops usually come into full bloom around early to mid February, while daffodils usually flower around late March.
 |
| Next springs daffodils starting to grow |
 |
| Snowdrops in bloom |
Look around you, look up, and look down, as well as right to left, even behind you, where you have trodden, just like the magpie mentioned earlier, many birds will look and forage on the ground you have just walked on.
This great tit was doing just that, once I'd stopped and it felt I was no threat, the great tit came down from a tree above where I had been walking, and started to forage for food among the leaves on the ground.
 |
| This great tit came down to forage for food, that may have been disturbed by me |
 |
| Shuffling among the leaves |
 |
| Even trying to discard leaves, that somehow, ended up on the bird! |
 |
| Still looking |
If you look at many deciduous trees, that is trees that lose their leaves at the end of autumn, you will see many have small buds, which are next years leaves!
So next time you’re out for a walk in the countryside, or through the woods, don’t be in a rush, take time to stop and look, you will be surprised at what is going on.
Happy rambling and thank you for taking the time to read,
Peak Rambler
Peak Rambler
PLEASE NOTE: NO FURTHER COMMENTS ARE PERMITTED TO THIS BLOG
Due to ongoing spam issues, I've had to stop allowing comments to be posted.
No comments:
New comments are not allowed.