Burwell Fen

We paid an afternoon visit to Burwell Fen as Short-Eared Owls had been reported to have arrived on the Fen. Beautiful clear light complimented the Fenland landscape. The owls stayed too distant for viewing from our end of the Fen but an Egret flew past in the sunset light, a female Reed Bunting perched and lots of Lapwings circled around.

Borrowdale Weekend - More Photos

A few more from the Lake district Weekend. The light was worth putting up with the squally showers to see the rainbows and the light on the hills. Fifth image is the view from my hotel room at sunrise on the Sunday.

Derwent Water

Perfect weather for a trip across from Keswick to Brandelhowe and a walk round the Lake to Lodor. We had rain, sunshine, dramatic shafts of light and rainbows at every corner. Great to meet up with Bev and Alastair and Rowan. A memorable morning!! 

Around Lake Windermere

Drove into the Lakes from Lancaster this morning or rather crawled in the traffic. I therefore decided to stop at Brockhole, Windermere and take the launch up to Ambleside round to Wray Castle and back, having a walk at each point. Autumn colours are fairly limited this year - a lot of trees have lost their leaves but some colour around. Wray is owned by the National Trust and is a Mock-Gothic Castle with turrets, towers and informal grounds. No contents but obviously from the number of visitors very popular with children. Final shot of Porcelain Fungus, which does arches rather better than the castle

Skipton

We stopped in Skipton overnight on the way to the Lake District as I was lecturing to Otley Camera Club - thanks for the very warm welcome. Skipton was voted the best place to live in England (admittedly by Sunday Times) for its independent shops, town attractions such as the Castle, church and canal systems and its reasonable house prices. We certainly enjoyed our 2 hours there. They are very proud of their role in the Tour de France with yellow bikes and bunting still in evidence. The church offfered some interesting views, reflections and shadows.

Welney Wildfowl Trust

Welney Ouse Washes was looking its best yesterday afternoon in the sunshine. We saw five Marsh Harriers in the air at once so there were at least that many hunting there and putting up vast flocks of Lapwings, Golden Plover, Widgeon, Teal, Pochard, Gulls etc. A group of around a dozen Snipe flew in to join the Lapwings at one stage. About 800 Whooper Swans have already made the 1200 mile journey from Iceland to spend the winter at Welney and there are always the Mallards, Pochards and Mute Swans to enjoy.