The Stormcock
The Mistle Thrush is Britains largest song-bird and is also known as the Stormcock. This name emanates from the Thrushes habit of singing at the height of a storm.
Unfortunately,. from a photographers point of view it has a very annoying habit – it stakes its claim to a berry-laden tree and chases off all other birds. This is all very well if you only want to photograph Mistle Thrushes but when Waxwings, Redwings and Fieldfares turn up they are all chased away. I have lost track of how many times I have cursed Mistle Thrushes over the last fifty years!! www.facebook.com/gordonyateswildlife
When we have a High Pressure in Winter it is the best time to go out and film temperature inversions. These occur when the temperature in the valleys is colder than that on the hill-tops. Mist and cloud is formed in the valley bottoms with glorious sunshine above. It is a fabulous natural occurrence and this week was the best I have ever seen. The blog photo shows the valleys of river Calder and Ribble in dense fog but high above the top of Pendle Hill is bathed in sunshine
Still with mobility problems so I have spent most of the last two weeks watching the feeding birds in the garden. On most days we have had twenty or more different species taking food which for the size of the garden is amazing.By far the largest bird has been the male Pheasant who first appeared last year – but is it the same male as last year? Nuthatches come regularly and the immaculate male Sparrowhawk finally perched facing us thus giving a great view of his orange breast.www.facebook.com/gordonyateswildlife
Monday’s snow and ice was perfect for catching up with feeding Redwings. So far this winter there have been very few about but I managed to locate half a dozen feeding on Haws on one of Rochdales busiest roads. In-between passing buses, lorries, cars and people they fed and provided me with the photos I was hoping for. I then went stalking Roe Deer and fell into a snow-covered pot hole damaging my left knee – but don’t worry the camera was OK!! See Gallery www.facebook.com/gordon