Jack Frost
It is easy to see why, looking at this weeks blog photo, the Jack Snipe is the most illusive Winter v visitor to the Pennines. Without frost and snow they are almost impossible to find but last weeks conditions were in my favour with snow followed by a min temp. of minus seven.I knew that any Jack Snipe present would be feeding along the edge of my local stream but would they fly off when our eyes met through the frost?
In a normal winter, on average, only one Snipe freezes and allows me to film it from as close as ten feet. What happened last week is almost impossible to believe when six Jack Snipe all froze where they were and allowed me to photograph them on a 400 yard stretch of the stream. In their eyes they were happy that they had not been found and I walked away having experienced an event that would be difficult ever to beat in the Pennines in Winter!
At long last we have had some classic winter weather with frost and snow to bring the wildlife into the garden. As a result Badger and Fox come daily together with 6 Bullfinches,10 Blackbirds, 8 Long Tailed Tits, 8 Goldfinches and even a Fieldfare – the first for years. www.facebook.com/gordonyateswildlife
Once again, following the second hottest year ever recorded, we are reminded that the summer ice in the arctic may disappear within the next few decades due to global warming.It is only eight years ago that I took these unique shots, in Spitsbergen, of a female Polar Bear leading her three young across the pack-ice. If seeing a Polar Bear on the Arctic pack-ice is top of your bucket list then now is the time to go before it is too late.Whether you see one with three cubs is unlikely as the Captain of our ship informed me that in more than twenty years of sailing the Spitsbergen summer pack-ice he had never seen one with three cubs.I counted myself lucky to be the only passenger on board to film her as all the others were inside the boat enjoying their evening meal!! Can you believe it? www.facebook.com/gordonyateswildlife
Just after sunset in Winter a special event occurs in Hopwood woods. From miles around hundreds of Corvids begin to settle for the night in the woods surrounding the Spire.It is an amazing sight to witness against a winter sunset when up to a thousand Carrion Crows, Rooks, and Jackdaws all settle in the tree-tops. As darkness descends they fall quiet and you would never know that they were there. www.facebook.com/gordonyateswildlife