Fatal Attraction
From a human point of view close contact with a pair of Adders may prove fatal but from the male adders point of view he may spend days courting a female.The male in this weeks blog photo approached the female for several days before they got together under a protective stone. He had already fought off an intruding male and it was this action that I was waiting for. In the wildlife world there are few people in Lancashire who have witnessed and filmed the dance or fight of two male Adders and that is now off my bucket list!!
With fantastic evenings this last week it was great to visit the Pennine hills to watch the Short Eared Owls. Sadly, fires on some moors have destroyed the breeding habitat so we can only rejoice in the prospect of rain to come to enable the Shorties to breed successfully.
When you have been photographing birds for more than 60 years there are not many birds that turn up on a Pennine reservoir that you have not seen before. However, in late February, on a reservoir near Burnley,an immature Red-Necked Grebe appeared after a long flight from probably Germany.It liked the water that much that it was still there in early April when it began to moult into breeding plumage. A chance visit the other morning and with the wind in the right direction it provided me with photos of a bird that I had never seen before. www.facebook.com/gordonyateswildlife
With Spring days upon us now is the time to re-visit old Barn Owl breeding sites and hope that luck is with you. Some of the males only come out at dusk and fewer still will hunt at first light which is the best option for a photograph. Like all wildlife photography your results are directly proportional to the time that you put in and of course sods law always works against you. In perfect conditions he will not perform whereas on foul days he will fly over your heads!! Good luck! www.facebook.com/gordonyateswildlife
One of the attractions of a stay at Rivercatcher is that you are close to the Welsh pine-forests where Crossbills like to breed. Unfortunately most of my encounters with them have involved young males who do not possess the spectacular red adult plumage. As compensation you may wish to visit Wales highest waterfall Pistyll Rhaeadr which is to be found deep in the Berwyn mountains.www.facebook.com/gordonyateswildlife
When you have been photographing birds of prey for more than fifty years the challenge eventually is not the bog standard photo but the food-pass photo – that split second moment when the prey is passed from the male to either the female or the young. Your failure rate is extreme – either they have their backs to you or their eyes are closed(for protection).