Last weeks sub zero temperatures and sunshine were perfect conditions for filming Fieldfares – if you could find any! A Hawthorne bush in a neighbours garden was full of large red berries and out of the blue three Fieldfares descended to gobble them up. I had a memorable two days filming these and some other birds that turned up to enjoy the feast.
Christmas greetings to all our readers. www.facebook.com/gordonyateswildlife
There is no doubt that the most illusive winter visitor to the Pennines is the Jack Snipe. Most people will never see one but I like the ultimate challenge. In the last two winters I have encountered 179 – all have flown off at close quarters and have provided me with no photos. All that was to change last Sunday when, in perfect conditions(Minus8C), I located a Jack Snipe, that froze, along a Pennine stream. I had plenty of time to take all the photos I needed and then go home for lunch.
I was intrigued to know whether it would move during the day so two hours later I returned and took some more photos – it had moved less than an inch!
We both felt elated – me because I had a camera full of images and the Jack Snipe because it thought I had not seen it!! www.facebook.com/gordonyateswildlife
I took this weeks landscape photo early one morning this last summer as I sat waiting for a Long Eared Owl to hunt.It seemed to me to illustrate what is now happening to our open countryside – one last refuge for the horses as the industrial sprawl encroaches all around! Next to where I was hidden were some Larch trees and in the tallest one a Kestrel was on the look-out for prey. Unfortunately it was continually harassed by Black-fly and did not stay long! www.facebook.com/gordonyateswildlife
Once again it looks like its going to be another winter with very few berries and even less Redwings. At dawn on Monday I found four Redwings, along the canal, finishing off the few Hawthorne berries that were left.It was the only day this last week when the sun appeared and their colours were transformed in the winter sunshine.
www.facebook.com/gordonyateswildlife
For three months last summer I spent time in the hills filming three different hunting male Long Eared Owls. They were memorable nights and I took hundreds of photos so lets have a look at some of the also rans.
The blog photo is interesting in that the eyes look yellow and not orange as they all were. It is just a matter of the evening light and the angle of its head – in the next photo his eyes were orange! www.facebook.com/gordonyateswildlife
The exciting thing about wildlife photography is that you never know what subject will present itself to you. One morning last week I set out before sunrise to try and find a local Kingfisher. As I reached the canal out in the middle was a male Goosander. It was only there a few seconds, there was no light,.but I managed to take a few photos despite the conditions. What will appear next?www.facebook.com/gordonyateswildlife