It's all white, I'm still alive!

I've had a few concerned folk ask me why I haven't been blogging for a while. Well, it's like this. I've been busy. For those that know me it may be hard to even to begin to comprehend, but it is, alas, true. Anyway, I'm back.

This morning was a beautiful snowy morning, just what was needed for an early morning walk around the patch at East Holywell.

East Holywell

Good numbers of Fieldfare in the paddock, though shy as usual, taking flight as soon as I opened the front door. A walk along to Fenwick Pit and a covey of Grey Partridge were calling, while a flock of Rook fed around the 'new' subsidence pond at the eastern side of the pit.

Grey Partridge

Rooks

And what have I been busy doing I hear you ask. Well more on that later............

Wow!

Wow!

Four Candles

With snow today, and Robins in the garden, the trusted garden fork was strategically placed to get a classic Christmas card shot. They landed everywhere but!

Mystery bird - test your ID skills!

Okay then folks, here's a feathered friend having a preen. But can you tell what he/she is?

Gone Murmuring

Heading West along the A69, just before Brampton, there's a small reed fringed trout lake a 100 metres or so to the North of the road, just before the A6071 turn off to Gretna. Here's a video I took passing here a couple of years ago. Last year a couple of friends of mine went fishing here in a boat. At dusk they were blown away, becoming part of the murmuration

Baltic

A trip to Maud Terrace in West Allotment, to photograph Waxwings, was a chilling experience. I arrived to find 25 birds in a ringer's mist net. After assisting in extracting and bagging them, I stood with a couple of photographers waiting for the birds to return to feed on the Rowan berries. It was a fruitless wait, and only prolonged by a kind resident who popped out with a much needed cup of coffee.

The birds kept promising to land but a Mistle Thrush was on guard, and after two hours I was  hypothermic.

As a consolation I snapped a few garden visitors before beelining for a hot lamb casserole.

Identical....

Here's a couple of pics of Mottled Umber moths recently caught in the garden. Both specimens are males, females are flightless, but with very different markings. Nothing unusual about this, but it adds to the headache fun in identifying them correctly.

Garden Cam

Had a play with my Go Pro camera in the garden feeding station today.

East of Eden

A late afternoon wander along the local track at East Holywell was very quiet, with just a couple of dog walkers, a burberry of chavs, a Woodcock fly-by, and good numbers of Blackbirds raiding the Hawthorn berries. It was, however, quiet a worry to see just how many Ash trees there are around here. If the dreaded die-back fungus gets here, it's going to change the landscape.

Bullfinch was my first sighting here, but better still was a garden tick as I returned to find a Willow Tit on the peanut feeder!

As a distant storm headed for Teeside, a skein of Pink-footed Geese flew over into the sunset. Nice :)

Aerial View

Bee-eater

This European Bee-eater should be in sub-Saharan Africa, but after a wrong turn it's now in Seaburn feeding on wasps. Let's hope it sorts it's GPS out before winter closes in.