Westport Lake.

The remains of the hurricane was still hanging around again today, with very strong winds and alternate sunshine and showers....not to be put off we headed for Westport Lake in Staffordshire.There, in the S.W. corner of the lake was what we had come for.....an eclipse Ring-necked Duck (drake)...this bird had made the long journey from the east coast of America, blown off course by the hurricane. A very beautiful bird...even though its plummage was a bit rough.....love to see it when it has all its adult feathers. I just managed to get the images of the Herring Gull, a Pochard, and a Common Gull on the lake before the black clouds rolled in again!
Ring-necked Duck.

Herring Gull (juvenile).

Pochard.

Common Gull.

Black-headed Gull.

Peak District.

As the whole of Cheshire and the Wirral was to be covered in dark clouds and rain today, we decided to go to The Peak District in south Yorkshire...I have never been before. It was totally breath-taking....with the rolling hills all covered in gorgeous purple heather.En-route we saw numerous Red Grouse...flushed from the heather, although not photographable. Also seen were 2 Raven and several Kestrels. I could not resist taking these lovely views from the main road at Woodhead Pass. I would love to come back again, especially when it has just been covered with virgin snow. A very satisfying day!

Norfolk Puddle

We were in Choseley, Norfolk and sitting in the car, it was a really hot day and we noticed birds dropping down to quench their thirst in a small puddle just yards from us...in fact we saw about 12 different species in about an hour....these are just some of the images I took, considering they were all quite nervous.Later on it was apparent why they were so edgy...a Sparrow Hawk also dropped down in front of us and flew off with its prize...it was somewhat sad, but that's nature I suppose.
Chaffinch / Greenfinch.

Yellow Wagtail.

Whitethroat.

Yellowhammer.

Wirral.

Today was one of those days...was it going to brighten up or was the heavy black cloud going to follow us all the way to the Wirral.We reached Leasowe and within minutes the sun came out. There was not really much around, but I did manage to capture these Turnstones against the rocks.Not to be defeated, I turned my attention to the numerous butterflies fluttering around.....the Common Darter dragonfly just sat sunning itself on the wall and was fairly easy to capture, but the Common Blue I had to really chase around and was much harder to photograph.
Common Darter.

Common Blue (male).

Turnstone.