Friday 25 December 2009

Merry Christmas

I love this time of year, when the weather is good the light is to die for, cold crisp clear air and rich colours; the recent fall of snow has added a big natural reflector to that, needless to say I've been out with the Canons as much as possible.
One of my main target species for this winter has been Redwing, and no disappointments with them, they seem to be the "christmas decorations" on every berry laden hedge or bush, along with Fieldfares and lots of Song Thrushes (no doubt from the continent) too, great to see and photograph all of these.
The snow covered landscape has been a rare sight in recent years, so it's been a joy to get out and photograph wintery scenes.
The highlight by a long way for me was a chance encounter with a Woodcock, an elusive bird usually, but their cryptic camouflage is rendered useless by a coating of snow on the ground, I've seen 5, but one of them was such a poser, I spent over an hour with it and shot several images with fill-in flash..... and then drove home with a very smugg grin on my face!