One thing I hadn’t been expecting Saturday before last was a blizzard, but that’s exactly what we encountered whilst travelling up through the heads of the valleys. What had started out as light rain rapidly deteriorated (or improved depending on your point of view) into heavy snow which began settling Read more…
Having endured yet another week of downpours we thought what the hell, why not go and enjoy some English rain for a change. Actually our reasons for crossing the border on Saturday were slightly better thought through than that with reports of thousands upon thousands of wintering wildfowl coming out Read more…
I was in two minds as to whether or not I should publish anything here from our visit to RSPB Old Moor. Not because we didn’t see much, far from it in fact, but rather down to the lack of decent photos I managed to take. I’m probably my own Read more…
It was a return to Ilkley Moor to round off our Leeds trip and unlike last time there wasn’t even the hint of a light shower let alone the deluges which had severely challenged our resolve earlier in the week. In their place was a clear sky and sweltering temperatures Read more…
It’s always surprising quite how quickly a week away can simply disappear and by the time we got to our final two days in Leeds we still hadn’t managed to fit in any of the long, moorland walks of which I’d so been looking forward to. This meant that, regardless Read more…
Last Wednesday we met with friends for lunch, followed by a walk of course, leaving just a couple of hours free in the morning for exploration. With blazing sun (despite the forecast being for heavy rain) we headed over to Golden Acre park where a small wetland area near the Read more…
After our success at Blacktoft the day before we decided to head to another RSPB reserve on Tuesday. Although there were no repeat prospects of anything quite as dramatic as a Montagu’s Harrier, Fairburn Ings has in the past supplied a wide array of species and so hopes were high Read more…
This is a big one. This time last week we’d just had one of those days in the field which will always live long in my memory. It all stemmed from a chance conversation about Blacktoft Sands, an RSPB reserve on the Humber estuary which I’m ashamed to say had Read more…
After enduring a series of heavy deluges the day before (which we overcame in fantastic style if I do say so myself) we thought on Sunday that we may as well make use of all that fallen water. So it was that we found ourselves at Ingleton, home of allegedly Read more…
It’s not often that one gets to draw parallels between the world of motor racing and birding but on this occasion I might just be about to pull it off. As a little bit of background I should mention that we headed to Yorkshire last weekend for a few days Read more…