Scozmo's Photery

We’ve had a fairly good week up here, weather-wise but it’s been bitterly cold with smatterings of snow and a cold wind so, I haven’t been far, up to the feeding post couple of times, that’s it. That at least gets me some exercise, and steps as well as photo opportunities.

This morning started completely clear, not a cloud in the sky and when I wandered out it didn’t feel as cold as it has recently so, up to Backwater reservoir it is.

I was up to make the coffees as usual, sat here at the Mac for a wee while, let my head waken up, then dressed and out. Dressed for the cold too, it felt ok here but the reservoir can be very different.

I’m going to use a few phone photos in this one, I try not to carry two cameras and the camera I carry most of the time has a 180-600mm lens on it so not ideal for landscapes 🙂

As soon as I stepped out of the car in the empty car park I had to get a shot, the light and the snow were just beautiful, maybe I should have brought the other camera?

I’ve also become a fan of panorama shots, mainly to convey the scenery and location I am visiting.

The walk I use is just beside those tall trees on the left and I headed that way as soon as I was dressed and ready.

As you can see, there was a reasonable fall of snow up here, we have none just 7 miles away but lower down.

I headed up the track, past the gate and stopped for a small flock of Bullfinches on a tree. This first area is usually full of birds, Chaffinches, Tits and Blackbirds so always worth a stop.

I usually can’t get shots of females but this morning there were a couple who didn’t mind me taking their photo. I spotted a Red Squirrel very briefly but it didn’t hang around so I watched a few birds in the undergrowth.

A Blackbird, Dunnock and Chaffinch were scurrying around under the trees, I missed the Dunnock.

I was soon out of the shadows of the tall trees and onto the open track and the sun was rising behind me, warming me up a bit, that’s the first time for a while I’ve had to put my hat n gloves on, it was freezing but got better, still beautiful.

There really wasn’t a lot of bird activity this morning, no real surprise, in fact I got to the junction with the new logging road before I saw any real activity and that was distant!

A group of Bullfinches on pine tops and a bonus female Reed Bunting, I’ve been seeing good sized flocks of them up here recently.

Just beyond this junction there’s an old boat house that currently has a bit of rocky beach by it, tide’s out right now 😉 All this snow will soon fill the reservoir again.

You can see the stone ring where people have been camping or or just lighting a fire to sit and enjoy, at least it’s been done properly and there’s no litter at all (for a change)

I quite often drop down here just for a few shots, with the water so low, you can probably walk right round, it’s usually right up at the boat house.

I walked all the way to the picnic bench with only a quick glimpse of a fleeing Buzzard.

I almost always leave some bird food on the bin lid and usually, the Coal Tits, Robin and Chaffinch are there quickly, today, not a one!

So, onward.

I carried on past the bench and on towards the first gate, stopping to look and listen every so often. I often think to myself as I’m walking and looking “you have to have a 360 degree neck, fast focus eyes and hearing like an owl, watching all distances at the same time, so often I’m gazing into the distance when something starts up right in next to me

I had been slowly turning round on the path, looking in the trees all around me, when I was almost back to the right direction, there was movement on a branch. This young female Crossbill must have been fifteen feet from me, moving up the branch. I couldn’t believe my luck, yet again. That shot has been lightened and resized only!

There’s a wee burn that runs under the fallen tree she was on, I think she’d been down for a drink, the ground was very cold and snow covered / frozen.

I cropped this shot in just to centre her. As you might imagine, I grabbed quite a few shots while I could.

I hadn’t yet noticed but there was a second one a few yards further on, I missed my chance.

And that was it, she flew off, the other joined her, just across the path on top of a young pine.

They both took off then, back towards the main area next to the picnic bench so I carried on through the first gate.

I strolled to the second gate, had a good look around, listened to the silence then headed back.

I spotted a few Mallard and a couple of Teal in the upper area, too far to photograph and as I headed South again, a distant Red Kite, hunting further down the water.

A rather noisier bird caught my attention. as it cruised North, Lossie maybe?

I got all the way back to the picnic bench without seeing anything else and there I watched a larger group of Crossbills flitting between the trees, I even caught one dancing, I think? 😉

Actually, I think I caught a youngster begging for food, I saw the food pass but missed the shot.

Or, was it mating???

And ….. I hear you knocking! A Great Spotted Woodpecker (GSW), I see them here quite often.

Just before I moved on towards the picnic bench again, I noticed some activity in the trees in front of me.

There were quite a few Crossbills lurking in the branches, I just couldn’t see them all, until they moved.

I spotted the GSW perched right at the tip of a pine.

It was only when I was editing these shots that I noticed there were two Crossbills up there.

I was on my way back to the car park now, the sun was higher, in my face and made it much warmer, still not what you’d call a warm day though.

A glance across the reservoir…

The Moon was just rising over the hillside and quite difficult to focus on at this point.

I quite often use the walk back to get a good speed going, better exercise than my slow wander up.

I grabbed this shot of a male Reed Bunting catching the light on a pine tip.

And a final female Crossbill that turned into two as they flew off, today really was a Crossbill day, which made me happy.