Winter in the Peak District NP

Yesterday I was out to Peak District NP. There is a lot of snow here now (for being England), so I wanted to take the opportunity before it disappears in a few days.
The day did not start well at all, I dropped my most expensive lens in the snow and because I had removed the cap it was full of it and not the easiest to get it off.
Luckily there where no major damage that I know of yet.
I wandered off to the place where the mountain hare is and it was not the most fun to plod (is this the correct english word for it??.. )in the snow, it sucked the life out me. Finally 3 hours later I came to where I wanted. Initially, I saw no hares, but soon saw some tracks that I followed. First I saw one and then suddenly a bunch of them. It was still hard to get close, and when looking at the pictures in the camera afterwards it looked as I chought them in the fog, but I realized it was water or condensation in the lens (from when I dropped it in the snow). It was impossible remove it so I have now permanent fog effect ;))

The landscape was nice as the wind had glued the snow on poles, stones, twigs and etc. 

After walking around and photographing a couple of hours it was time to go back down to the pub to take a well deserved cold beer :))

Camera eguipment: Nikon D90, nikon 200-400mm f4 and nikon 10-24mm f3,5

Landscape in the mist

A few days ago, I was off to Stanage Edge, in hope of fog in the valley. During some previous hikes the scenery has been amazingly wonderful.
I got there a little later in the day because I wanted to try and shoot the sunset, otherwise if I get there in the morning I know I can't be bothered to remain there until sunset.
The fog then, it was in place and was as a lid over the valley. I had the zoom on, with which I can both take compact landscape pics but also later on take out the detailes. I really like these pics, especially the feeling that the landscape is close by even if in the real life you see for miles and miles (swedish mile ;)) )
The expectation that at the sunset the sun would light up the fog with its warm beams did not fulfill, but you can not have everything :))

Camera equipment used: D90 with nikon 200-400 f4 lens and the 10-24mm f3,5

Grey Wagtail

Today I took a walk down to the Rivelin Valley in the stunning fine weather with sunshine and clear blue skies.
The goal was  to find the dipper, but unfortunately, it was not there when I was there.
So I went around and looked for kingfisher instead, managed to find it in a swamp area but it did not want to be photographed today. But instead, I saw a gray wagtail which was a bit surprising, because I thought they disappeared to warmer countries in the autumn.
But good for me because then I got something to shoot today, I was able to get it as close as 3-4m which rarely happens during the summer months if you do not have camouflage.
Maybe it was  too busy to eat rather than looking for me, because it ran back and forth all the time. It certainly was not still for a single second, which made it rather difficult to photograph especially with my D90 which has not really so fast autofocus.

Mountain hare and Red grouse

Yesterday we went out on a 14 km hike, one of our well known routes. This one is quite nice as it's a rather easy walk but has great views over the Ladybower area.
This particular morning was really warm with +10C. So far the new year has been so warm :)
The sun showed itself now and then, but up on the tops it a bit windy as usual and then of course it felt little colder.
What makes it more fun to hike around here is that there are a lot of Red grouse and it's a challenge to try to approach them for some pictures. As they at the moment forming pair the males are getting a but tougher and easier to approach. Maybe they thought I was a threat and wanted to show off. I got as only few meters from them!
I came really close to another animal too, a mountain hare. They are pretty with their white fur.
And despite their white fur it's not easy to see them, even if there is no snow right now, sometimes only a head held down in the heather is visible.
I managed to sneak up 3m to one hare through wet heather and bog. It is amazingly exciting to be able to get close to wild animals like this.

Road trip through Peak District NP

The day was spend driving around with the wife's parents in the Peak District to show a bit of the neighborhood. We started at Ladybower reservoir,

then continued along it for few km to Derwent. We wanted to show them the dam which is very nice with its falling water.

Next we continued to Hope Valley and Edale, where it was a lot of snow (for UK :)) ) It looked very nice with snow on the peaks and the green valleys.
The journey continued through the Winnats pass, one of the two passes through the Dark Peak area. The other one is the Snake pass, a bit more north, passing Ladybower.

At Winnats pass (Castleton), there are a lot of caves as it was an old mining areas. They quarried for  a stone called Blue John, a semi-precious stone blue in color :) (suprised? ;) )
After a few quick photos, we continued to Bakewell which is a nice little village with small shops, cafés and a lot of outdoor cloth shopping. After strolling around for a while and shopped the mandatory bakewell pudding, we went to the last place we would have time to visit namely Chatsworth house (http://www.chatsworth.org/). The house is amazing but today there was an awful lot of tourists, so we just took a couple of quick photos and went home.

Some bird pictures

I have continued my attempts to shoot Jay's, I have gone there early in the cover of darkness. Because I have noticed that if i go there while it's in the middle of the day so they want not to come. Like yesterday, I was there all afternoon without success and now this morning I was there again, they arrived and checked out but then disappeared pretty quickly, maybe they saw something that was strange, I had moved the camera to another place because it would otherwise have rained and blew straight into the lens so maybe it was that they saw.
So today it was just some small birds on the site.
I have put out a big branch and when i arrive I put sunflower seeds and nuts on top of it. And the meaning of it is that the birds will land on top of the branch, because I have the camera pointed at it. And also because i want clean pictures without any distracting things. In this way the eyes stuck on the bird only and make it pleasant to watch :) but I have not really gotten into it yet mostly because I have to have the camera a good distance away from the branch (5-6m) and then you can not really get the blur in the background I'm after.  And it's so far away, because the jay's otherwise not will arrive, they are very suspicious.

One other problem has been the sound of the cameras shutter, when i fire away pictures it sounds like machine gun but they are now getting used to it.

There is one picture of jay, it is not a good quality picture but i put in anyway :)

 

Camera equipment i used: nikon 3Ds nikon 70-200mm f2.8, nikon 200-400mm f4, tripod and wireless remote control.

 

Tough Now!

Now it's little hard to find something to photograph, Weather wise it has been great with sun and chilly mornings all week. I have tried to shoot Jays for a few days now, but without result. Mostly because I can not be bothered to sit still, and I'm starting to freeze after 2 hours and then I just give up, and it does not help to dress warm either. I have also been up to Redmires reservoirs but there was not much bird life there either, except for some different kinds of gulls and roosting lapwing's. I Also checked for water vole but they were not there, but they might remain inside at their nests in the winter.


Bird food thief

Willow tit

Roosting Lapwing's

Black-headed gull in winter plumage

Black heads

Ladybower, Peak district National Park

Yesterday, me and my wife, took the bus to Ladybower reservoir to spend few hours enjoying the autume colours. As you might know by now, Ladybower is located just 10min from us by bus into the Peak District National Park.
Since it is close to us, we try to come out there at least few times per month. Yesterday we wanted to see the small beech forest on the east side of the reservoir, and unfortunately it was probably the last minute to see it in the autumn colors. As it tends to be a bit colder there compared to Sheffield the autume comes a bit faster. Anyhow the day offered lovely weather with sunshine and 10C.

Photo equipment i used: Nikon D3s, D90, nikon 10-24mm f 3,5-4,5 and 24-70mm f2,8 lenses.
Click on a picture to enlarge them!

Old big beech tree

I love the colours in this

Part of the beech forest

Beech forest and ladybower

Ladybower

Fall colours

Ladybower with Great Tor and Bamford edge in the background 

More fall colours

Some pictures from the week

All week I've been down and around the Rivelin Valley, It has been a true and fruitful week first kingfisher and yesterday when I went back to the kingfisher I saw a lot of waxwings and they are very rare here in England but in recent years it has come more o more of them. Seems like there is a shortage of food berries in the north, and that's why they're coming this way.
The kingfisher that I would try to shoot by spending some time inside the camouflauge, but as I feared, it was not there. I was waiting for it in 2 hours but it did not show up so I had to pack up and move on. On the way home, I passed a large flock of long-tailed tit's always fun to watch as they fly from tree to tree in their food search and with their chirping sound. These birds are not shy either, so you can get as close as 2-3m, but it is still tricky to take pictures of them for they are quick and usually deep in the bushes and trees.

Click on a picture to enlarge them!

Waxving/Sidensvans

Waxving/Sidensvans

Long-tailed tit/Stjärtmes

Shiny rock

Warm and cold

Jay/Nötskrika watching over his land