Snowmobiling around Arvidsjaur.

So I'm back from another awesome weekend at my brothers in Kalix. 
Actually it was awesome only for the first 2 days when we were off to Arvidsjaur having great weather, sunny with few degrees above zero and lots lots of snow, as I after that got the stomach bug and spend 2 remaining not doing much.
Lets focus on first 2 days :)
Even through we would start quite early in the morning there was usually always around 3 h car driving to the places we wanted to drive around at. The nature was really nice, mixture of steep slopes, old tall firs and open areas with smaller jumps. In other words just fun playgrounds for a snowmobile :) 
The snow was not at all the same as in January-February. Now much more packed but we would still manage to get stuck 'few' times and as usual it got very sweaty. Its just part of the game :) Another difference is the length of the day. At this time of the year you get so many more hours to have fun with. Which you most definitely can feel in the sore muscles.

Next trip is of course booked and it will be during the Easter. We will then be going up to Kvikkjokk for the whole weekend. I'm looking forward to it but the trip is a bit of a danger as my brothers snowmobile is broken... Anyhow, I will be travelling north but maybe with less snowmobiling #notpleased

Till next time dear friends
                                                                        

Stuck in a ditch :)

A Hike at Ladybower

Last week was spent trying to figure out where the kingfisher would land so I could get some close-up pictures. As you can see, in the lack of a blog about it, I failed. The area its in is rather full of twigs and bushes, which makes it a bit complicated. Anyhow, the hunt continues.
Until then, you'll have to put up with some pictures from Ladybower where we were on Saturday.  A path that we have taken before, a 14km loop that starts by taking you along the reservoir, then turns right up the hills towards the dark peaks and back along the ridge.
Earlier that morning it had been snowing, and as its rather high up here, the snow was still on the ground. After a while the sun came out too and it almost became warmer. Actually only if you were hiding behind larger rocks, as the wind itself was cooling down to probably around -5 :)
Despite the weather earlier in the day, there were a lot of people walking around. Some better and some worse dressed. Actually saw few with just SHORT on!! Should not be so surprised as its rather normal here in England to underdress for the weather.
Until next time, hope you enjoy the pictures.
                                                                           

Last part of the road trip to Scotland

On sunday morning we left a sunny Isle of Skye to drive towards Loch Ness, but we did not see the Loch Ness monster so we drove on towards the Cairngorms National Park.
We went to Glenmore Forest Park which is located near the village of Aviemore and from there we took the mountain railway up to the mountain cabin which is located at 1024 m above sea level, I was surprised how much snow there was and what a great ski resort it was.
We went up here mostly to take pictures of the view, but my wife and our friend walked the last bit to the top of the mountain, which is also the highest peak in the Cairngorms NP (1309) m above sea level.
I was too thinly dressed and it blew very cold so I stayed near the cabin :))
Lift ticket prices and the like was same as in Sweden, expensive in other words.
Then we drove to Aberdeen that was our last overnight stop. 
But because it still was bright outside, we went to the coast to take photos at a place called Nigg Bay.
On Monday it was just to drive home again, and we also drove through a National Park (Northumberland) but now it was just low hills, and as we have seen everything nice before it felt very boring;))

Loch Morlich and the ski resort in the background

Mountain Cabin 1024m

It is always dangerous with snow



Road Trip To Scotland (Part 1)

Last Thursday (skärtorsdagen) after that wife and a friend finished the work for the day, we started with our trip to Scotland. 
Not drive all the way to the Isle of Skye (which was our most northen destination) but stay the first night at the Lake District NP, to then early on Friday morning drive the last long stretch.
The journey from Sheffield to Skye took about 12hr, but as we slept in the Lake District we only had 8-9h driving on Friday.
The long drive didn't matter as the sceneries were breath taking. Passing through among others the Loch Lomond and the Trossachs NP. The journey goes through valleys and mountain, and sometimes it was down to sea ​​and then again up the mountains. Amazing!
On the mountains the snow was very nicely placed just on the highest peaks, and the weather was beautiful with sunshine and just few degrees above zero.
We arrived to Skye in the afternoon, and as our first stop was Talisker Whisky distellery for a guided tour. Maybe not one of my favorites, as its one of the smokier whiskey on the market, but still a lot of fun to see how its made.

We just had few hours before the sunset which we spent on the southwestern parts of the island. The roads are very very narrow in some places, but as there very little to no traffic it was still fine driving there. Plan was to take sunset-pictures, but unfortunately it was not as nice as it could be.
The trip for the day ended at the hostel after a fine spanish meal :))

Kirkstone Pass, Lake District NP

Ullswater, Lake District NP

Loch Lomond NP

Loch Lomond NP

Highlands

Highlands

Royal Forest, Three Sisters

Isle of Skye west coast (achnacloich)

Achnacloich

Some pictures from a wintry Kalix

Here are some pictures from the first few days here in Kalix.
Me and  brother went to some places to check if the dipper were in place but unfortunately it has been cold with -22 degrees so all the little streams had frozen and the dippers had fled to larger rivers like Kalix river where we later found them.
But the river is big and wide so it was impossible to get close to them.  
The weather has been very good so far with cool nights and a little warmer in the day when the sun appears.
Today I went out into the forest with wooden skis because it's impossible to get around otherwise in the meter-deep snow, it's a great feeling to glide almost silently in the woods looking for wildlife. Today I managed to see squirrel and Hazel grouse but I only had the wide angle lens with me, so no pictures today I
will try again some other day.

  -22 in the morning

Frosty birch

Fishing lures hanging from a power line above the Kalix river

Ice which comes off from pine trunk in the heat of the sun

Kingfisher

Here are some more Kingfisher pictures, from the time when it still was snow, the snow disappeared for 1.5 weeks ago and after that it has been spring-time temperatures.
But instead it is very windy, and we also had thunderstorms two times, which feels a little bit strange  in late January :))
For some images I have used 2.0 teleconverter and 200-400mm lens, and that's because i wanted to get closer to the bird.
But it has the disadvantage that its aperture is f8 instead of f4 which means it needs lot more light or raise the Iso on the camera, which does not feel good because the quality of the image gets even worse.
The sharpness of the images also becomes worse and to get the best out of the combo, you should increase the aperture to 11 or more, but then it becomes even more difficult with the light.
Well enough about that, every time  I've been to the kingfisher I've tried to get the pictures of it when it's flying or splashing in to the water images, but it's so incredibly difficult.
The little bird is so fast, so the moment when it dives from the branch into the water is lightning fast and  to see where it lands and then try to point the camera there seems hopelessly impossible.
But today I'm going down again, I hope it is still there otherwise I will enjoy the the storm winds.

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

Kingfisher in snow.

Have not blogged for a few days, and I blame the weather. Actually I have been out shooting dipper, but accidently deleted all images :(
Winter arrived a week ago and we do not see the end of it yet. Last night we got around 10-15cm of snow, which means that it is chaos on the roads. 
Back to the photos :))
The kingfisher has been out a lot lately, so I was down to Endcliff Park earlier today in hope of shooting it in a bit more snowy environment.
The kingfisher has been very active and it's probably because of the cold, not that it is extremly cold but it probably needs to eat more than usual. A lot of small fish in the pond, so it does not go hungry.
This also means that I got quite a lot of opportunities to try to catch it flying and fishing.
Tried today to get pictures of it diving in the water and taking off, but it's damn hard. Might be the camera, used D90, which isnt the best action camera. I ended up with blurry pictures unfortunately. But practice makes perfect and tomorrow I will try again, this time with the D3S and hope for the dream picture finally to be taken.

Winter in Redmires reservoir

Today I took the bike up to Redmires Reservoir, with the aim to take pictures of water vole in snowy environment. Unfortunately the snow had already meltet :/ So instead I took some landscape and bird pictures. Found a bird I never had seen before, the Reed bunting, quite little bird.
Compared to yesterday the weather was nice, sunny and maybe +8C. Much nicer to be outside again.

Reed bunting

Pied wagtail/sädesärla

chaffinch/bofink

Water vole/vattensork

Mallards enjoys snow