The little Westies

The little Westies & myself would like to wish all our readers a merry Christmas & a Happy New Year.

Early morning , and a Derwent water froze over end to end
ice now over 4inch thick and people are begining to venture onto it.



And the little rascals enjoyed every minute

   

Quiet days

Beech & Oak keep hold of their leaves in spite of the frost

Very little moving on the patch yesterday or today, Quiet days not good. This morning a flock of 30 Lapwings circled the flood, but only 4 landed on ice covered flood. All through the year there has been 2 to 300 Lapwings on the flood where have they all gone, maybe they are feeding nearer to the coast.

A lone Buzzard flying through a semi misty gloom, it was later mobbed by a Crow.
 

General view over Penrith yesterday.

Still the dominant bird on the patch is the Blackbird, always lots foraging about in the snow.
Back in the yard we are inundated with Starlings, a few Chaffinches, and on the bird table, Blue tit, Coal tit, Robin, and below one of a pair of our year round visitors.

Collared Dove

Thrushes and sunsets

Walking the Westies up at the patch this morning in driving hail and snow, and in no time at all it was sticking on the roads. I heard a Blackbird call and saw a couple of gulls fly over and that was it, as at times it was almost a whiteout. However as the morning progressed it cleared and back home I managed to do a few small jobs on the car. Mrs W had the day off today so just after lunch we made our way over to the lads at Flusco. They had had quite a bit more snow over there and it had also started to freeze. We had just gone over the first cattle grid of their drive, when Mrs W spotted Redwings pecking about in the snow not far from the car. At first I tried to get some pics from the car, but this wasn't working, and of course as soon as I got out of the car they soon get nervous and they are away. it was the same also with the Fieldfares, altogether there must have been a mixed flock of up to a hundred.



Redwing struggling to find seed in the snow.

Fieldfare in setting sun.

Redwing

One day I'll get the hang of this camera as regards sunsets!!



Keeping an eye on the patch

Carrion Crow

Still keeping an eye on the patch when I take the Westies for a walk, but there is more life in the cemetery. Even though the weather has been mild these past few days, it hasn't helped much, and only the top layer of ground has thawed out. After the top half inch of mud its rock hard so there has been no return of the Snipe to the flood. The flood itself is just a layer of water over a thick layer of ice, and there has been no Lapwings for days. I have seen very few Fieldfares so far this winter around the patch, but there has been lots of Blackbirds , its nothing to see a dozen or more in a short space. Yesterday the highlight was one lone Goldfinch, but this morning there was well over a dozen in a large Oak, it certainly brightened the morning up . Also the other morning the Kestrel was sat at the top of the big Willow near the top track, but flew off just after I got the bins on it.

 Derwentwater lake and ice reflecting the sun.
 And any time now we are heading for another big freeze and more snow, the forecasters are saying that Cumbria could get more than the North-East this time, joy!!. My scope is in the bedroom getting covered in dust, I'm frighten if it sees daylight it might melt. Its going to be a long winter.

A trip over to Keswick

Sod off this is my post.

Just before lunch yesterday I set off again this time with my Daughter, making our way over to Keswick. The main reason to buy another thermal, and also to go down to the Ismus and have a crack with my mate Les. After calling in the main mountain shops we headed down to the lake and the boat landings. The lake was completely froze over and looked really great as did the mountains, but they hadn't had that early morning mist that we had had in Penrith , so the trees were just bare and lacked any winter decoration.

There was quite a few Black-headed Gulls round the landings on the lookout for food.

Also one or two Crows.

This Black-headed Gull is almost in summer plumage,
something wrong here me thinks.

2 views looking down the lake

Also while walking through the Ismus wood my Daughter spotted a grey squirrel, which we have yet to report.

More snow & frost



A selection of pics from yesterday morning round Thacka.
No birds at all on or near the flood.



Winter wonderland--Thacka.

Spot the rabbit.

The lapwings were sitting on the centre of the flood this morning, which was covered in ice and snow , I suppose they felt safe from predators, not realizing that the predators could reach them.

This poor chap didn't look very happy

There was loads of Blackbirds about and Fieldfares all over in ones and twos, also small flocks of finches, but didn't see and Bramblings amongst them.

Managed to catch this Fieldfare on the wing.

Looking East along the top track.

Spider's industrious work being turned into art.

The morning had started with a thick mist, and as it was still freezing the results were stunning.