Moorland birds and scenery

Back on the moors again, yesterday. Sadly, no sound of a Cuckoo, this time. There were a couple of Stonechats.

A bit of a pale eye-stripe there, trying to pretend it's a Whinchat!

This friendly Skylark practically dropped down in front of me.

However, one of the reasons that I'd gone up there was to photograph the Cotton Grass. This is the most famous local landmark, Rivington Pike, which is an old hunting lodge, with some white Cotton Grass in the foreground

Anyone who spends time on the hills is contractually obliged to add a few sheeps to the occassional photo and these are obviously experienced models, sitting perfectly on the horizon

However, this was the sort of view I was looking for, with a wide expanse of Cotton Grass making it look like it's snowed.

I let these blur in the wind to give the impression that the marshmallows are fruiting!

  

The next summit on the circuit has a huge TV mast

Despite that, it can be really bleak up there and I always have a project in my head to photograph that ... a sort of personal challenge to photograph "nothing". This is one of those.

Then I had a pair of these but the female was the closer

It was still early after that and when I got back to the car I realised that I hadn't seen any Terns and only a few minutes away was a park with breeding islands. There are normally 3 but two had crashed over winter. Usually there are 2 or 3 pairs on each island but this year they are all cramped on the one island.

  

I'm glad they've stayed even if the accommodation is cramped as they are lovely birds, especially in a built up area like these are.

Finally, a little tester: anyone spot what's wrong with the next bird?

A Lesser Black-back (in full adult plumage) with no white spots on its wingtips. What's going on, there???