Curlew

Eastern Moors staff heard their first curlew for 2013 last week, but I only heard my first one while at Shillito Wood this morning and then there were several more near Swine Sty.  With snow forecast for the next 2 … Continue reading

Flights of Fancy

A lot of excitement and aerial activity at feeding time! 12 different species in an hour at Shillito Wood. Blue tit, great tit, coal tit, yellowhammer, reed bunting, blackbird, robin, nuthatch, siskin, chaffinch, goldfinch and dunnock. … Continue reading

Nuthatch

I’m sure these birds are much tamer than they used to be The secret seems to be that if you go to Shillito Wood car park, you need to take some sunflower seeds with you! … Continue reading

Frogs

Unlike my daughter, I love frogs!  The more the better for me.  That’s why last year I was really pleased to see the huge volumes of frogspawn in the Little Reservoir on the Bar Brook. By early May many of … Continue reading

Siskin

For the last few weeks I have tried to photograph the siskin (with limited success), feeding along with redpolls on the seeds of the alder trees on the edge of Barbrook Plantation.  The redpolls have a red patch on their … Continue reading

Peace and quiet!

Any walker on Big Moor will regularly come across groups of red deer and today was no different.  However what I have noticed is that at this time of year the males seem to go off together and the females … Continue reading

Water voles

One of the treasures of Big Moor must be the water vole population living in the banks of the Bar Brook.  Lowland areas of the UK have seen the population of these charming creatures decimated by changes in habitat and … Continue reading

Devonshire Arms

Usually my posts are about wildlife, plants, local history or scenery but occasionally there are matters which affect your enjoyment of life which need recording. Over the last couple of days I have ‘discovered’ the Devonshire Arms in Baslow.  Now … Continue reading

Rock Faces

Is it just me or is Baslow Edge a good place for rock faces! Here is an old lady at sunrise: However if you wait a couple of hours for the sun to rise she loses 50 years: Not far … Continue reading