A FEW HOURS AT MOORE NATURE RESERVE

I wanted to catch the last of the forecast good weather for this week and explore a Nature Reserve just outside Warrington. It's an ex-land fill site and there is still land fill operations taking place in another area which you can't see or hear. The Reserve has several lakes, three separate routes in opposing directions to different lakes and a haven for birds along a river and disused canal. I only had a few hours there so I just walked around the first lake trying to get the feel of the place and take a few shots with the camera and a new large lens I bought last week. There weren't many people there, but those that were there were knowledgeable in identifying birds, very friendly and gave me a few tips on where certain birds would be. I think I've got lots to learn.

This is the lake I walked around:











This bird I have never seen before, but a friendly "Twitcher" identified it as a Golden Eye.


He did a fair amount of diving too.

Going up!!


Going down!!


He was quicker than I was!!

 

At the risk of boring you here's some of the rest of the shots I managed to get.




















They even had a flock of Hebridean Sheep there grazing in the fields.



There's a lot to explore and see there as there are Woodland full of birds and animals so maybe a little time and patience will pay off with some better shots. But for a first exploratory visit and trying out a new lens I'm reasonably happy.
The mark of the day was me driving home feeling as though I'd had a really nice relaxing day and found a really beautiful place to wander around.

 

It was just nice to wander around with no real pressure to do anything but enjoy the day, Joolz. There were, as I said only a few people around but plenty of birds on the water. It's a lovely place and well worth going back to and doing a bit more exploring and there are plenty of other Nature Reserves around here as well so I'm looking forward to that.

I spent around a year up on the Isle of Lewis, when I was in the RAF, stripping out a defunct Early Warning Radar Station and helping demolish it at a place called Aird Uig on the Atlantic side of the Isle. The Sheep there were very wild and when you went for a walk you took a big stick to fend them off as they would attack you!!!

 

They certainly defended it at full tilt. The thing was that there were no fences at the camp on the Isle of Lewis so the Sheep would bed down for the night by the Huts and you had to bang on the doors in the morning to get out as the Sheep were lying against the doors blocking them.........not good when you want your breakfast!! Also the beaches were strewn with the huge bones of beached Whales and the winds could get up to a hundred miles or more.

 

It really was a tranquil place and place, Sheal. I'll be going back next week to have a look at the other routes, one of which leads to the river and canal and the other leads to other lakes with feeder stations........looking forward to it