Winter has well and truly arrived with the so called ‘Beast from the East’ weather front blasting in sub-zero temperatures and heavy snow directly from Siberia. I decided to take a break from the commercial photography and head out locally to see what i could do in terms of landscape and wildlife in the snow. As the roads were a bit tretcherous, I headed just down the road to Nostell Priory, a local National Trust property, and took a walk around the parkland. The wind was nearly ripping the skin from my face but it was a good bracing walk around the grounds. I stumbled on four hares in the woods of all places, presumably seeking shelter like me, but they were off far too quickly for a shot. The best birds were goldcrest and treecreeper with the tiny goldcrest being ever so tame and allowing an approach of just a few feet! He was way too busy looking for food in amongst the beech saplings to notice me! A red kite was a good scarce local record and I disturbed him from trees near Needle Eye (the building in the images below).
