The moor the merrier?

As much as I love being on the moors I can't say that I'm invigorated by the so called "wildlife management and conservation" that is carried out on Grouse driven moors. Over the last two weekends I have visited 3 different moors and have come across numerous traps and cages to eliminate "vermin". I won't go into this any more but it truly saddens me that estates can breed birds for shooting and in the process "legally" exterminate other species in the name of "conservation"!!!

Anyway, I won't dwell on the above but will share some pics and a wee blether instead. Friday night drew me to one moor to see if I could emulate the previous weeks encounter with the very handsome Black Grouse and the lek. unfortunately not!!!!

The Friday evening never threw up much photographic opportunities for me other as there were few birds present. I did get a few though, this being one of them

A good few hares were spotted

I spotted 3 kestrels, a lot of wheatears and pippits, some Red and Roe deer. In fact I nearly ran into a wee herd of the reds on my way up to the moor, NOT a predicament I really wanted to get involved in as hitting one of those guys would certainly put a downer on anyone's afternoon!

Also spotted was a Lesser Crested Cairdie with one of his chicks, known as a Madison. A lovely sighting and getting less rare in this area. The usual suspects of pheasants, rooks, crows, jackdaws and Red legged Partridge were around, a couple of buzzards, the obligatory blackbird and a few thrushes were also on hand. A herd of Fallows were spotted on the way home as well.

So, Saturday morning. My alarm went off at 4am as I wanted to get up to the lek early. "Sod it", I thought to myself, "just have a long lie". However around 0445 this nagging wee voice in my head convinced me to get up and go for it. So, I got up with heavy eyes but light heart actually looking forward to sitting in a freezing car for a couple or more hours. As I arrived at the lek, the birds had already arrived and a few up the back were really going for it, great to witness through the binoculars but difficult to photograph due to poor light and distance. Those birdies certainly don't hold back when they go at it, feathers and blood flying everywhere. I'm sure Quentin Tarantino has watched these birds and used some of the kung-fu-esque moves in Kill Bill.

I won't bore you with the early shots as they were really bad but I'll throw in a few later pics. In fact of the 350 pics I took, there were very few that were usable, thank the lord for digital camera's, this would have cost a bomb on the old film reel/develop system.

A few females turned up

And so did a Lesser Crested Cairdie. Twice in less than 12 hours, quality. Adam had spoken to me the night previous and imparted some of his knowledge. Apparently when one or more of these appear

She is quite a bonny wee bird the female and her coming onto the lek induces the cock birds to jump about like numties, no different from an adolescent human boy I suppose

This ultimately leads to testosterone levels being heightened even more and then some laddish behaviour generally ensues. Some posturing, spitting and hissing............

a bit of strutting......

Then, if they are equally committed, hell breaks loose.......

So I headed up the road a bit hoping to see either a short eared owl or harrier but I was disappointed. I did spot more hares, brown and mountain. I did get a pic of this brown hare

and a brown leveret

So moor no 2, Cockrage. I just love the walk up to the moor as there are lots of different habitats and generally a mixed bag of species to be seen. First were some goosanders on the river, some wrens, robins and chaffinches. A variety of tits were evident as was the call of a chiffchaff, but could I get a photo? Hell no!!!! I did get these guys though

A goldcrest