Last week the family spent a few days in the North Yorkshire dales in a holiday cottage in the tiny hamlet of Cotterdale which lies in the middle of a large shooting estate. There are only 12 cottages in the hamlet many of which contain gamekeepers and their families and others that are for holiday rental but the area is alive with wildlife which was the primary reason for our visit to give me a chance to chill out after a manic 6 weeks of constant work. Our cottage lied at the end of a track with a beck running alongside it and had no mobile signal and a not altogether reliable electricity supply but was very peaceful and surrounded by beautiful scenery in all directions.
Our most regular visitors were the Red Squirrels that would emerge from a small wood on the hillside opposite the cottage, run along a dry stone wall before crossing the beck searching for food in the garden and the adjoining properties. These little beauties were obviously used to getting food here as they would sit on the wall outside the kitchen and several times over the course of our trip they approached within 6 feet of me when I was around the garden. I couldn't resist the chance to photograph them and found that by placing food on top of the various stone walls I could get them to stop and pose for me. I loved watching them cross the beck either using a conveniently fallen branch or by jumping from stone to stone although this was only seen when the water levels were lower.
I found that I could just about wade across the beck in wellies without getting wet feet when the levels were normal but following any rain this became impossible, luckily the water levels soon lowered again as we were quite high up in the fells. On the far side of the beck much of the vegetation had turned to seed which seemed to attract many birds such as Goldfinches, Bullfinches and these very confiding Lesser Redpoll which allowed me to approach while they were feeding. The light conditions were very good when taking these shots which gave a golden glow to the whole area and really showed the birds at their best.
The beck was also home to a pair of Dippers that would regularly be seen from the kitchen window perched on the rocks in the water and diving under to search for aquatic insects. The pictures shown below actually are of a bird from a couple of miles downriver that was much easier to approach but all the same it was a real pleasure to observe these amazing birds from the comfort of the cottage.
The garden itself was regularly frequented by a variety of birds that would come for the feeders on a tree just outside the door. These included Chaffinches and Robins (both shown below) as well as Blue tits, Great tits and Coal tits, Wrens, Blackbirds, Dunnocks and the occasional Siskin, Goldcrest and even a Brambling. Photographing these was not easy as every time I opened the window to poke my camera through my little girl would appear and as she is not yet four her idea of being quiet and still is not quite the same as mine, every time a bird appeared she would say "look daddy there's a bird" in a loud voice at which time most birds would quickly disappear!
Because we were in the middle of a shooting estate in October there were vast numbers of Pheasant and Partridge around on the fields and fells surrounding us most of which will not survive the shooting season but I was surprised to see a male Black Grouse from a distance in one of the fields after I was told to look out for it by one of the local gamekeepers. These handsome birds are not shot, in fact the estate is actively restoring the upper fells to encourage their recovery as their numbers are so low. I was very much surprised to see so many Kestrels and Buzzards around as these shooting estates have the reputation of eradicating all birds of prey. I found all the gamekeepers that I spoke to were friendly enough but they were very strict in preventing any access onto the fells other than from the few public footpaths which was a shame as many tracks crossed the upper fells and it would have been nice to out in the wilderness a bit more. It seems that open access can be found it most national parks on the upper fells but doesn't apply here which is a great shame as it is a fantastically beautiful area. I will leave you with some more images of the very cute squirrels taken in and around the garden.
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