Glorious Devon

The sun shone, the wind failed to howl, and I decided to take myself off to go wandering about the countryside.

No, not t'Moor - there is more to Devon than Moor and Coast, you know - indeed a place I'm quite fond of, especially in the winter when it's quieter [all the second {third} homes and holiday lets being empty]. I consider it Glorious.

Observe and try to argue;

Green and misty land

Still January, though...

There was a decided nip in the air, and indeed the roads were a little... glacial. Parking where safe and walking a fair few miles on foot ensued [no problems with that; good for you and you see and especially hear more birds :D ], though sometimes a bit gingerly.

Frozen Deceiver!

Still snow lying in places, even.

This being proper rolling countryside, full-on industrial farming has been impractical and so there are still some farmland birds about. Now also a pleasing number of landowners who take active care. :)

 

 

With almost traffic-free lanes, I could concentrate on ambling around enjoying myself, and did so   :D

Anyways, what was about?

 

Redwing

Four flying Fieldfare!

If you stay put quietly, sometimes they'll come to you;

"What's that click sound??"

But most birds just flew overhead with various levels of vocal prettiness

Lapwing

Lark ascending

[sorry]

Linnet posing

Ok, sometimes they landed. See previous comment.

Stonechat getting

all atmospheric

Lark descending

Scuse the pic* but I just had to..

Lark departing

Sorry, sorry...  I'm stopping now, please put the sticks down.

Pointing the camera away from the sky,

Hold on, you're not

a Chaffinch...

"Yeah, neither am I"

Going through hordes of Chaffinches and Linnets did eventually pay off. :D

As you could see, said farmland is dotted with small woods - very nice - and in same were the usual spp., mostly keeping moving to stay warm! But someone struck a pose for me;

Also not a Chaffinch

And speaking of poses..

Heh heh heh...

Also,

"Yeah, I can jump that"

Fallow Deer,

dark morph

Nothing like being inconspicuous, though with the frequent surprise ice patches, it was pretty much mandatory.! It certainly paid off, with those two far closer than you expect non-farmed deer to be.

To end, a final image.

Amidst snow and ice,

Spring is coming...

Be Seeing You...

[[* Photographing flyover birds in low sunshine is not at all easy. They seem to make a habit** of flying so that the Sun catches you in the corner of your eye as you track them. Cue total loss of vision, random shooting, and much frustration... ]]

[[** Though with all the shotgun-toting loonies tweeded persons about, it may be evolution in action?]]