It was a fantastic, sunny, December day, today, so I got a pass and went to the Yorkshire Sculpture Park at Bretton, near Wakefield.  I’d no sooner got into the park when I spotted a fairly large flock of Redwing feeding on berries.  I should have had my hide because getting close without scaring them away was a big problem and I managed only one decent shot.  In Menagerie Wood, I encountered one of the Highland Cattle that graze in there.  He came across to see me when I was watching a Treecreeper, had a sniff of my hand and then started waving his massive horns about.  I think he was just being friendly…  A Great Spotted Woodpecker flew overhead.  A kingfisher flew up the lower lake and this Goosander was just making off as I arrived at the lake side.  A Sparrow Hawk passed through and things went very quiet for a while so I moved off to the hide on the upper lake and watched a Little Grebe fishing and a Tufted Duck doing a lot of splashing about.  Two pairs of Gadwall were swimming in front of the hide and the reflections made for a nice picture.

There’s nothing like a bit of winter fresh air and some nice photo opportunities.