Six months Winter & Six months bad weather in theses here parts...
Used to come up here regularly when i lived closer, round Lanchester, Sacriston, Langley
On the wilder days the numerous shelter-belts & plantations provided plenty of cover, & were more often than not a top coat warmer.
Back then the woods were still chock-a-block with Red Squirrel, the opencasts were still on the go & my travelling companions had 4 legs - A right odd couple. The Boxer was expert at sniffing out Woodcock, but in summer would often lie down & refuse to walk any further - resulting in a trek to the pay-phone to ring for a lift ! The cruelty-case lurcher was gentle as a lamb at home, but had a penchant for feather over fur.
It never did manage to catch a Jack Snipe, but feathers flew on one occasion.
So off up memory plain - it was clearly colder & far more windswept than my rose-coloured specs had allowed for.... off into the wood, out the way of the wind a bit
heres some various bodyparts:-
Not quite the heady days of the twenty odds we used to see roosting, but a very productive visit & nice to see them up a height rather than stuck in the thorn bushes closer to home.
Note to self :-
Return Visit - wear more clothes, wait till the suns out, take a real camera & a maybe a dog or two.
