Sherwood

Hello from Sherwood Forest! I’m on my last day of a splendid four day getaway at Sherwood Forest the world famous hideout of Robin Hood. We arrived on Monday to a snowy but ultimately enchanting forest which is simply breathtaking in the winter time.

We took in the sights of the forest walking each day and observing the local birdlife. I will aim to post about my travels whenever and wherever I can. I may not get out much but you’ll know about it when I do.

The lake was almost entirely frozen over but this made it great for taking photos as in the summer there are usually water sports and activities to do, but the still ice made for great pics.

This little fella visited our garden on the Monday and though not our native red squirrel was quite friendly nonetheless and so big was he, he actually pushed over one of the smaller saplings nearby! What a beast!

I’m afraid to say I quite enjoy the odd spot of bird watching and this week has been no exception. there is a wide variety of water foul at Sherwood and I have a lovely little app on my iPad to help me classify what I see. I believe this above to be an Egyptian goose, we usually get Canadian geese and bean geese where I live but this was something quite new to me. I do apologise for any ornithological errors I make I’m still very much an amateur twitcher.

Amongst all the trees and undergrowth there were Robins, of course I’ve seen Robins where I live but never have I seen quite so many in one place. Despite this fact however they were proving very difficult to take for a photo, it was only late in the week we discovered the bird hides.

On Tuesday snow fell in tiny but absolutely perfect flakes. Me and the bf started out for a walk and I tried to take a photo of the amazingly geometrical flakes, the focus wasn’t great I admit but you get the general idea.

This is a long eared owl, we encountered it on the third day of our holiday at an “encounter with owls” display in which we got to handle hand reared owls and learnt about the species and different breeds. This was an experience I will never forget, such magical creatures will always leave me in awe.

This is a great Grey Owl and though only a youngster was almost half the size of me, his wingspan was huge and he was an absolute joy to behold and made the cutest little noises for such a big bird.

this is an Eagle owl and he was by far the heaviest of the birds we handled, his talons were muscular and large and his eyes were so astonishingly bright the picture almost doesn’t do them justice. There were more birds we handled but unfortunately it was difficult to get photos of them whilst the display was running. However If anyone thinks that they may enjoy something like this I highly recommend it. It was informative, fun and a totally new experience. It’s great for kids to learn about nature and especially birds which sometimes can seem a bit dull to them. Well that’s all I’ve got so far. There are more photos from this trip to come so stay tuned guys!