In the land of Macc

I've had little success with the camera of late, so I have once again delved into the archives for some shots taken this summer in the Macclesfield area. This area has rapidly become my birding area of choice. So many habitats for so many different species. It's always a pleasure to wander around here.
Here are some of the birds I had the pleasure of seeing in the last few months.

Little Owl

Stonechat (female)

Northern Wheatear

Common Redstart. Possibly now my favourite bird, having watched them so closely this year.

A Little Owl and a lonely duckling

A superb sunny weekend saw me up and out early once again. I headed into the Cheshire countryside which for me is only a twenty minute drive. Miles of rolling hills, rivers and reservoirs and plenty of wildlife make it an enticing place, especially when there are so many varied habitats.
Before the sun had risen fully there was a mist rising from the reservoir, and then a lone duckling made it's way across the water. It's very unusual to see just one duckling on it's own, but there were no parents nearby and it will be a hard start for this little one.
The Common Sandpiper was still around. We'll be on first name terms soon.
Then, from the car I saw a Little Owl sat on a telephone line. I parked the car and managed to get a few shots.

 Macclesfield countryside though the early mist.

The lonely duckling

A tough time ahead for this one.

A superb Little Owl

Little Owl

A couple of months ago I saw a Little Owl on my patch in Woodford. Not unusually, it saw me and flew off across the field to the other side. My viewing consisted of watching it in flight and getting smaller into the distance. What it did do though, was to alert me to the fact that they were in the area and I have been searching them out ever since. I had heard from several different people that they were certainly in the area that I was looking. Then just recently one was being viewed on an almost daily basis. I kept looking and got another flight sighting at dusk time. Certainly no good for a decent shot with the camera. Today, after another tip off, I got to find it in good sunshine, and this one was in a much more obliging mood.

Thought I'd play around with some black and white. Here, I've just left the face in colour. Same shot is in colour on the right.