Merry Christmas from Steve & Mick

We hope that you had as nice a Christmas as we did. My wife Carole cooked the family a delicious roast dinner and my brother Mick came round to join in the feast. A few good glasses of wine were soon passed round and we all had an excellent celebration.

So today we decided to go out for some well needed exercise, so off we went for a walk at Oare Marshes. Mick wanted to try out his new fleece jumper that he got for Christmas and you can tell from his huge grin that he was snug and warm in it

The fleece was a present from our Mother, and like all good mums, she made sure that her other son had a nice warm fleece as well.

Unfortunately we did not bring our boots with us today which was a pity as the path around Oare Marshes was very muddy. It looked like a heard of cows had walked over it

And there, sitting in the sunshine was one of the likely culprits sitting quietly as if to state that it was not him, but if you look closely you can see that he is wearing a sly grin.

We therefore decided to walk along the roadway and see what we could find in the lakes. A young family of Teals swam over to wish us a pleasant Christmas before continuing about their business

And nearby a Shoveler gave us a recital of a famous duck Christmas Carol that he sang at the top of his voice.


A bit further on, we spotted a Mallard diving for food next to a small shrub of reeds. The reeds seem to be a popular feeding area so we guess that their food gets trapped down in the roots of the reeds.


Across the road from the lakes is another pathway to another lake, so we tried this one to see if it was less muddy. It was not as bad but still far to slippery for ordinary shoes so we just stayed on the outskirts. At first it seemed quite deserted but Mick spotted a rabbit watching us from a far off hill


We waited to see if he would come any closer to no avail. Just as we were turning to come back though, a pretty Stonechat landed next to us to say hello.


Unfortunately she could not stay long and flew off quite quickly, but her husband was not in a rush and he fluttered over to pose for our pictures


It was time for us to go so we walked back to the car. As we passed the lake we noticed that the Shoveler was still singing away and had found a nice little island to stand on



We hope that you enjoyed our walk. More pictures can be found in our galleries at www.voinapics.co.uk

Steve & Mick

Northwood after the rains 9th December 2006

We have had some wet and windy weather over the last few weeks so we have not been out much. Today though, the sun was shining brightly so we took a trip out to Northwood Hill. We took our boots as there were lots of puddles to play in!.


Most of the bushes and small trees have now lost their leaves leaving Northwood looking quite bare. There did not seem to be many birds about today either so we decided to take the small lens tand see what we could find.

It may have seemed bare at first glance but a closer look to the ground revealed lots of wild flowers waving their petals at us to try and get our attention. So we crouched down to admire their pretty colours and marvelled at the soft downy hairs that help keep them warm. Now that they had our attention, the flowers stopped their waving and kept themselves nice and still so that we could take a picture to show you, if you click on the picture, you will get a better view of what we saw.

And it was not only the petals that wanted to show off. Some of the autumn leaves had turned that gorgeous toasty gold colour and were just begging to be photographed. We had to oblige.

Sheltering from the wind we found a little ladybird. She had positioned herself deep in the protective arms of a plant in just the right place to be warmed by the sun. Getting herself into a comfortable position, she waited for us to take her picture then settled down for a quite snooze. With quick thanks, we moved the arms of the plant back to protect her, and tipped toed quietly past.



We continued on our walk. Mike wanted to see if he could spot any birds on the feeders so we made our way over to the hide to have a look.




And we found some Blue Tits enjoying some peanuts. The other feeders were not occupied so we guess that the birds were finding some juicy worms in the soft earth that the rains had provided.

We reached a gate at the outskirts of the reserve and stopped there for a rest. As we were leaning against the gate we noticed a little aphid out enjoying a walk as well. She came over to us to say hello.

Coming the other way was a teeny weeny spider carrying her shopping back home. She also came over to greet us and the pair of them were soon getting along like old friends. Unfortunatly it was time for us to go so we left the pair of them chatting and started to make our way back to the car.

But just before we left, I noticed some nice berries shining in the sunshine. I just had to stop and take a picture of them to show you

And what a pretty picture they made.

We hope that you enjoyed our trip out. More pictures can be found in our galleries at www.voinapics.co.uk

Steve & Mick

A slow trip to Northwood. 18th November

Let’s take some shots using our little lens my brother Mick suggested. That’s a good idea, I replied, we have not used them for ages. So picking Northward Hill RSPB as the target for our jaunt, we started off on a slow drive keeping a wary eye open for any nice places to stop.

We have passed by Saint James Church at Cooling many times and always remarked on the beauty of the stonework and how it would make a lovely picture. Today was our chance and we spent an enjoyable while, admiring this early 13th century Church.

This Church is believed to be the sinister meeting place of the Hero Pip with the convict Magwitch in Charles Dickens Great Expectations, but today the Church simply shone in the autumn sunlight.

Nearby are the magnificent twin towers of Cooling Castle. The Castle was built between 1381-1485 to protect the Thames. There is not much left of the Castle now as it was besieged in 1554 and suffered major cannon damage. The Castle is in private hands and owned I believe, by the Musician Jools Holland

The ruined towers of the Castle are home to a flock of Jackdaws. Unfortunately, the Jackdaws did not want to pose for us today, instead they watched us from some nearby trees as we took a picture of their home.

A few miles further on and we arrived at Northward Hill. In the nearby fields, a flock of sheep were quietly grazing. Spotting us, they quickly ran up to the fence to say hello.

One of the friendly sheep put his head through the fence and pleaded for a good head rub. We were happy to oblige, much to the sheep’s delight.

We walked into the reserve and what a glorious sight greeted us. Northward Hill is very picturesque at this time of year with the leaves turning a lovely yellow and gold. Add to this the golden autumn sun and the view was simply stunning.

We continued on our walk, enjoying the sun and sights whilst listening to the joyous songs of the birds as they sang for our entertainment. A most enjoyable walk.

Down by the old farm track we came across a massive old gnarled tree, it’s bare branches waving gently in the breeze. As we approached we could hear a rapid knocking. It was a Woodpecker high in the branches tapping the bark for grubs. It was quite comical watching Mick trying to entice the Woodpecker down so that he could take its picture.

It was now mid afternoon and time to leave Northwood and make our way back home. Our journey back took us through the village of Cliffe where we stopped briefly to check the time against the blue and gold clock of St Helens Church.

We hope that you enjoyed our trip out today. More picture can be found in our galleries at www.voinapics.co.uk

Steve & Mick

Elmley Today. 11th November

It was a cold cloudy day today. We have had rain for a lot of the week so decided it was time to revisit Elmley marshes to see if the rain had helped the depleted water reserves there. On arrival we found some Lapwings, facing the wind with their little crests standing proud.


As we slowly drove through the reserve towards the RSPB centre, we stopped by a small lake and watched some little Coots swimming about, periodically bobbing their heads down to pull up some weeds to search for food.


Moving on we were lucky to spot a Curlew digging for his dinner. What an amazingly long beak these birds have, and a very powerful neck indeed to plunge this beak deep into the ground. Because of the rain, the ground today was quite soft and this curlew was finding lots to eat.


Off into the distance we spotted a hunting Kestrel. We waited hoping that the bird would come a bit closer but were not so lucky with this one. Instead using binoculars we watched as using subtle wing and tail movements the Kestrel hovered in one spot keeping his head perfectly still as he searched for his prey.


Reaching the RSPB house and car park we went off in search of some birds in the nearby trees, unfortunately I did not get any pictures at all as the birds were off elsewhere today.


Brother Mick also tried but he too had no luck so eventually decided to give up and had a quiet sit down to rest his weary legs.


The sky was becoming quite dark and it looked like rain was on it's way again, so packing up we went off home, stopping briefly to watch some horses in a nearby paddock playing together. You can see that the weather has turned colder as the horses are all wrapped up snug and warm against the chill air

We hope that you enjoyed our day out. More pictures can be seen in our galleries at www.voinapics.co.uk

Steve & Mick

A Morning at Oare 4th November

There was a definite winter chill to the air today, but the sun was shining so brightly that we decided a morning visit to Oare was in order. However, when we arrived it all appeared to be very quiet with only a few resident Mallards about, who swam over to greet us as we got out of the car.


We stood there enjoying the peaceful quiet for a while, when across the lake flying towards us we spotted a Gray Heron. We watched with delight as he flew closer, closer and yet closer still until he was flying just yards away.


And then he decided to land on the bank by the small stream only a few tens of yards away. What an amazing bit of good fortune, we have been trying to get a good picture of a Heron for a long time now, so this was turning out to be a super morning.


The Heron continued to delight us by walking back and forth across the bank, stopping every now and then to pose for us so that we could take his picture. Eventually tiring of showing off he strode away across the bank to hide in the nearby reeds.


Brother Mick was extremely happy with his good fortune, and cosily wrapped against the chill, took picture after picture of the Heron.


A loud honking to our left revealed a flock of Greylag Geese flying off from the lake and heading by the looks towards the Elmley reserve flapping their wings with gusto as they tried to keep themselves in nice formation.


The Ducks were not impressed at all by this display and quickly took off to fly by us showing just how much better they were at formation flying. We must admit, it was a very impressive display.


After the display, it was was all quiet again, so standing with our hands warming in our pockets we patiently waited to see what other delights the morning would reveal.


And it took the form of a little Pied Wagtail, playing on the embankment. He was having great fun hopping about in the Autumn sunshine and stopped every now and then to wag his tail in greeting to us.


We would have loved to have stayed longer, but another engagement in the afternoon meant that we could only spend the morning here. So with a last backward glance at the tranquil scene, we packed up and went off home for some lunch.

We hope that you enjoyed our morning out. More pictures of the Heron and his friends can be found in our gallery at www.voinapics.co.uk

Steve & Mick