After going to Holden wood pretty regularly in hope of spotting the great white I eventually had a good two hours watching the bird fish in and around the res today from 9.00am until 11.00am ,he came in from over the dam at first light, I got lots of shots of the bird but this shot was the first of the morning
I was very surprised you had not seen the bird before. I thought it had left the earlier as a Great White was spotted around Burnley, Wood End Sewage Works to be precise. It is interesting you say you saw it fly from the dam side first thing - it clearly roosts somewhere that side or onwards.
It is a pretty approachable bird, allowing very close views providing it knows you are there. The best time for photography at Holden Wood appears to be first thing or just before the sunset. Excellent photograph and even better is the fact that it is coming back for more!
Hi Sarfraz , my first sighting of a GWE was in foulridge late summer ,maybe this is the same bird ,I sat in the middle of the res and just waited for it to come my way ,it did like the channel at the top end as it caught a few fish up their
I did not bother going to see the Foulridge bird as I had already seen plenty in Lancashire as a whole but the Rossendale bird - well that did deserve a visit! It has been present since middle of September off and on - you really need to check this forum more. This autumn has been fantastic - plenty of Whinchat, at least 4 Ospreys - 1 at Holden Wood, 2 around Clowbridge and Kevin Lister saw one not sure where though, a Great Grey Shrike as well. I am optimistic some other interesting things will turn up. I had a Little Egret at Holden Wood too - both Egrets in one area in Rossendale!
Hi Anthony,
It was mine. It was taken at Mere Sands Wood last autumn. Chris gave it a very low mark though LOL. I do not use a DSLR just bridge cameras so I am very happy with the low mark!
Sarfraz
PS Dennis you should get your shots of the GWE onto Autumnwatch - there have a BBC Autumnwatch Flickr pool and post it in the MyAutumn thread.
-- Edited by sarfraz on Thursday 30th of October 2014 12:12:46 PM
That wing just looks so beautiful! The details are spectacular! You should put this photo in the BBC Autumnwatch pool - don't forget to add Rossendale in the title just in case you do. What camera do you use? Was the Foulridge bird giving closer views than this?
Hi , the foulridge bird was very busy and was constantly being harassed by the large group of herons ,I did have permission from the Ranger to go in to the top res and try and get shots but the light was bad on the day, I just got lucky with this bird as it came my way while I was sat waiting ,I must admit they look a gangly bird (is that a word ) when walking and fishing but when in flight what a graceful bird it is ,one of the nicest birds in flight I have watched ,from a photographers point of view ,following the wing movement with the lens while panning was pleasure to view ,the shots are one big bonus as its a record of watching the bird at a pretty close range .
