Center Parcs Break

[glsammy]

I've been lucky enough this week to be able to go to Center Parcs in Sherwood Forest. I was going for some relaxation to try and get my back into better condition, whilst also taking advantage of their excellent nature centre and bird hide.
As the Parc is very close to me, I was coming home every night, rather than stay there. This is because I'm very fussy about my bed!
The place didn't disappoint re the wildlife.
Within 10 minutes of arriving on Monday I saw a goldcrest. As usual, for me at least, I didn't manage to get any good images, the best I managed was this one:



We saw another four goldcrest over the next couple of days, again with no better images.
My first visit to the hide was another success, with a jay very briefly making an appearance, if only high in the trees and never in the clear. The best shot I got:





Not good enough for the Gallery, but still the best I've ever got so far.

Great Spotted woodpecker was next on the list, we saw four females on the first day,plus one male the next:




Also saw a treecreeper, plus the usual mix of blue, great and coal tits.
On the way back from the hide, a magpie took off in front of me, and although the light wasn't very good, I managed a half decent shot:



At the Nature Center, they also have a feeder, which provided an excellent opportunity to get some close up in flight action shots.

Female Blackbird:


Male:


Chaffinch:


Goldfinches were always there, not only on the feeder but also feeding from the trees.

Goldfinch:


Another regular visitor to the feeding area, was a pair of Sparrowhawks! Roughly every hour one would swoop through the trees and cause a general commotion, with all the bird disappearing for 5-10 minutes. All that is except the Woodpecker. The female on the feeder just froze, it never moved for a good 10 minutes, allowing me to get an excellent shot of her, even though the light levels were very low. I never managed to get any shots of the Hawks, they were far too fast for me!

Today was the last day there for me, and again it didn't disappoint. We saw four Lesser redpoll:



Linda also saw Siskins high in the trees, but out of my range.

On the way back to our car, feeding on some berries, was a female Bullfinch. I couldn't believe my luck, the bird didn't care about me at all, I eventually was able to take some shots from only 10ft away from the bird, it continued to feed all the time, right by the main pathway.




If ever you get the chance to go to Center Parcs and you love seeing and photographing birds, I can thoroughly recommend it.

[jondalar]

I've been to the Longleat centre parcs twice now, once in Feb and just before christmas. Both times the amount of different species of both bird and mammal amazed me. We had ducks coming up for breakfast every morning, closely tailed by coots. Robins used to come mid morning, along with nuthatch, wagtails, and various tits. Then there was magpies, woodpeckers, squirrels, deer, badgers, foxes, rats, voles and rabbits too. My son, whose 17 months old, loved every minute of it. Especially as most of the animals were so used to humans they came right up to within 4 or 5 ft of us. Admittedly he did get a little scared by the rats running around within the same distance of us, but that was mostly their speed! Oh, and the ducks WILL try taking bread straight out of your hands, little ones beware!!

[Wild-Woman]

Oh Graham. What a smashing collection of shots from your sorties into Pentre Parc. You've excelled yourself as usual.Think the shot I like the best is the male blackbird. Don't think I've ever seen one like that. Amazing.
The woody shots are crystal clear and show wonderful detail. I suppose you used your Bigma for to get the range?
Thanks for sharing them with us.

I hope your back is on the mend now and you're feeling more comfortable.

Jules

[buzfuz8149]

Enjoyed all the excellent photos, the Blackbird is marvellous, thanks for sharing.

Carol.

[aeshna5]

Great shots! The male Blackbird shot is really unusual, as though it's being sucked up in a jet of air!

CentreParcs is obviously a good place to see + photograph wildlife as well as recuperate. I've not visited their sites but I've heard they take conservation seriously, do surveys + management plans for scarce species- I've known people who've done plant surveys for them.

Hope back is bearing up well.

[Jon]

Nice set of images Graham, I have been to Penrith and to Sherwood but I didn't manage to get to the feeding station at Sherwood. Maybe a return trip is called for! Jon

[nightshade]

Very good images ,I hope your back is shapeing up that is the important thing

[Tinkerbell]

Not an ad. for Center Parcs, but I love this venue for a short break, having been to Sherwood, Longleat and Elveden several times. The traffic free environment is great, particularly if you have young children with you and there is every opportunity to get up close with nature. Could be a good place for a meet.

(Star gazing from the outside heated pool is wonderful, and at 61 I will still have a go at the shoots and rapids next time I visit - you can behave like a kid and get away with it!).

Tinkerbell

[glsammy]

Thank you all for your comments, especially regarding my back! I do feel much better, my spasm attacks have gone, as have my night cramps, for now at least! I've gained a lot from the break.
I've always been a fan of the place. I've been going there ever since they first opened.
The only problem these days is the cost. I was very lucky this time, it cost me nothing!

[glsammy]

Originally Posted by Wild-Woman

Oh Graham. What a smashing collection of shots from your sorties into Pentre Parc. You've excelled yourself as usual.Think the shot I like the best is the male blackbird. Don't think I've ever seen one like that. Amazing.
The woody shots are crystal clear and show wonderful detail. I suppose you used your Bigma for to get the range?
Thanks for sharing them with us.

I hope your back is on the mend now and you're feeling more comfortable.

Jules

Hi Jules. Of course it was the Bigma! What else? The only other lens I use is the 150mm Macro, which at this time of the year doesn't go on very often.

The feeding pole you see the Woodpeckers on is about 15-20ft away from the hide, so most cameras would give a pretty good image. Also remember the bird was frozen to the spot, I've never seen that reaction before, but it certainly made my task a lot easier!