Arriving shortly after opening time my hopes for a quiet time were fulfilled. Just me and a few other retired old codgers, and one family group with under school age youngsters.
As soon as I went through the entrance gate I was taken by the pattern of sunlight on grass and tree trunks which presented itself. I thought it might make a good monochrome shot, but after playing around with that idea I decided it looked better in colour:-
Continuing down the path to the sanctuary I came across the added bonus of a herd of small deer. Having already put my telephoto zoom on the camera, in anticipation of the otters and owls, I was ready armed to get a few shots of them as they ran away from me:-
I began to think this was my lucky day: no hordes of schoolkids, a bright blue sky, and several decent shots and I hadn't even reached the Otters and Owls yet! But you can probably guess what's coming...
When I eventually got down to the sanctuary I found that the otter enclosures were all heavily surrounded by high trees, the early summer foliage of which largely kept the light out. So shooting conditions were decidedly dim. Also the ponds in each enclosure were extremely shallow and muddy brown which would not make for natural looking otter photos. And where were the otters anyway? Most of them must have been asleep in their little huts because there were only a few on display in the open air. Anyway, after much walking around and patient waiting I did find one pair of otters who decided it was time for a swim. Their pond did have a bit more water in it than the others, and there was a small patch of sunlight on part of the water. Immediately it sprang into my mind that if I could get one of the otters to swim through this patch of sunlight it would not only solve the problem of the dim conditions, it would give me the perfect title for what would be an award winning photograph: 'Ring of Bright Water'. I could even win the BBC Country File calendar competition!
So I waited, and waited.. and waited. Neither of those pesky otters wanted to go through that patch of sunlight. Maybe they were worried about skin cancer or something. So the closest I could get to the award wining shot was this:-
And the owl situation was even worse: a few forlorn looking creatures invariably perched in the darkest corners of their dimly lit cages. I took one or two hopeful shots but I knew that there would be nothing worth keeping.
It was now two o'clock and on returning to the entrance to the sanctuary I decided to have a spot of lunch. Or rather a spot of clotted cream tea. Well, rather a large clotted cream tea actually. On returning to the car I decided that a good walk was required to work off the cream tea, so I scoured the map for inspiration.
The bright blue sky was still around, and unusually for the Peak District, which seems to attract haze like cow pats attract flies, the visibility was excellent. So a high viewpoint with far reaching vistas was called for. Where else but Winhill? So I drove over to Yorkshire Bridge and began the steep climb straight up the tightly packed contours. No zig-zagging cheating on this walk, its straight up the steep side of the hill. After ten minutes I realised I'd left my bottle of water in the car. After twenty minutes I must have worked off every single fat laden calory of the clotted cream tea. And after forty five minutes I finally arrived at the summit.
The climb had certainly been worth it and I forgot about the inevitable fact that the climb down would be just as difficult and enjoyed the wide ranging views of the Peak District:-
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