Skipwith Common October 20 club meet up

After weeks of Covid related restrictions a few intrepid photographers braved the elements for a recent early morning (Monday), and late afternoon (Friday) socially distanced meet up.

Luckily we were spared the worst of the weather conditions, and with the dust knocked off the cameras managed a few shots during our short walks. We decided on two separate meet up events to ensure that there were no more than 6 members meeting, in a socially distanced manner, due to the current Covid restrictions.

Skipwith common is a sight of Special Scientific Interest (SSI) and is a National Nature Reserve of approximately 660 acres.

It is a site of international importance for its wet and dry heathland, is home to a wide variety of rare heathland plants and a rich collection of dragonflies and other invertebrates in addition there are more than 70 species of breeding birds including Nightjars, & Woodlarks as well as large populations of Great Crested newt and Water Voles.

There is a herd of Roe deer and Fallow deer on the common and Longhorn Cattle, Hebridean sheep and Exmoor ponies graze the site.

We were lucky enough to enjoy sightings of Hebridean black sheep, Longhorn cattle, Exmoor ponies and various fungi. Had the light been better, we would of course have captured some excellent woodland scapes.

Regardless it was good to meet up with members, and enjoy a couple of hours refocusing thoughts on camera craft, and the challenges of making images. We will try to repeat the exercise at different locations in the near future. In the meantime the gallery below shows a few examples from members.

Leigh Foster; 14 October 20