February 2026 has been a very slow and unproductive month for my photography work and my social media updates.
There are the usual reasons for this, my lack of enthusiasm, time constraints, shocking weather in the Lake District, and family commitments.
 The major reason for my lack of photography is very personal, that being my wife, Carole has had major surgery and has needed me to support her through her journey
She isn’t out of the water just yet, but she is on the mend, and hopefully it wont belong until she has her mobility and independence back.
 So with this aside, what have I been up too during the month of February, there isn’t much but here it is!
 Red Squirrels.
 The first weekend of February, a good friend of mine Lorraine introduced me to these adorable creatures at a local location.
 I have always wanted to see these creatures in the wild and to photograph them, this visit fully met my wishes. Once the Squirrels became use to us, they were soon scampering about snatching the food that we had laid out for them.
 Despite the speed and agility of the squirrels, and me still getting use to my new camera, I managed to get a few reasonable images form this visit, many thanks to Lorraine for her support and guidance.
Derwentwater
I had a little bimble (a leisurely walk or journey) around Derwentwater, hoping to meet the forecast mist, sadly this was missing, but a nice wee walk anyway!
The Centenary Stones, created to celebrate the Centenary of the National Trust in 1995.
The Green Curved bench was placed on the headland of Calfclose Bay by the Keswick Lions Club to celebrate the Millennium.
The Derwentwater Launches, these travel in a clockwise and anticlockwise direction visiting the seven landing jetties scattered around the lake.
I had a short chat with Mark Hetherington about our plans for the morning and the conditions, as us photographers do!
Mark is a very good photographer who has an excellent back catalogue of images on his Instagram page (Instagram).
Despite not taking many images, it was good to be out in the fresh air and to be able to have a pleasant walk about without the maddening crowds of later in the day.
Harrington Red Squirrels
A return to the wood to photograph the Red Squirrels, to horn my photo skills and to witness these stunning little creatures again.
We had to wait a while until they made an appearance, but the wait was worth it.
I managed to get some better photographs of the squirrels this time, and cant wait to get back to photo them again.
Crummock Water
I had a photograph in my head that I have been trying to capture at Crummock Water for some time, so with the weather gods looking promising I set off to the northern end of the lake.
What a pleasant morning it was, cold, crisp, and clear with a slight dusting of snow on the higher fells. The water was flowing over the weir but not has high as I thought it would be considering the amount of rainfall we have had recently.
United Utilities want to drastically change Crummock Water by removing the weir and lowering the level of the water by 1.3 meters, I have covered this in a previous news post, this can be found here.
After taking a short walk around the southern and northern shore of Crummock Water, I decided to head to the southern end of the lake, a area that I had not visited for several years.
It is a lovely walk around the southern shore of Crummock Water, I was hoping that the old rowing boat would be there, this has made many photos in the past.
As I headed around the rocky headland where there are three rocks that jut out into the lake, I could not resist stopping to get an image, the light was not the best, but it wasn’t too shabby a shot.
As I was walking along the lake shore, I noticed three black horses and a whit horse in a field which were being back-light by the mornings sun, the white horse made a really nice composition.
Sadly when I reached the meadows which sit between Crummock Water and Buttermere and where the rowing boat use to live, the area was totally waterlogged, far too much flowing water flowing through the reeds to move around, but I did manage to reach the little bay where the rowing boat is normally located, this was missing, so getting wet legs and feet was not worth the end result lol.
Unfortunately, this sums up my photography exploits for February, but all being well with Carole, I have a week’s photography to look forward too on the Isle of Harris and Lewis in March.
Thank you for finding the time to read this news blog, until the next one, stay healthy and safe.
Tony.
