I thought I’d take advantage of the dry weather this morning to get some early morning photos, so I was out before sunrise (about 7:40 actually). It had been a clear night, so I had to scrap the frost off the windscreen before I could go anywhere.

I first went up onto the Dunstable Downs, overlooking the gliding club, but decided that the location wasn’t what I was looking for, combined with the fact that I didn’t have any money for the car park. I drove on into Whipsnade,past the zoo and stopped in the car park on Bison Hill, where I took some mediocre shots before deciding it was too cold to hang around and driving back through Whipsnade to the car park at Whipsnade Heath. I had never been to Whipsnade Heath before, it is an area of shrub and woodland that has overgrown the commonland. I got some good shots here and it was a lot warmer, about 3′C. I got a bit muddy on the circular path through the trees, but it would be well worth coming back in the summer, as it supposed to be good for butterflies. The gorse was in flower, but although I took some shots, I didn’t get good ones.

I’ve put some of the photos I took in a new gallery, Around Whipsnade Jan 2008.