and diligently use your eyes and ears, and some of the sweetest secrets of the sod are sure to be revealed to you. A quote from the Kearton Brother's, Wild Life at Home.
Setting off at 17:00 myself and Roger headed out. On approaching our destination a Roe Deer and her yearling stood on the road, jumping the dry stone wall as we approached, but not travelling far, happily feeding just the other side. This was to be the first of our close encounters.
Parking up and walking through the forest, along an old wall colonised by heather, mosses and lichens, it was quiet, a Woodpigeon breaking cover here and there, and the sound of Song Thrush singing from the uppermost branches. A short 1/4 mile walk and we were there, sitting down with are backs against a 5ft dry-stone wall, waiting for the light to fade. A Common Buzzard made the first appearance heading to roost, followed by a couple of Grey Herons.Tawny Owls began calling and the distinct bark of a Roe Deer could be heard nearby, very nearby, the sound echoing off the dark wall of conifers, so much so that it sounded like there was a second individual deep within the forest.
As I was scanning the boundary between moor and forest, Roger nudged me, and in an excited whisper he said 'Cain, Roe Deer'. Looking up a head could be seen rising just above the horizon, looking directly towards us, I whispered back 'don't move'. There was little wind, the slightest of breezes was hitting my right cheek, but at the moment we were down wind of the deer. Motionless we sat and watched the deer approaching closer and closer, steadily moving down wind of us, it knew something was there, as it walked it stomped, the sound echoing, it could almost be felt. Still it was getting closer, down to 10-15 metres, standing above us and as we sat in the heather. It let out one bark, so close that I jumped. We watched for another 5 minutes or so before it had walked round, putting us up wind, and it was off, once again below the horizon.
By this time the light had dropped significantly, Red Grouse could be heard in the distance, and an odd Woodcock passed by roading. At 18:45 I heard the faintest of hoo hoo hoo hoo's, then wing clapping, and then a Long-Eared Owl appeared, flying in front of, then above the tree's. At least two birds were present and continued to show on the boundary edge, and above the forest for the entirety of our time there. A second owl also showed, out the corner of my eye I caught movement to my left, just below the top of the wall, following its line, on our side! First thought was Long-Eared Owl, but as it appeared out the darkness it was clear, Barn Owl. Continuing its path, it flew just above our heads, no further away than my arm stretched. It passed, and then returned hovering just above us, slightly higher this time. Engrossed in the Barn Owl, we just caught sight of the Long-Eared Owl approaching, as the Barn Owl moved off the LEO returned to its forest.
Walking back to the car the screeches of the Barn Owl pair could be heard in valley, the Long-Eared Owls wing clapping from the forest boundary, and the Tawny Owl from its interior. A great night.
The first issue of Wild-Eye, a University of Cumbria student magazine, has just went LIVE. You can access it HERE.
(Due to the interactive nature of the magazine it may take a minute or so to load)
An accumulation of photographs, articles and footage from mainly BA(Hons) Wildlife and Media students, but also Animal Conservation students. Paul was the original founder, and he's done a brilliant job putting it together, please give it a look.
Find my article about my time at the Loch of Strathbeg inside.
Today I've mainly been working on an editorial assignment, but once I finished the Tree Sparrows at Red house Farm were on my mind, at least 6 are still present but extremely difficult to photograph. On to the SEO' next, getting some great close encounters with one of the owls. Images can be seen below.
I'll be posting again later tonight, but here's some shots from this afternoon. Fully camouflaged up I headed down to a local site, knee deep in water, this is what I encountered.
Full day of filming again today, starting in the Dene, but finishing at St Mary's North Bay.
Whilst lying flat on the sand a few Rock Pipits began coming closer, as the tide covered most of the rotting seaweed.
This individual caught my eye…
I felt fairly confident that this was a Scandinavian Rock Pipit (littoralis), with its pink tinged underparts, reduced streaking and grey neck and mantle, with not seeing this race before I had a look at Mike's paper, and then sent a quick email to Alan and Mike, and it was confirmed.
A text through the week from BD and a Facebook message from Jack notified me of an Egyptian Goose amongst the regulars at Holywell, at Uni until Thursday I couldn't get down for a look till Friday evening.
Walking down to the pond at about 16:00, a westerly breeze pushed some low cloud over towards the coast, the West Field held a reasonable amount of geese, although no Egyptian, 97 Greylag, 9 Pink-Footed, 1 European White-Fronted, 7 Canada and 1 CanadaXGreylag were present. Moving on to the pond, past the now common sound of Tree Sparrows, 6 Shelduck, 7 Mallard, 3 pair Gadwall, Pochard (2 female, 3 male), Tufted Duck (3 male, 3 female), and 2 Mute Swan were on the water.
Leaving the hide at about 16:20 I had a quick scan of the geese again, straight away I picked out the Egyptian Goose, must of snook in behind me! Good views were had as it ventured closer to the hedge-line, before flying West into the next field with the majority of the Greylags. On towards the Dene I was pleased to find the Kestrels back at their nest site.
Today I've been down St Mary's with Jack, doing some filming for my Uni project. Reasonable numbers of waders were pushed into the North Bay as the tide came in, including 1 Purple Sandpiper. Once we'd finished for the day I headed out to Holywell, the 7 Canada, CanadaXGreylag, and 2 Pink-Footed Geese were present in the West Field, with much the same as yesterday on the pond, but also 6 Wigeon. Last stop was Red House Farm where at least 6 Tree Sparrows are still present, hopefully they may use the boxes I put up. Had great views of Long-Tailed Tits, Greenfinch, Chaffinch, and a Moorhen chasing a Brown Rat whilst I was there.
Last night I went for an evening wander around patch, in the hope of Owls, unfortunately not a sign of any, yet, but I did witness the Geese coming to roost, with an audience of 35 Curlew on the public shore.
Back down the dene again this morning, it was beautiful, full of song, and I'm pleased to see the Dipper pair have been active over the past few days, hopefully a sign of good things to come, if their not disturb. The feeding station was again chocker block with birds, so the GoPro saw some more action.
Best viewed in HD.
There was plenty of confiding Robins singing close to the path, here's a short clip of one individual.
I've been editing all day so took a short trip to Holywell at about 17:30. There's was a bit of what seemed to be a fret, but the sun was burning through it, creating a strange but calming light. 80+ Greylag Geese were feeding in the West Field, along with 5 Pink-Footed Geese and a single European White-Fronted Goose.
The top feeding station was quiet, but both Blackbird and Song Thrush sang from the tree tops. I caught up with the Tree Sparrows further down the track, in the Blackthorns, presumably going to roost.
The pond itself was busier than it has been, clearly bearing the signs of spring, 6 Coot showed the forming of territories, Little Grebes were calling with 5 in total on the pond (does the Little Grebe call have its own name?) and a couple of Moorhen battled it out on the far side. Joining them were 10 Mallard, 2 Mute Swan, 1 Canada Goose, 14 Tufted Duck, 8 Pochard, and 5 Teal.
A single Grey Heron, and 35 Curlew stood on the shore at the public hide.
