The Pond

A couple of visits over the last couple of days has brought me a few firsts for the year; two drake Red Crested Pochards stayed for the day on Saturday, accompanied by an Otter in the evening, yesterday a lone Swallow flew low over the water.

Today 2 Chiff Chaff sang from the North Wood, along with a pair of drumming Great Spotted Woodpeckers, on the pond there were 11 Mallard, 6 Canada Geese (one on nest), 6 Pochard, a pair of Teal, 19 Tufted Duck, 4 Little Grebe, 4 Moorhen, a pair of Mute Swan (one on nest), 15 Herring Gull, and 2 Lesser Black Backed Back Gull.

8 Curlew flew in from the North as two Swallows hawked over the pond. A Kestrel hunted to the East, and a Common Buzzard was mobbed by Carrion Crows over the Obelisk.

Reed Bunting, Great Tit, Robin, Song Thrush, Blackbird, Dunnock, and a female Great Spotted Woodpecker were present in the feeding station.

Heading down the Dene, I was pleased to find the Dippers doing well.

I've been down the Dene today with SW recording some narration for my final project. Picking him up at 11:00 we first headed to the Grey Wagtails, pleased to find them taking food into the nest, although no chicks were to be seen, I presume they've only hatched today or more likely yesterday.


Moving on to a remoter part of the dene, we spent the rest of the afternoon sitting on a fallen tree, writing and recording the narration. Amongst the hail, rain, wind and glorious sunshine we managed to see and here some of the Dene's secrets. A pair of Great Spotted Woodpeckers were active overhead, moving from tree to tree, until we caught sight of them copulating, I'd never witnessed this behaviour before with GSW's. Next some commotion from behind, and then the culprit, a couple of Common Buzzards, interacting, possibly a pair? After the Buzzards had eventually moved on the Blackbirds could be heard 'kicking off' as it were, a characteristic sound which could only mean one thing, a Tawny Owl, first the slightest of calls, then a fly-by out of the Ivy.


Treecreeper, Nuthatch, Jackdaws, Stock Doves, Chiff Chaff, Blue Tits and Wrens were all showing signs of nesting. The Dipper showed well on our walk back to the car.

2012 Wildlife Film Competition

My short film 'A Quiet Corner' has recently came in third place for Frontier, Wildeye, Wildlife Film and NHU Africa's 2012 Wildlife Film Competition. Watch my entry below, and see what the judges said HERE.

The Windflower

Anemone nemorosa, is known as both the Wood Anemone and the Windflower, the latter derived from its latin name is directly related to Greek Legend. It is said the wind, Anemos, sends his Anemones in the earliest days of spring, to herald his coming.





nemorosa relates to the species habitat, meaning wooded or covered with trees.




Interestingly the flower has no scent as it does not require fertilisation by insects to produce seeds.




The flower has no true petals, instead six modified sepals.




For the majority of today I've been on the ground filming these beautiful little flowers, hopefully the weather may provide an opportunity to revisit them tomorrow.




If there was ever a moment for pictures to transfer scent, this would be that time. A few Blackthorns clustered together in a corner of the Dene, filling the air with their scent.

A Quiet Corner

I'm currently stuck inside, grafting on a 3000 word assignment, but here's my 2012 Wildeye Film Competition Entry for now. I've got a full wildlife week planned ahead, watch this space.

More GoPro magic...

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.

In the Dene...

Had a lie in til 09:00 this morning, so arrived at Holywell a bit later, heading straight to the Dene's feeding station. More filming was on the cards, with the hope to capture some of the woodland species.


The feeding station was alive with activity on arrival, mainly Blue and Great Tits, but also Coal Tit, Long-Tailed Tit, Nuthatch, Robin, Wren, Blackbird, Dunnock and Chaffinch. A couple of Great Spotted Woodpeckers were disputing territories overhead, and a couple of Grey Wagtails made their way down the Burn.




A couple of mammals visited the feeding station whilst I was there, managed to capture a Bank Vole on film, but here's an image of the the second mammal.




The GoPro also came out, here's a clip.

Holywell

A full day of filming saw the morning start out at St Mary's for an hour or so, before the tide retreated and the wind began to pick up.


For the rest of the day I was on patch, between the Pond and the Dene. The pond was quiet as usual, although the NWT were working with chainsaws in the North Wood, 4 Tufted, a pair of Pochard, 2 Mute Swan, 4 Canada Geese, 1 Little Grebe, Moorhen, Mallard, Teal, 3 Gadwall and a lone Grey Heron were on the pond, with Brambling and Tree Sparrow in the feeding station.


The reeds reflecting in the warm light caught my eye from the members hide.




The main project for the day, in the Dene, was to film the Snowdrops. Pocketed up and down the burn, I quite enjoyed exploring the different patches of plants and their positioning.




The Dene seemed to be alive with song, with at least 3 Great Spotted Woodpeckers drumming. I've uploaded a short audio clip below, the microphone used wasn't ideal but I think its worked quite well, capturing the essence of the woodland, how I experienced it.





Heading back up to the pond as the light began to fade 2 Treecreepers amongst a Tit flock made an appearance, as did 3 Grey Wagtail on the burn. A pair of Shelduck were on the pond as I passed.




After tea I dropped my sister off at Cubs and headed back to Holywell, to photograph the stars. Passing the public hide the silhouettes of 300+ Geese could be seen, a mix of Greylag and Pink-Footed Geese could be heard. I've only ever seen the geese come to roost once, as it seems the majority of the time they arrived and leave in darkness. 


Generally once it gets dark you can walk anywhere, past the pond, through the dene and farmland and you'll not see a soul, but tonight I caught sight of a torch heading in my direction. It turned out that it was another photographer with the same idea!

The Sluice

I'm back in the country now, the Switzerland trip was great, we were lucky with the weather and I seen three new lifers, Nutcracker, Crag Martin, and a Middle Spotted Woodpecker (which may be the first recorded at that site).


This morning I had a wander down to the Sluice end of the Dene, on arrival the Burn was deprived of life, the regular Rooks, Jackdaws and Woodpigeon overhead was all about. It wasn't until I reached a large patch of Elder and Hawthorn covered in berries when things began to liven up. 6 Blackbirds, a single Robin, a Dunnock, 2 Blackcap, 4-5 Bullfinch including immature birds, and a steading stream of a large mixed Tit flock, including Coal Tit, Willow Warbler, and Chiff Chaff were all feeding in the area.


On the way back I bumped into this character hunting in the grass.


Double click on images for a better view.

Dipper success !

A wander down the Dene tonight found me stumbling upon a young Dipper, the first I've seen in the area. I'd found their nest a few weeks back with four eggs, and checked it again last week, it was empty although it seemed to have raised a clutch, I was more that ecstatic to gain conformation.

This Grey Heron was one of a few lurking around at the public hide, the female Mallard had its work cut out.

This evening...

Headed down to Holywell at about 19:15 tonight, greeted by Blackcap, Willow Warbler and Chiff Chaff on the track down to the hide. The pond held 23 Tufted Duck, 2 male 1 female Gadwall, 4 Little Grebe, male Mute Swan, 10 Coot, 3 Mallard, 2 Cormorant, 33 Herring Gull, 3 Great Black Backed Gull, 1 Grey Heron, 4 Canada Geese with 7 young and 2 Moorhen. The Blue Tits have once again nested in the right hand bench in the public hide, and now have chicks, it would be greatly appreciated if anyone visiting the public hide stayed to the far left bench.

The walked along to the East Pool produced 3 Whitethroat and 2 Sedge Warbler, the pool itself is still pretty substantial, sustaining 5 Canada Geese, although no sign of their chicks (present a few days ago), 3 Lapwings on the nest and a bird with its chick, a pair of Moorhen, a pair of Little Grebe, pair of Coot, and 5 Mallard.

I wandered on over the backtrack, and down to the Obelisk area, large number of Whitethroat have now set up territories in the hedgerows and Yellowhammers voiced their presence. The dene was alive with song, I had forgotten how much I love this time of year. The Barn Owl put an appearance in as I reached the Horse field on the way back to the car, being mobbed by Carrion Crows quite high up.