Late Night Blackbirds

I was struggling to sleep last night, so instead headed out to record the Blackbirds which have been pumping out their songs for the past few weeks now. We can here at least 4 birds from the house in the early hours, last night I found myself hanging around Sainsbury's car park.

Here's my results,



It's great to hear their song towering above the sleeping urban environments, unknown to the majority of its inhabitants.

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.

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!