December 2021 What a treat ~ A Green Woodpecker in the Garden

 I have always found Green Woodpeckers difficult to approach.  In the country side they seem to disappear with that undulating flight way before they come into the range of my camera.

So what a rare treat it was for me when this male visited my back garden in Winchcombe Gloucestershire.

I was very excited when I first noticed it.  Always aware that for good wildlife images it is best not to shoot through the glass of windows I thought I would take a chance and try to push it gently open.

I totally expected it to take off but was very careful and deliberate with my movements.  It was really great when I managed to get the camera on the window sills and capture a few images.

What a bird

Interesting pose

Really close

This one is a male.  You know this from the red moustache stripe running down the face under the eye.

Since this original visit it has returned about another three times.

I feel so privileged!

What a brilliant bird and I didn't even have to leave the house!

November 2021 ~ A rare bird for Gloucestershire ~ Snow Bunting ~

 It was great to get reports of a Snow Bunting on Cleeve Hill.  These are usually a bird of the highlands of Scotland along with Ptarmigan and Mountain Hares.  I have never seen one and couldn't resist getting a new life tick.  So on Sunday morning I got up early and ventured up the frozen lanes to the top of Cleeve.

It was a very confiding bird and didn't seem to mind the few birders that were there with their cameras.  At about ten feet away in would even hop towards us.  It was very settled and feeding on grass seeds.

What a smart bird

This is definitely my bird of the year, especially as it stayed confined to such a small area, and was so confiding.  It was also really great to get some images in the snow which really seems to be its specialist environment.

Feeding on grass seeds

Wow what a bird.  Brilliant markings and a new one for me.  It is always so exciting to photograph a new species.

It was also great to share it with a few mates that I hadn't seen for a while.

A real special morning!

October 2021 ~ A trip to Lynmouth

 It has been a long time with the covid situation that we have felt inclined to take a holiday.  We booked a few days ay Lynmouth as we had not been there before.  I really debated with myself whether or not to take my camera.  I felt that perhaps we should have a different few days.  I was really glad that I did though.  The town is right on the edge of Exmoor and the Rivers East and West Lyn meet there.  When rivers meet the sea they usually form broad muddy estuaries that attract lots of waders.  In this case however the rivers cascade down off Exmoor through steep side ravines. You get birds of clear mountain streams.  I was happy to spend a little time with these especially the Dippers that were a regular sight.

A Dipper probing for invertebrates

Dipper at the bottom a waterfall

I really enjoyed capturing these images especially getting such a low level view.  As this is a mountain stream environment you get as expected Grey Wagtails.

Grey Wagtail searching for small creatures on a waterfall

Rock Pipit in a small harbour

This Rock Pipit was always in the harbour when the tide was out.  Here it has got a juicy looking worm.

Along the trail with the camera looking out for Dippers!

The beach

Frances at the harbour`

Lobster Pots

That was a great few days and hopefully has started us getting in the holiday mode.

Lynmouth is a really beautiful place!

July 2021 ~ A good month for butterfly's, time to dust off the Macro Lens

 In July birding can go quite quiet.  I decided to dust off my macro lens as there are plenty of butterfly's flitting around on the wild flowers at my local patch.  It's good fun with plenty of targets but it isn't always easy to get the shot you want.  If you stalk them in the long grass as your boots flatten down the vegetation in front of them they are soon away on the wing.  If you cast a shadow over them they also take flight.  You tend to notice them when it is warm at midday.  But at this time they are always active and never get tired or land.  Anyway these are a few of my attempts:

Small Tortoiseshell

Common Blue

Small Skipper

Marbled White

Common Blue

It was great when you haven't done these for a while and their names trickle off your tongue!

There are also plenty of Common Spotted Orchids on my local patch too.

Common Spotted Orchid

I also love the Birds Foot Trefoil in this image, so pretty and plenty off it.  Great because it's the food plant of the Common Blue Butterfly.

That was a really enjoyable hour in the sunshine, must do that again and also go searching out dragonflies! 

Keep enjoying the natural world everyone!

May 2021~ Competition for nest sites is intense

I came across these Nuthatches checking out what looked like a perfect cavity in a tree trunk.

I guess that really great sites are a rare and valuable asset out there in nature.

This looks a superior residence

They looked well at home and they were together and I also captured the male bringing a feather to line the nest with the female already already at home.  You can just make her beak poking out receiving the offering.

A nice soft warm feather to line the nest cavity

While I was watching I was surprised to see this pair of blue tits prospecting the same hole.  They were really interested and were actually also trying to bring in nest material.

I wonder if there are instances of birds actually nesting in the same cavity.  I seem to remember reading that this does happen rarely sometimes in nature.

This looks a great family home

I just never expected to see this.

Soft furnishing

The Nuthatch is quite an aggressive bird on my feeders in Winter, driving many other smaller birds off, so I never had any doubts who would win this property dispute.

It is also great to observe and get to know the characters from a respectable distance.

With the cold temperatures is is a late spring but nature is still getting on with it.  They have evolved over the millennia to cope with all these variances.

Enjoy the natural environment and these type of experiences which are now more important to us than ever! 

 

May 2021 Trail Cam's can be such fun

 Trail Cam's can be so much fun.  I always enjoy getting the card back home and going through the images with anticipation.  It is so satisfying and you just never know what is going to turn up.

This fox has had a successful hunt 

This fox seems to have done well and is bringing home a rabbit to its den.

I love this image of a Row Deer doe and the lovely light always works well even with a trail Camera, so the setting and positioning is still very important and this never seems to go away whatever equipment you are using.

Beautiful Roe Deer doe in the morning sunshine

It is especially great when you discover something new and I was really pleased when inspecting this image to see this is a young Muntjac.  With al the time I spend around this area I have never seen a Muntjac fawn.  

A Muntjac fawn

 I even managed to capture a Roe deer and a Muntjac in the same frame.  They seem perfectly at ease with each other

At perfect ease

This made me smile.  I had forgotten all about the Trail Cam and thought I would go and have a walk in the wood.  I picked up the Card a few days later.

Yeti in the wood!

Like I say you never know what you are going to find!

On a serious note it is great to survey and area and I like the way the Trail Cam Stamps each image with the date time and temperature.  What a great record to keep for the future.

Keep getting out there and enjoying the natural world!

April 2021 Hooray Spring is here!

 It is still staying cold, but nature carries on and is in full swing.  It's great to get some dry weather and sunshine and to look out for the signs.  My harbinger of the new season is always hearing the Chiffchaff in the hedgerows.  It always takes me by surprise when I am usually doing something else, and then I notice it repeating it's name.  "Chiffchaff Chiffchaff" and then suddenly become aware of its presence.

Chiffchaff

It's amazing how this small bird can travel such distances from southern Europe and North Africa to greet us with its call.  It is one of the first migrants to arrive.

Some birds start early and the regular Great Crested Grebe pair already have their young hatched and are feeding them up straight away.

Great Crested Grebe pair

A tasty fish is offered to this first born.  Like raptors they begin incubating their eggs immediately, so they hatch at different times.  The adult seems to stay on the nest until they are all ready to leave.

Another very early breeder is the Mistle Thrush.  This young one has already fledged and is begging for food up on a tree bow.

Juvenile Mistle Thrush

Jays are also very active building there nests.  This one soon had gathered many twigs and its home was very nearly complete by the time I left it.

In the grass Common Spotted Orchids are poking through and it was great to notice them even before their distinct flowers appear.

Common Spotted Orchid

Love is in the air for these Collared Doves they do seem to get on with each other so well!

 

Collared Dove pair

They look so contented to be in each other company!

To all nature lovers enjoy the best season of all. Spring time in the UK

March 2021 ~ Spring seems a long time coming ~ but it's on its way!

 With all the covid restrictions and lock-down life, spring seems to be taking an age to kick into life.  It has also been so wet that every walk seems to be splashing through mud and getting dirty.  But signs are there now.  

I saw these Long Tailed Tits in a bramble hedge collecting up nest material.  Its great to see them getting on with their breeding season.

Long Tailed Tit collecting nest material off the bramble.  Such a lovely sight!

It's also great to see the trees starting to come out in bud.  One classic sign are the hazel Catkins.

March is also the classic time for the "Mad March Hares" when they become a lot more noticeable and the females are harassed by the males and box them away.  They are one of my very favourite mammals in the British countryside.

By standing quite still as soon as I sighted it, I managed to get great views of this one.  They breed from February to September and my instinct tells me that it may well have had young around.  They only go to them once a day at sunset, to reduce the risk of predators discovering them.  Isn't that amazing how the young stay still in the form throughout the day.

I am now looking forward to hearing the Chiffchaff in a hedgerow, this is my harbinger of spring.

I think that after last year, this is the most welcome and anticipated spring time ever!

Bring it on!

January 2021 Keeping the angle low adds interest to images

 When it has been so wet and windy over the last few months and everywhere you walk is sodden and muddy and water splashes up your boots with each step.  It becomes very difficult to keep in mind that getting down to an eye level with the subject really adds impact to your images.

The normal eye angle means that when a small bird is on the ground and your eye is more than five feet from the ground you are basically looking down on the top of its head.  When you are lower the whole image definitely has more impact and I find them a lot more pleasing as this Pied Wagtail above.  It really exaggerates the out of focus foreground and background.

Pied Wagtail down in the mud

Grey Wagtail searching for food in a really muddy patch

Reward a lovely tasty morsel for this Grey Wagtail

It is difficult especially when you are getting older and your back is getting stiffer!

But well worth the effort I think, to add the extra impact to your images

Hoping all my nature loving friends are still able to get out there and are staying safe!