Wildlife in a Suburban Garden

Now Kingfishers and Sand Martins flooded out as well as Dippers.

Yesterday was more than a bird photography day, frankly it was a day that I wouldn't want  to repeat too often.  I have a tooth abcess and it  needs sorting.  Extraction was attempted and then the dentist gave up, he plans to take it out on Tuesday when the infection has been dealt with by strong antbiotics.  So, battered and bruised, I  painfuly, I went to the river to check on one of my Kingfisher nests.  You may remeber that I have applied to Natural England for a License to photograph this nest site and am waiting to find out if I have been successful.  In the meantime the success of this nest is in peril due to the massive amount of rain that has fallen this last two weeks.  I sat watching about 100yards down stream, tucked away quietly  to see if the birds were coming to the nest burrow.  In the hour and half that I watched, no Kingfishers came to or from the nest.  At one point a Kingfisher flew swiftly down the (wide) river opposite and made no attempt to come near the nest.  I am, sadly therefore, assuming that the nest burrow has been flooded out and the chicks have been drowned.  What with my flooded and failed Dipper nest, this is very sad and I am disappointed to say the least.  The only compensation is that the birds will probably make another  attempt to nest again and then, hopefully I will be in possession of the required license and I will be able to photograph the process.  If drowned Kingfisher chicks arent bad enough, the Sand Martin colony in the same area hasn't even got going yet. In fact yesterday there was no sign of Sand Martin whatsoever whereas in previous years, by now burrows were dug and the colony was very active.  Are the Sand Martins going to fail too?  

In between the showers the air was clean and bright and the rain has cleaned everything up. I hadn't got my camera with me but I walked around the new fishing ponds just to have a look.   3 or 4  Wheatear obviously just arrived on migration,  were feeding from the fence posts and it was so lovelly to see them.  Wheatear are interesting because of their long migration, these birds now here, only yards from my house had just turned up having flown all the way from sub-Saharan Africa and who knows where they will end their journey to breed.  I rushed back home for my camera, the air was clear and the light was good.  When I returned 15 minutes later, they were still in the same place and posing beautifully, a real picture and a great photo opportunity. and one which I eagerly accepted.

 

Comparing Curlew with Whimbrel

 

Curlew- bigger with a noticeably longer beak.

 

Whimbrel, browner, with a shorter beak and noticeably different "patterned" head.

On Exminster Marsh at the moment there has been a flock of several hundred Whimbrel - Numenius phaeopus , an attractive large wader which is very similar to Curlew.  They are on passage at the moment, back to their breeding grounds much further north. They have been quite a spectacle and very pleasant to see. I thought it would be good to post pictures of both species next to each other for comparison.

 

Black-winged Stilt, Exminster RSPB

I watched with more than interest, the reports of Black-winged Stilts from the adjoining counties of Somerset and Dorset and hoped that we would eventually get one here in Devon and today it happened.  The weather gets worse! It's a day for not only ducks but any bird comfortable in an aquatic environment so I suspect that when these three flew over the marsh, now almost a lake after the heavy rains of the last few days, they couldn't resist a stop over.   

I love this species, so elegant so attractive and so ridiculous really, their legs don't seem capable of supporting their bodies.  I have seen them in other parts of Europe and even this time last year in Australia so I am very familiar with them but nevertheless, who can resist them. 

The three were feeding alongside a flood in the fields about 100 yards in front of me,  it was raining and raining hard.  At first I was alone and all the time that, that was the case   I was hopeful that they would fly from the distant flood to the one much nearer to my position.  Other people started to arrive and at first, decorum was observed but pretty soon it turned in to the usual noisy melee that often accompanies this kind of birdwatching, colloquially called a "Twitch".  At one point the three took to the air and were flying towards us but did an airborne u-turn and flew to the pool even further away.  That was fine for the other observers who had scopes and as long as they had seen the bird and could 'tick" it off they didn't really mind!  Thankfully it rained harder and the little crowd thinned to just two, me and another more serious observor, but the rain "persisted" down and he left as well......... result!  I hudled against the deluge and then they were in the air and flying in my direction, they landed to my right, much nearer and started to work towards me. After not many minutes one flew back followed by a second but the third continued on it's path towards me.  In the pouring rain, I took a few pictures and I am relatively pleased with the outcome.  Yet again an example of patience and the need to go just that extra mile, well in this case just an extra few yards really.

 

One of the adults flies back across the marsh.

 

This one appears to be a younger individual.

Interestingly, the other bird is a Whimbrel, a very interesting bird but today playing second fiddle to a real star turn.

 

Tree Pipit - Anthus trivialis

 

I went back to the same lovely spot close to Dartmoor where I had seen a Tree Pipit on Saturday morning.   I was hoping that,  given some luck and a decent bright  day, I would get a decent photo. I couldn't believe it when, as soon as I climbed out of the car I could see, and hear it in the same Hawthorn that it had been in on my previous visit.  Obviously this bird has set up a territory here and is singing to attract a mate, probably yet to arrive on migration.  In the end I actually saw at least 3 different males.

They were all singing at the tops of hawthorns and from time to time, performing parrachute song flights.  It turned out to be a really nice session and a real example of the wild areas, so full of wildlife here in Devon and close to my home. To start with it is unbelievably beautiful, England at it's glorious best with scenery that is as good as anywhere in the world. As I walked quietly down the hillside amongst huge boulders braken and sparse bushes, the air was filled with birdsong, mainly Willow Warblers and the Tree Pipits of course, but also Yellowhammers, Linnets and Chaffiches were everywhere.  Buzzards soared above in mating display flight.

 My day became even better when, as I came over the brow of the hill I was just feet from a deer, then another which amazingly was a buck Fallow Deer.  That was a real surprise because I had absolutely no idea that Fallow Deer were living wild on Dartmoor. The buck sped away and I saw his antlers clearly confirming his species. If that were't enough, I almost stumbled in to another deer which I thought was more likely to be a Roe and then accross the valley and in fields opposite, I could clearly see a group of 4 more Fallow deer grazing like cattle.  It was a pretty special day and I can't wait to go back. 

 

I am aware that Fallow Deer can be found easily in Halden Forest, near to Exeter but I wasn't aware that they were living wild near to Mortonhamstead.

 

The first Blackbird fledglings in the garden

It's too wet to undertake anything outdoors today, the 23rd April, St Georges Day. I am pretty sure that had the Dippers not been washed out of their nest last week, as they were, they would certainly have perished over the last 24 hours. The rain has been never ending today and it was a nice surprise to see in the garden, a newly fledged baby Blackbird - Turdus merula. This species breeds in or around my garden every year with their main threat being the local cats and also Magpies - Pica pica. To actually see a healthy youngster, strong enough to avoid at least the cats, and out of the nest where they are not vulnerable to the magpie is very pleasing. Almost every year I find the remains of them on my lawn where cats have killed them, so fingers crossed. It chose anasty day to leave the nest in the wet  but seems healthy enough.

Tree Pipit

After the sadness and disappointment of this weeks Dipper dramas, I have carried on with my obsession....... birds and wildlife.  When one door closes another invariably opens and thats just the way it has panned out.  Firstly the Kingfishers on the rIver Exe here, close to home have for certain got chicks in the nest.  You should know that Kingfishers are a Schedule 1 bird and are subject to special protection. To photograph a Kingfisher nest requires a special license which I have applied for from Natural England, the body responsible for policing the granting of license.  You may be interested to know that license are issued on a quota basis of 1% of the estimated breeding population of the species.  Any license granted is specific to a particular nest and not the bird in general, therefore, because I am aware of two Kingfisher nests, I have applied for two licenses. I have been informed by Natural England that the quota has not been filled for 2012.  There are also numerous conditions that the applicant is required to  provide proof of. These include photographs of 6 none schedule 1 birds involved in nesting activity, in itself quite a hard requirement to fullfill and references from responsible people who are preferably involved in wildlife management or something similar.  Glad to say that I have ticked all of the boxes and hopefully my license applications will be successful but it is by no means a formality, but my fingers are crossed.

This morning I went out back towards the Dipper site to see if there was anything to take not of. . There was no sign whatsoever of adult Dippers and the nest looked a sorry mess. It appears to have been completely submerged yet again since my last visit only two days ago. A drive further afield and to a lovelly area nearer to the "true" Dartmoor was very rewarding.  A "for certain"  Tree Pipit was singing beautifully from the top of a Hawthorn. I took photos just for the record and  to confirm the identity when I got home even though I ws pretty certain. I  was surprised that the photo was as successful as it turned out.  Just notice that the beak is much, much heavier than a that of a Meadow Pipt and this was the first thing that struck me.

Dipper chicks dead!

Regular readers of my blog will know that I hae been monitoring, photographing and recording the events at a White Throated Dipper - (cinclus cinclus) nest site since the end of February. My almost daily visits and a total of well over 100 hours  have recorded many interesting facts and I have gained a real understanding of the behaviour of this most iconic and interesting species. I am attempting to put together a book, a "Devon Dipper Diary" which will be published either in the traditional way or/and online as an iPad app or online book.  Things were going so well until yesterday when 20.8mm of rain fell near to the river's source  miles up stream which led to an almost,  flash flood. The water level rose at an unbelievable rate, flooded in to the nest and prevented the parents from gaining access. The water level quickly receeded but by then the damage was done and the chicks were cold and lifeless in the nest. However, at that  point they were not dead. I warmed them with my own body heat until they  became active and then,  having made a new access hole to the nest, above the water line, replaced them.  The parents quickly returned, and now able to get in to her chicks, the female tried to brood them and the male continued to bring food.  Sadly all to no avail as this morning,  with the river level down 2 feet again,  the  chicks at 7 days old  were dead in the nest.  Their eyes were just about to open and pin feathers were about to emerge from their wings.

 

The female perched opposite, bemused.

 

 

The male singing a territorial song,

 

I sat opposite the nest later on to see what the reaction of the parents was going to be.  Both birds came to the nest, the male with food for his dead chicks, all very sad. I took some photographs but felt a little bit like it wasn't the right thing to do.

Dippers in the flood.

Getting straight to the point...... the Dipper chicks are with 99% certainty, dead!

It had rained  a little bit  off and on all day but by 4 pm it had brightened up. I had always planned to visit late afternoon and early evening.  As I walked across the field and reached the river, immediately my heart sank, the water was so high it was lapping at the bottom of the nest.

 

Water was lapping at the bottom of the nest completely covering the entrance hole and tunnel.

 

 I saw a Dipper nearby so I didn't immediately think that it was a full blown disaster. I quickly concealed myself and then looked properly, there was no entrance hole visible, this was under the water. The majority of the nest was not submerged though. I sat and waited to see if the parents came and it wasn't long before the male arrived with a beak full of food. As you can see, he perched on the nest and tried to find a way in to feed his youngsters.  It was a pathetic spectacle as he searched around the nest, all he time with a beak full of food, trying to get in to the nest.  

 

The male Dipper tries to get in to the nest to feed his chicks.

 

It tried to find a way in to the nest frantically .

 

I quickly made a decision, I decided to cross the river and planned to open up the top of the nest so that the birds could get in to their chicks. It was either give them that chance or let the chicks perish for certain, if they were not dead already that is.  I ran back across the field and down the road to cross by some stepping stones but when I got there the stones were totally submerged as well, I had no way of getting across the river!  There was another way, via a bridge quite a way upstream which is what I did.  I made my way down the side of the swollen river being careful not to fall in and eventually some 30 minutes later I was at the nest which was just below me. I lowered myself down head first towards the nest, holding on with my left hand and praying not to fall in to the torrent. I poked through the top of the nest and sadly I could feel the stone cold chicks, lifeless and seemingly dead. I removed them one by one, cupped them in my hand and blew on them with my warm breath. Miraculously, after 5 minutes or so there was some tiny movement and  they started to come back to life again. I was really heartened by this, with them in my hand I put them in to my arm pit and held them next to my skin, the warmest part of my body.  I had them there for 20 minutes trying to bring up their body temperature.  However, I needed to get them back in to the nest as soon as I could so I took the decision to put them back in and hope for the best.  I tidied up the new entrance hole and retreated back the way I had come.  Back at the hide opposite I watched and waited, and prayed.  Suddenly the female arrived at the nest, after some investigation she entered through the new entrance and to my utter amazement and joy she seemed to start to brood the chicks.

 

The female arrived at the nest and is able to get in to her chicks through the new hole.

 

At one point she did some tidying up of the new entrance and later even emerged to catch some food which she took in to the nest. Whether she fed that to the chicks I will never know, were they alive or had they continued to lose body heat again.  After quite a while the male returned to the scene with a beak full of food, he tried on several occasions to feed his youngsters, perching on the edge of the nest calling to them loudly but sadly he didn't feed them.  I am guessing because they didn't gape for food which was a really bad sign.

 

The male tries to feed the chicks but they do not respond.

 

With all the boulders under water, the male perched on wood washed down river and close to me.

 

 

I am praying that the female was able to brood them enough to  get them active again but I  will not know the answer to that until the morning.  I appreciate that it is almost certainly against the law to take chicks from a nest but my conscience is clear on this.  I have been with this family of Dippers for 7 weeks, almost daily and watched them build a nest, watched them incubate and watched them feeding their chicks for the last 7 days.  It would have been impossible to sit and watch them perish without trying to help.  Perhaps I should have let nature take its course?  But I didn't, I did what I think is right.  However, the chicks have almost certainly died in the nest.  The parents were unable to brood the chicks or feed them for several hours. There is a very small chance that my intervention may have saved them but I am not hopeful.  If they have survived it will be an absolute miracle.

Dipper crisis

I was horrified when I went to the nest site late this afternoon. Last night it rained, not hard, but enough to leave puddles in the road. I guessed that the river would have risen but I wasn't prepared for 2 feet higher though. Every boulder was completely submerged and the river was a torrent.  The Dipper nest was now 1 foot above the waterline but still reasonably safe.  The parent birds were a litle subdued, they flew in with food, aiming for their favourite boulder perches and then at the last minute they would suddenly realise that it wasn't there anymore and veer away to land opposite. Yesterday they carried food to the nest every few minutes but today they were feeding much less. At one point the male was away from the nest for quite an extended period, at least 40 minutes.  The female brooded the chicks for longer periods than yesterday but did emerge from time to time and carried food to them as well. I left the site reasonably content that everything was fine and with the knowledge that the oldest 3 chicks are 7 days old tomorrow.  However, the weather forcast is not good, more heavy rain is on the way, yesterday's rain had added two foot to the river level, if that happens tonight then I fear that the nest will be flooded out and that will be the end of it.  I am keeping everything crossed that they remain safe. Nature is extreme and always takes it's course.

 

The chicks from Monday, I hope that they survive the night and the flood water. 

 

 

I had an interesting encounter this afternoon, a drake Goosander arrived right in front of me and of course, he was also in front of the nes as wellt. When that had happened previously, (albeit a female), the Dippers were less than happy but today they didn't seem too worried. The duck was happy to "haul-out" and preen but then it caught sight of movement and quite quickly moved away, but it was good to see it so close up

.

 

Dipper Song and latest update

 

Dipper song

Click on the button here to listen to the male Dipper singing in front of the nest. Perhaps you don't realise but as you can hear, they are beautiful songsters. There is some difficulty with background noise, basically the tumbling water and in the middle of the clip, a Pheasant calls from the adjoining woods.

It's interesting to note that you can clearly see the "egg-tooth" on the beaks of the chicks in the nest now at 5 days old. In accordance with the law, these chicks were not disturbed or handled by me but checked in accordance with the nest recording scheme run by the British Trust for Ornithology.

But more about yesterdays watching which was incredibly interesting.  The chicks are doing really well, I peered in to the nest which wasn't too hard because the opening has become larger due to constant use and the male's habit of hanging on as he feeds his chicks.  I could see  them really well and also noted that,  at 5 days old they have trebled in size already. Feeding by the parents is none stop and at times both birds were back and forth in less than a minute, constantly feeding the obviously voracious youngsters.  The female left-off from brooding and hunted for prey right in front of the nest, taking just seconds to find prey which she delivered, flopped back caught more and then delivered that morsel about three times in a minute. The male however seems to spend comparatively  longer   catching food and when he comes back to the nest he is usually carrying larger insects such as mayfly. Yesterday I saw him catch  a small fish which he dealt with, Kingfisher-like, beating it to death, he didn't bring that to the nest but flew opposite to eat it himself, incredible that he could make the judgement that it was too large and not suitable for the nestlings.  There seemed to be an uneasy relationship between the parent birds, at one point they displayed to each other and then tumbled in to the water rolling around as though fighting but is more likely to be a precursor to mating?

 

 

Dipper chicks day 4

I had my first opportunity to photograph the baby Dippers today and I am very glad to say that everything is progressing splendidly.  I watched from under cover nearby and with a clear view of the nest then  as soon as the female left  the nest and flew up river to feed I took the opportunity to check the nest.  It is not necessary for me to do this daily but I am keen to know if the chicks are thriving.   By using a small LED light I can see the chicks in the nest  quickly without too much disturbance. The chicks, all 4, are now covered in very long charcoal-grey down, they are darker than they were on the day of hatching. I have been able to record some interesting behaviour today.  The female left the nest several times in the 2 hours that I was watching this afternoon, not only to feed herself but also returned with food to carry back to the nest. This is a contradiction to other descriptions  of breeding Dippers that I have read that suggest that the female does not help to feed the chicks until they are at least 10 days old. In this  pair the female is already  deffinitely helping to  feed the chicks in the nest today and the chicks are 3 and 4 days old now.   The male in particular is very industrious and constantly,  either  food or delivering it to the nest.  There is going to be a video clip posted in the next half an hour so please check back. 

 

At the Dipper nest on Friday 13th April

At the nest this evening it was good to see the male working like a demon collecting food for his  4 chicks. What struck me was not only how efficient and skilled he was at finding food, but how much available insect life there must be. I kept a really accurate record of the time between visits to the nest.  In  41 minutes  from 18.11 to18.51, the male visted a total of 10 times.   I have to confess that this level of feeding far exceeded what I expected. The prey being fed is larger than I expected and seems to be mainly Mayfly as I expected it would be.

 

Here the male (on the left)  displays with a mouthfull of insects, to the female who had just left the nest coincidentally as he had arrived to feed their chicks.

 

 

The male about to fly up with food for the chicks.

Yellowhammer - Emberiza citronella

 

This shows the habitat of the Yellowhammer and Warblers that were so common here today.

Spring has sprung! The warblers are coming thick and fast, some cuckoos have been heard and no doubt the rest are not far behind.  I love Dartmoor in the summer and spring so today, I drove past the river and the Dippers nest (but of course I went back in the evening), but instead, I made my way out to a lovely spot that is not actually on Dartmoor but  geologically has all the same features.  Last year when I discovered this beautiful unexplored site I had seen Yellowhammer, Linnet, warblers and lots of insects.  I want to get photos of Whitethroat and I know that they are about to arrive and when they do they will be singing to establish territories, and this is the time to get a good photograph or two, at least that's the plan!  I was a bit early for Whitethroat but there was at least a dozen Willow Warbler  singing and showing beautifully.  As you can see from the photograph above,  it's a very special place.  I noticed that a Willow Warbler was regularly flying to the tree in the foreground of the picture.  I hid behind a gorse bush and waited for it to reappear. A bird landed on the tree in front of me...... it was a gorgeous female Yellowhammer, one of my favourite birds.  I managed a few photos but apart from that, it was quite a treat to see this really nice species and so close. 

 

 

Female Yellowhammer, note the rusty-coloured rump, in the much rarer Cirl Bunting, the rump would be grey.

 

 

A female Yellowhammer looking her best at this time of year, the male is bright canary yellow. 

 

Willow Warbler, just arrived on migration.

 

 

Thursday 12 April, the 4th egg hatches.

I have bee suffering with a bad back, it's made me realise how important good health is. It has been really debilitating and I have had to push through the pain barrier to even get dressed, let alone  lie in the hide and watch the Dippers, but these last few days have been so important that I needed to be there to check the nest.   Yesterday I had discovered  three chicks and one unhatched egg in the nest. When I checked again today there were 4 chicks.  This confirmed a few important facts. Incubation had been 17 days.  Finding just 3 chicks in the nest  yesterday and a 4th today could mean only one thing. Incubation had begun after 3 eggs were laid and  before the clutch was complete. One of the things that I wanted to acheive by watching and studyng this pair of Dippers in the intense way that I have , was to establish my own facts rather than rely on other peoples research and information which is often recycled, 3rd hand information rather than anything based on private study.  All previous information that I have read, told me that incubation would not start until the clutch was complete, in other words, after the 4th egg.  This is to  ensure that all the chicks  hatch on the same day and have an equal chance of survival, However, this clearly is not the case and 3 chicks will have a head start on their younger sibling. In times of food shortage, the younger chick in the nest would certainly perish but in a season when food is plentiful this is not an issue.   The male bird is already proving to be a brilliant father. I watched him for an hour tonight, he was working almost tirelessly catching prey undrwater and then delivering it to the chicks.  At one point I counted to 30 before he emerged again, but mostly he would spend just a second or two delivering his morsel. he seems quite happy to catch food from around the nest so this will give me some great opportunities to watch him feeding as well.

Dippers. The eggs hatch on cue!

 

The Male Dipper visits the nest to feed his newly hatched chicks.

 

I waited again until the evening to visit the nest, thankfully the water level hadn't risen any further, infact it had brobably gone down an inch or two. I waited for the female to leave the nest before moving down to check the nest.  I am really glad to be able to report that 3 of the eggs have hatched and three healthy chicks are in the nest.  One egg is either infertile, or "dead-in-shell" or more likely incubation started with the 3rd egg and not the 4th.  If this is the case this will contradict everything that I have read previously which seemed to suggest that incubation always commenced when the clutch was complete.  If the 4th egg should hatch tomorrow, then this will confirm that incubation started on Sunday,  when there was only 3 eggs in the nest. I am looking forward to finding the answer tomorrow.  The chicks were pink skinned which was a surprise, I expected them to be dark. 

I watched the male already working hard finding food and delivering it to the nest, even if I had not checked for  myself, I would have known that there were chicks in the nest just by the male's change in behaviour. 

 

The male about to fly up to the nest with food.

This morning I took some photographs of Nuthatches and a fine male Greater Spotted Woodpecker.

Male Greater Spotted Woodpecker

Male Nuthatch

 

 

10 April

The latest from the Dipper nest.

I went to check the nest at around 5.pm. The river has risen at least a foot and is running faster than it has for the last 6 weeks.  Glad to say that it would still need to rise another 18 inches before it flooded out the nest, not totally out of the question but a possibility. I waited for the female to leave the nest so that I could check if the eggs had hatched.  I was slightly concerned, there was no sign of  the male and I had no idea if the female was in the nest.  As I lay watching and waiting I surveyed the scene in front of me.  My "pile of logs hide" was no more, just a few logs remained.  All the birds favourite boulders were completely submerged and the river was a torrent and still no male. After not too long, the female emerged from the nest and flew upstream, I quickly checked the nest......... no eggs yet, it took me 10 seconds and I was away from the scene almost as quickly.  I went back to the  river crossing and went over to the cover tucked away in the holly bush to watch for a while.  The sun was shining brightly and a was thrilled to see that, as spring has progressed the position of the sun at this time of the evening was actually illuminating the nest hole.  That is a real exciting development because it means that there is going to be a window of opportunity when the nest is going to have enough light on it to allow some proper photographs, very exciting to be truthful. But, still no male!  Then just after I had whispered "come on Dipper", there he was.  The only remaining boulder perch was just a few feet in front of me, he had no alternative to use it.  He seemed confused with the change of scene.  I didn't have my camera with me, but not to worry there is always tomorrow. 

Siskin

Bullfinch (male)

Bullfinch (male)

Bullfinch (female)

Great-crested Grebe

9th April 2012. No Dipper chicks yet.

Before you start reading this Blog entry please be aware that I am a registered member of the BTO's nest recording scheme.

It's now 17 days since the first Dipper egg was laid in the nest  at the territory that I have been keeping a close watch on since the beginning of February. This week is a crucial one. It is said that incubation will not begin until the last egg of the clutch is laid and there are 4 eggs in this clutch. It is likely that incubation commenced on the 25th March which coincided with the 4th egg, however as part of my records and individual observations of this pair, I need to confirm that  this is the case. There are several possibly variables.  Apart from the above there is the possibility that incubation could take 16 days or even less.  It is also possible that incubation could have comenced after the laying of 3 or even 2 eggs.  Only discovering the date that chicks hatch can this be confirmed. The earliest date that hatching could have ocurred is today. It was important that I checked the nest contents today. I can confirm that there are still four eggs in the nest and as yet no chicks. My method of checking, in accordance with the laid down procedure and advice from the BTO, is to sit unobserved, watching the nest.  When the female has departed  the nest is the time to make your move.  My observations for the last 17 days have shown me that the female, after leaving the nest, has the habit of flying away upstream and is away for 8 minutes.  This is ample time to quietly and without fuss, check the contents of the nest, but  after first confirming  that male is away from the area with the female.  To check this nest requires a wet foot as it is situated above water on a vertical moss covered bank.

Dippers on Easter Sunday

The weather forcast for the next couple of days is for rain and it is possible  that I won't get the chance to check on the nest tomorrow, I hope to be able to because it is the start of an important week for the Dippers.  I decided to have a quick check of the nest site and the breeding pair late this evening.   The male was in front of the nest when I got there, it's always good to see him at the nest, confirming that there isn't a problem. Nothing special to add from this evening except that the male stood in front of the nest for quite a while, he was making that sibillant churring sound here and there, and had he got a response from the female in the form of a churring answer, I'm sure  he would have flown up to her but he didn't.  Considering that it's now 16 days since the first egg was laid and they are due to hatch within the next day or so, it's a surprise that she didn't invite hime to feed her. It will probably be easy to know when the eggs have started hatching because I am expecting the male to deliver food to the nest, that will be a change in recent behaviour.  Just before dusk, the male was still in front of the nest and still making his churring noise.  I felt a bit sorry for him, because he hasn't taken part in the incubation.  He is detached from what is going on and has kept quite  a lonely vigil for the last 16 days. Incubation is said to last 16 or 17 days and also to start on the day of the laying of the final egg of the clutch. This is to ensure that all eggs hatch simultaneously, not all birds use this syncronised incubation. Some species will incubate after the second egg meaning that chicks hatch on different days. The benefit of this is that the older chicks are inclined to get the "lions" share of the food brought to the nest.  Only when their is a plentiful supply do all the chicks survive.  In Dippers, all the chicks will have an equal chance of survival. 

 Below, the Male Dipper finds food as he waits in front of the nest.

A Roe Deer Carcase

Something that really excites me is a deer carcass so when my friend Dick sent me a message that there was a dead deer in the field adjoining his lovely house, well that was just too much.  His house is in a glorious setting, not too far from my home but seemingly in the middle of nowhere, next to a bird filled wood that has nesting Buzzards, Jays and Green Woodpeckers as well as all the usual common woodland birds. More of that when I have managed to get some pictures to post  here, this is on my list of "projects". 

But back to the carcass.  I positioned a trail camera next to it to get a photo of what came in to feed, but more importantly I wanted to find out if it was going to be worth setting up a hide nearby.  So far the only thing recorded on the camera has been Carrion Crow but I know with certainty that something,probably a fox, has been feeding on it every night and inspite of about a kilo of flesh and guts being taken unforunately the camera hasn't recorded any of this for some strange reason.  I find these trail cameras to be unpredictably unreliable. Very frustrating.

More Hoopoe photos from last Wednesday and Thursday

Here is a sequence featuring the Teignmouth Golf Course Hoopoe, feeding on a Leatherjacket.  It first turned up on Tuesday and I caught up with it on Wednesday late afternoon. Hoopoe are a common bird of the Mediteranean region, Portugal, Spain and Southern France and North Africa.   At this time of the year there is migratory movement north.  If conditions are favourable, or not, as the case may be, some birds over-shoot and a few end up in the British Isles where their presence causes quite a stir.   They are about the size of a Collared Dove, very exotic particularly in flight.

 

 

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An update from the Dipper Nest

I watched the nest yesterday for a couple of hours in the afternoon. It's now 14 days since egg laying began and incubation has thrown up a few interesting facts. To start with, the female, who does all the incubation has now developed the habit of leaving the nest to feed every  30 minutes or so. As I have said before,  she is away from the nest for just 8 minutes, literally to the second.  The male is not always aware that she has departed and yesterday I watched him arrive with a healthy beak full of adult Mayflies.  This is the first  time that I have seen the male, or female for that matter, feeding on adult Mayfly and my guess would be that the entire breeding cycle has been timed perfectly so that when there are chicks in the nest there is going to be a proliferation of Mayfly. He called to the female  from a boulder close to the nest but didn't get any response because she was away feeding.  He continued calling her but didn't fly up to her with the flies.  I made the assumption that had she been in the nest she would have responded and he would have delivered the insects. I am certain that this is the case but I haven't heard her calling from the nest. before and it was interesting to realise that he was waiting for a response from her. Eventually after flying from boulder to boulder in front of the nest, he decided to eat the food himself but not before he had spent at least 5 minutes calling her.   To think that the arrival of chicks in the nest has been timed to coincide with the  Mayfly hatch  is a stunning fact. Quite how that has been judged is a mysterious wonder to me.
 

A few changes with the Blog's layout.

I have received some helpful comments recently about the difficulty that some people, particularly iPad users, have when reading the Blog. Apparently some people couldn't view the full extent of images, the right hand side of larger pictures being cut off. I have therefore altered the layout of the Blog, in the hope that this will now be corrected.  I would appreciate it if readers could email me and let me know if the problem is now corrected, thank you in anticipation.

 

An interesting day, and 1 good picture.

 I revisited the Golf Course at Teignmouth this morning, the hope of some more views proved too much to resist. It proved much more difficut than yesterday but eventually I did get a nice picture. The bird's presence as you would expect has caused quite a lot of interest and the reason for the difficulty was the presence of just too many interested people. It would have been fine if they had all stayed in one spot but in the end because people were so spread out, the bird disappeared in to the rough scrub off the Golf Course.  However, just as yesterday, I had seen that it favoured a specific area and unlike the rest of the "birding mob" who chased around like lunatics, I just went and sat down close to where I had seen it fly to regularly before the mob grew to riot like proportions....... and here is the result!  A very satisfying conclusionto the morning. It's not good to be too competetive but I was very smug to think that two days running I have got such good views against all the odds.

Hoopoe in South Devon

After returning home at lunchtime from my daily check of the Dippers nest....... everything is going well by the way....... I read on line that a Hoopoe had been seen near to Teignmouth, in fact on the golf course on the hill above the town. I didn't realise when I decided to go and see if I could find it, what a great experience it was going to be. At first when I arrived, I was greeted by a couple of other birders who I know well, it was nice to see them!  They told me that the bird had developed a habit already, of flying to a specific spot next to one of the "tees".  At first, even when it flew in, I was too far away for anything other than a nice distant view. Eventually as you would imagine, golfers put it up and it flew to an area just down the hillside, but was back at his favourite spot within a few minutes only to be scared off again this time, by a chap having a stroll along the path.  When it flew off, I grabbed my gear and quickly put on my gillie suit, lay in the grass completely covering myself with dry grass and very painful prickly dead gorse.  I was pretty confident that it would turn up again, and if it did, I would only be 20 feet away now and with the light coming from the perfect direction.   I got genuinely excited, including butterflies in the stomach as I waited for it to arrive........ and there it was, right in front of me but totally unaware that I was there. It was feeding on leatherjackets, the larva of Cranefly which it frantically dug out with it's long beak, a perfect tool for the job. The brilliant views that I was experiencing  couldn't last because people without any care, or common sense, just walked towards it, I watched them getting closer and closer in their bright jackets and gaudy gear and obviously it wasn't having any of it, and off it went!  One chap, who I won't embarrass by describing or mentioning by name, didn't know that I was there, hidden as I was in the grass and gorse.  His behaviour was reprehensible, he thought that he was alone with the bird and he tried to get as close as he could, disturbing it from it's feeding with no regard for it whatsoever.  It flew off from it's feeding which I have to be honest really annoyed me.  I emerged from my concealment, now there was just me and him, and I passed on some advice to him about his lack of proper fieldcraft and frankly his poor behaviour. He stood with a guilty look on his face knowing that he was totally out of order and he had been caught being  the kind of person that we all despise....... or should! 

 

 

Something completely different

The Rabbit - Oryctolagus cuniculus is in plague proportions currently here in Devon. They are normally mainly nocturnal, but in the fields and roadside verges nearby  you can usually see them both night and day at the moment.  There are even very young animals already proving that they have had a very early breeding season.  Just before dusk last night I watched them in a field  close to home and one was very stupid and didn't run for cover as they normally do. Apart from a lack of wariness, it was perfectly healthy.  I took a few photos and the results were quite pleasing so I have included one here.  It's interesting to see that it has a ripped ear, obviously the product of a fight.  I am going to visit this warren regularly over the next few months, you never no what I might be lucky enough to see.

Things progressing as hoped for at the Dipper nest

Everything safe and well at the Dippers nest,  the male visiting the nest after catching some prey and the female still  leaving the nest to feed more regularly than you would imagine.  At one time she emerged from the nest with a beech leaf, dunked it in to the water and took it back to the nest.  Natures way of ensuring the correct level of humidy in the nest no doubt. I am assuming that incubation started last Sunday or monday, day 7 or 8 of incubation.

The Robin and the Bee

I decided to give the Dippers a rest today, things there are progressing as planned and until the eggs hatch in 10 days or so, there is not going to be a lot different to see and report. I decided to have a look along the Alphin Brook close to home and this proved interesting if not particularly exotic. I watched a Robin who was feeding on flies attracted to horse manure. I was trying to freeze the bird in flight and when I looked at the pictures taken I was pleased and very surprised to see that a bee had crept in to the picture.

 

I also managed to get him flying as well.

A Small Tortoiseshell, always nice to see. This picture was taken with a 500mm lens and this gives it a nice background and a very pleasing image indeed!