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Just for my readers who like to see pictures.
A bit disappointing yet again this morning. The light was perfect and I was expecting success, I just needed a bird and he duly obliged without too much wait. But today he just decided not to dive, what a shame becaue conditions were perfect. I may have to take charge of the situation and catch some fish for him!
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As I write on the Ipad I am sat in the Kingfisher hide on the brook, it's been a long wait again today and there are things that I probably should be doing right now. I have just returned after a lunch break and already done at least 3 hours waiting so far today. I can see the perch in front of me and in spite of the waiting being very tedious , the thrill of being 5 feet from an unknowing Kingfisher is worth the wait. This is something I have experienced, just like this on dozens and dozens of occasions. Yesterday was a brook free day because of the bad weather and rain but late afternoon after the flood water had gone down enough to see what was what, I replaced some of the branches in front of the hide. This is always interesting, fresh mud is like a clean canvas and then a later visit will show what activity there has been. Really encouragingly when I got here just after 10 I could see that a Kingfisher had spent quite a time on the perch. Underneath was covered and sprayed with bird lime. I set up the camera on the tripod in the water and pointed towards the branch and began my wait with the remote shutter release in my hand. Not totally dead time as I read the newspaper on my ipad, great times we live in. After only a short while there was the unmistakeable sound of a single loud splash, and it could only be a Kingfisher. There it was, perched on my camera and using it as a platform to fish from! How annoying is that, but also quite amusing. What happened next though was not quite so amusing. A voice from above spooked the Kingfisher totally and I heard 'Charlie', I ignored it ''Charlie' again....... Yes I replied, 'Anything around today'? 'Well not now'. I said. It seems that this stranger or seeming acquaintance as he knew me by name, in spite of being able to see the camera and knowing that I was in the hide, thought he would still make conversation. The cardinal rule of wildlife watching broken. It's interesting though, as I wait, to wonder where Kingfishers go when they are not with you on one of their favourite perches? They obviously have several 'favourite' spots and share their time between them. Territories are big so they could be hundreds of yards away, in fact probably are. However they fly incredibly quickly and can be with you suddenly and without warning. One second a glance shows a bare branch and the next one shows a turquoise bird, and your wait has been vindicated. To get a photo is even more justification for the spent hours.
Just as I expected and hoped for, a few minutes before 3, there was the Kingfisher, right on the perch as I hoped. This was Interesting as I rarely see them mid afternoon. One minute, no bird and then the next time I looked..... a Kingfisher. He had quite a successful few minutes catching three fish in the short time with me. I fired off the remote and captured some images, the best two are here. It was interesting to watch him as I sat with the remote poised in my hand. Suddenly, something spooked him from behind and he immediately tightened his feathers and in a flash had gone down stream. Knowing that he was still in the area, I waited for him to return again, ever hopeful of that special photograph. It's incredibly time consuming and verging on the eccentric but it's my time and thankfully I can spend it like I want to. My back started to ache and the feeling of dried mud on my hands and hair was starting to get a bit tiresome., enough was enough.
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I have taken thousands and thousands of photographs, mostly of birds sitting staring at the camera, portraits in other words. But without doubt my best pictures are when the action is captured and this has been my focus this last few weeks. After a very heavy spell of rain which lasted 8 hours or so, the brook was flooded and water covered my hide, although it had already started to recede by late afternoon. I am not too worried about the Kingfisher(s). Experience has shown me that they still manage to find enough food in flooded conditions although all the usual recycled information on the internet will have you believe otherwise. I agree, it is incredible that Kingfishers can survive for a few days when their waters are muddy and in flood but they certainly do. Even when the water is flooded for several days and as long as a week, in the four years of studying the Kingfishers on the brook all of them have always survived. It is really worth remembering that information published on the net is never edited or checked and in this way false information can be spread around. You see the same facts repeated constantly and you assume it to be true, not realising that it has simply been copied from incorrect information in the first place. Even the RSPB makes reference to Kingfishers dying in flooded conditions because they can't feed. This is simply not correct and they should really not publish such inaccuracies. Anyway, back to today. I obviously couldn't get in to my brook hide and when the sun started to shine brightly I thought it would be a good opportunity to try for more in flight shots on the edge of my wood hide. I managed another couple of photos that pleased my, the first one speaks for itself but the one below seemed quite interesting with an unusual wing shape as the bird comes in to land and uses the wings as a brake. This is the kind of action you can't see with the naked eye and why I really like in-flight photos of small birds. You might be interested know that I have come to the conclusion that you need a shutter speed of 1/4000 of a second to really freeze the action with Blue Tits and Coal Tits but with Nuthatches and Great Tits which are a little bit bigger, 1/3200 is usually sufficient.
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I am trying to ramp up my Kingfisher phoyography to the next level. I have been thinking of a method of getting photos of them diving in and out of the water from down there seemingly at water level. The photo above is an experimental one and not the finished article but in itself, I really like it, it shows real movement and gives a reall impression of the amount of splash when a bird like a KIngfisher dives under water and then emerges to fly back up to the perch.
I toyed with the idea of building some kind of hide in the water but decided that wasn't really practical because of the public nature of the brook. The answer of course is to position the camera in the water and then fire it remotely....... simple! Well not really. With you sat in the hide and the camera 10 feet away on a tripod in the water, you have no control of the cameras settings. This is the reason that the picture above is blurred and the splashing effect has been captured so well. With the camera in front of you, you have total control of the settings and can constantly change them to give you the highest shutter speed possible. But when it is remote from you have to "guesstimate" how to set the camera based on what you think the light is going to be like and thats it. What happened here was, coinciding with he Kingfishers arrival, the light had faded noticeably and when he arrived and performed as hoped, it was dull and I was only getting very slow shutter speeds. I am sure that it wont be very ghard to get the two necessary elements in place at the same time..... a bird, and good light.
This was taken last night at around 7.30. I had been back to the hide for an hour or so prior to an evening out. Usually when a Kingfisher pays a visit it will stay with you for a few minutes and perhaps dive for a fish, sometimes he will be successful but often he won't be so lucky. However the very act of splashing in to the water will disturb any potential prey. They seem to know this and even after they have been successful they will often leave to fish elsewhere. But last night he arrived on the perch with a massive fish, much larger than normal prey, it looks like a small roach. He beat it repeatedly to soften it and eventually after a real struggle, swalowed it head first. I have seen the effect of swallowing large prey before, the bird usually takes it easy for a length of time as the large prey makes it's way down the gullet. This is exactly what happened but I was trappedin the hide with the bird in front of me for 40 minutes. Great to see him but hard to explain why I was so late when I had promised to be home much earler. However, it is good that he is being so successful and already he is a great fisherman. It hasn't taken him very long to hone his skills.
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There is a good chance that this is a different young male than the usual one from the last few days. This one just seemed to be a little bit more "flighty" than before and didn't seem to act in the same way. It could be that I have regularly been seeing different males? This morning though I did have a visit from a new bird a female. It was a young bird, probably the sister of the male or males that I have been seeing. My usual method this last few days has been to sit in the hide with a magazine or my ipad loaded with the daily paper and kill the time by reading. Every few minutes though, I glance in the direction of the perch to make sure that I am not missing any Kingfishers. Well this morning, I started to get a bit too engrssed in my reading, suddenly there was a splash and on the perch was a Kingfisher. I wasn't too impressed, it looked a relatively dull bird and immediately I could see that it was a young female. I have never thought before that females were any less bright than males so this in itself was a surprise. I took photographs which were not too impressive. She was flighty and not knowing the territory like the usual male, she constantly looked around nervously and it wasn't too long before she flew off up stream. I didn't manage to get a picture, that was good enough to post.
Knowing that the young male hadn't arrived yet, I sat and waited for him to show and I didn't have to wait too long, just 5 minutes or so. There he was, makedly brighter than the female before a real jewel as the sun picked out the colours. This bird was also in hunting mode and dived in which I almost got good photos of but nothing to match yesterday in that department. At one point though, wierdly it flashed it's wings just as I pressd the shutter.
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This morning at 8.10 and the young Kingfisher was there on the perch in front of me. He was hunting for breakfast and quite quickly he spied a fish. The dive pictured above produced a lovely little male Stickleback.
He landed back where he had left from and then had qiute a struggle withthe fish which was in full breeding condition. He had hold of it by the tail. He struggled for ages and ages trying to get it down. At one point it almost disappeared down his throat but he spat it out again and then beat it some more to soften it before finally managing to swallow it.
Fish are always swallowed head first so that fins and spines fold down along the body and they can slip down in to the crop easily. That is crucial with spiny fish like Sticklebacks. I can image that death could occur if that happened. I have regularly seen Kingfishers with Sticklebacks stuck to the soft parts of the mouth as they struggle to turn them and beat them repeatedly. This beating invariable dislodges the fish.
When he had finished feeding he dived in again for more but this time he was unsuccessful and with real purpose off he flew.
Tomorrow is another day, sunny weather is promised and I am hopeful of another opportunity to photograph some more action shots. At the wood hide, the feeders have been topped up and a fresh Rabbit carcass left for the Buzzards. Terry tells me that he saw Buzzards today back in the territory and above the wood in the direction of my hide. i also saw them as I drove back along he road nearby. A new permanent hide is going to be built close to my feeding station. This is going to be great and should improve my chances of Buzzard photo's even more. We are going to include two-way glass which will allow me to look outside and not be seen within. I will carpet the inside and line the walls to insulate and this "home from home" will be just perfect. I cant wait.
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In the mizzle this morning I wasn't confident of success but went down to the brook regardless anyway. I managed to get myself inside the hide without getting the kit too wet and began today's stakeout. It was quiet, the rain was getting worse and eventually it turned in to a full grown downpour. Amazingly the young male Kingfisher arrived on the low perch at the same time as yesterday, give or take a minute or two. Can that be coincidental, this points to a behaviour pattern surely. I have noted regularly that Kingfishers are actively feeding at around noon so perhaps I shouldn't have been surprised. Exactly like yesterday I saw it look up to the higher log and bob its head repeatedly which is what Kingfishers do when they are judging distance. I knew he was about to fly up and I had already focused the camera on the log in readiness. As he left his perch I fired the shutter and captured the photo I wanted just as he was about to land on the log.
Now he is down.
Kingfishers are messy birds and it's relatively easy to see where they have been perching by the copious amounts of bird lime beneath the perches. I think this makes the point, not actually my favourite photograph, (hardly in good taste).
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Just thought I should post these pictures taken with the new Tamron lens and close up of course as I was waiting for the Kingfisher to arrive this morning. it shows the bird just about to leave the perch and then a split second later, in the air and flying off. I really do like to catch these in-flight moments and while I am on the subject of flight shots, the photograph of a Nuthatch in flight was nominated as "notable" for Photo of the Week on Birdguides today. This is my 26th "notable" photograph and 3 Photos of the Week also. Here's the Nuthatch photo.
.............and finally today I had a a visitor from Nicuragua which means that I have now had visitors to the Blog from 151 different countries, quite amazing.
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Having come to the conclusion that the only way to get some really good flight shots was to buy a new lens, when it arrived yesterday I was eager to put it to the test. My theory was that because Kingfishers fly so quickly and because when I have them in front of my hide it's such a confined area, it was, and still is, an impossibility to predict where they are going to fly to and even when you are correct, they pass through the viewfinder and out of the shot in an instant. I worked out today that they fly at around 9 or 10 feet a second. With a large lens it is not possible to track them in flight and then keep the camera focused. The only way to do it is to predict where they are going to be and then fire the shutter on burst in the hope that you are going to catch them in the frame. I reasoned that by using a wider lens rather than a bigger lens I would be able to see more of the scene in front of me and then be able to get the shot. The other big factor is depth of field. With a large 500 mm lens at its closest focus distance, depth of field is really an issue with only a tiny part of the image being in focus and sharp at any one instant. With a smaller lens the depth of field in front of you is much broader and you are more likely to capture a sharp image. I think this depth of field issue has probably been the main factor preventing me from getting the shot I am after. Thinking that a smaller lens set to 75 mm and at f 4.5 might do the trick, I bought one and fitted it to the camera. That was yesterday and Murphy was at work because no Kingfisher came to the hide area to allow me to test the theory. So today, with much anticipation, I returned and waited and waited and then waited some more, still no Kingfisher. All kinds of things were going through my head such as, it had been predated, left for another territory, disturbed by dog walkers, disturbed by other wildlife enthusiasts and photographers, or even worse...... disturbed by me. Imagine my relief then,when at around 1255 and after a wait of 2 hours and 15 minutes, at last there it was. I couldn't wait to photograph it and hoped that it would perform so that I could test the theory. It was on a low branch just in front of me and I watched it look up to the log that I had rammed in to the edge of the water deep in to the mud. This was where my knowledge of Kingfishers came in useful. I have learnt that when fishing they like to get as high as the nearby structures and vegetation will allow and always choose to hunt from high vantage points like this. So when I could see his head pointed in the direction of the higher log, I knew he was going to fly up and he did just as I predicted. The instant he left the Low branch I pressed the shutter and as I had pre-focused I knew that the only thing stopping me getting some kind of picture was enough shutter speed. Thankfully, in the time that it took him to take off and land a few feet away, my camera was able to take 6 images and in two of them the bird was in the frame. Success at last! If you like the pictures then just remember........ they cost £369........ the price of the lens
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I tried something different this morning. I have been trying really hard over the last few years to get some Kingfisher shots of birds in flight and I really do take my hat off to people who can acheive this on a regular basis. This morning though I got a little nearer to the answr to the problem. I used a much smaller lens han normal in an effort to capture more of the scene in front of me. I set the camera and then it was just a cae of sitting it out and waiting for the Kingfisher to arrive which took around an hour. My method was to focus the camera on the bird and then fire the shutter as it left the perch and then keep firing hoping that it return from where it had left just a second or so later. This is all very hit and miss and I did manage a couple of half decent shots and after I had cropped hem on the computer I was left with something almost resembling a decent shot. Still not quite as good as I would like but getting somewhere near it. I have also done something different with the image, not sure I like it but I hope you do.
Later on in the afternoon I went to the wood hide to top up the feeders and I was surprised to see that still, the Buzzard is ignoring the rabbit carcass. But I am patient and I am persisting, confident that eventually I will be successful. A nice Comma Butterfly was also present. Then, to coincide with sunset, I went back to the Kingfisher hide but after an hours waiting as the perfect light dimmed, the Kingfisher didn't arrive.
After some reasonable succes this morning I realised that I could have done with a different lens which I have now purchased and hopefully i will arrive tomorrow and see if I can get some better in-flight shots while I still have the opportunity.
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I have been excited this last few days......... Kingfishers on the brook, it doesn't get much better than that. The current situation is good, there's more than one Kingfisher at the moment and I when I get to the hide I don't have to wait too long before there is one right there with me. I have learnt a great deal about Kingfishers this last four years and I am not seeing any different behaviour. I am not 100% certain but there appears to be two young males vying for a the territory. The perches around the hide seem to be, as usual, very attractive and this morning for example, after a few minutes there was this beauty.
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At just after 8 this morning, two Kingfishers were sat on the perch in front of the hide, Thats unusual behaviour and I guess that the territory hasn't been sorted out yet. Looking forward to watching the developments. In the mean time here is a photo of one of them who returned to the hide after an hour or so wait. More pictures to follow.
So here are the promised "more pictures". It's the same bird on the same perch but nice to look at and nice to share with you.
Notice the white tip to the end of the beak, a good indicator of immaturity as well as the dark feet and black smokey marks on the otherwise orange breast, Again he is on the hunt for prey, he's probably not too good at fishing yet and more than likely has lots of failures. He has also got to contend with territorial disputes with his siblings, quite a stressful time for young Kingfishers. It's a wonder that any survive to maturity at all.
When Kingfishers leave the messy nest burrow the parents only feed them for a few days and they have to learn very quickly to fend for themselves. After a week or so, they are driven out of the nest territory by the parents and if they haven't learned to feed themselves by that time then they will perish. Although it is a good time of the year to see Kingfishers it's also easy to stop them feeding that's why I am doing everything I can not to disturnb them. As I have probably told you before, I have a license to photograph these birds but the real disturbance comes from people who are not even aware of their presence, dog walkers being the main (albeit innocent) protagonists. This is quite a problem on the brook. I am also reminded of something that was once said to me by a well known, now elderly professional environmentalist, he said that there is more threat to breeding birds from photographers than egg collectors. I think that we should bare that in mind when we are trying to "collect" that photo which is I suppose, what we are all trying to do. If you go in to town in the morning and buy yourself a fiddle then you are not a violinist and by the same token, owning a camera doesn't make you a photographer. A camera is a dangerous weapon (to wildlife), as is the fiddle if you have to endure the early days of practice.
I know you will probably include me as described above but I have never refered to myself as a photographer, that's an insult to professional photographers. I use my camera for recording wildlife and after 55 years of wildlife study. I knew the subject before I owned a digital SLR which lets face it, is a very simply piece of kit to use. By the same token I am a professional musician with a Diploma from the Royal College of Music to prove it and needed to practise for 18 years before I was capable of qualifying myself and sit my diploma exam.
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I have been planning and then trying for literally months to get a half decent photograph of a Nuthatch in flight and just like a bus, two came along together this afternoon. The secret ingredient, if indeed it is a secret, is bright light. After a process of elemination and hundreds of failures I came to the conclussion that you need a shutter speed of at least 1/3000 second and ideally more like 1/4000 to freeze the action of small common birds whose wings beat at incredible fast speeds. To acheive this, bright sun light is essential. I managed to place myself in a perfect spot with the sun from over my shoulder and illuminating the post just perfectly and then it was a case of waiting for the birds to arrive and hope that the sun kept shining, not a guarantee this summer. After not too long a few birds started to fly in to the food. I saw a Nuthatch in the tree branshes to the right of the post and I timed it perfectly for once as it flew down and on to the post........ bingo as they say....... and what's more I managed to press the shutter at the right time as it flew back. A very satisfying result at last.
If you were hoping to see more Kingfishers today well the brook is flooded today after heavy rain over night and this morning, the hide is almost totally submerged. Not to worry though, I knew that would happen from time to time so I am sure once the water level goes down everything will be fine. Still trying with the Buzzard baiting, this is turning in to a real waiting game. In the mean time here are more birds in flight from this afternoon.
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Here it is.......... the seasons new territory holder. I am pleased to report that it is a young, and quite young...... 6 or 7 weeks male Kingfisher. It is really exciting to be able to prove that somewhere close by, a pair of Kingfishers have bred and produced young this year. This, in spite of the two nests that I am licensed to photograph at, failing due to heavy rain and flooding. The story of this photograph is really exciting and a good one. I don't do early mornings very well and thankfully with Kingfishers thats not too important because they are active throughout the day. It was around 1030 when I went down to the new Kingfisher hide that I had erected 13 days ago, the day before yesterday I had seen a Kingfisher right in front of the new hide. I had been yesterday to try for a photograph but without success. I sat waiting for an hour or so and then decided that even if a bird arrived the light was going to be all wrong. I emerged and planted the perch in a new spot now up stream and with the light coming from the right direction. Now, this new position was obscured with grass and water plants so I did a bit of gardening to clear the view, but I didn't over do it. Back in the hide, I sorted things out and got the lens focused on the perch but I hadn't done enough gardening and the perch was still a little bit obscured. I had been out of the hide and up to my wellie tops with water for at least 5 minutes and I was anything but subtle as I pulled out grass clumps and dock leaves. Then back in the hide I had made a commotion rearranging the monopod etc. So imagine my utter delight when there right in front of me was the "new" Kingfisher. Frustratingly he immediately dived in and came up with a Stickleback but I just couldn't photograph him eating it because of the grass between me and the perch.After a while he flew down stream. Wow, (I only use this word very rarely, but this was a wow moment). I climbed out of the hide again and thoroughly cleared the annoying grasses and sat back to survey the scene, a Kingfisher called and there he was again! I still couldn't photograph him this time, my camera was still in my lap! I tried to poke it out of the hide "hand-held" but he didn't like it and off he went. I thought that was it and made my way back to the car but I had left my keys in the hide. So back to the hide to get them ....... and there he was again, sat right on top.
In the afternoon I returned for more and the Grey Wagtails really showed well. There were three in total, a breeding pair and one of their youngsters. They all perched on the branch placed for the Kingfishers.
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I have taken dozens and dozens of photos of the small birds in flight on the edge of the wood and in front of my hide and almost all of them have been useless, a few of them almost OK but at last I have got one that I am almost happy with. It's such a difficult thing to acheive, firstly you need a shutter speed of at least 1/3000 second and then an f.stop as high as possible to get the maximum amount of depth of field. The depth of field is important because it is hard to get the flying bird in focus if the centre of the focus point is to narrow. To acheive settings like this the most important thing is bright light. I deliberately postioned some peanuts high on an old fence post on a slope so that the background was distant. This gave me a really clean uncluttered backdrop to the photographs with the use of my 500mm lens. Then with the sun shining brightly from right behind me, all the elements were in place. All I needed was a bird or two to visit the feed and it wasn't long before they came in to the peanuts. Larger birds like Jays are much easier to get good photos of.
I had two sessions at the Kingfisher hide today but without success. Thats due mostly I am sure to the heavy rain that we have had in the last 24 hours which has coloured the water. This is bound to make prey more difficult to find and change behaviour as the birds perhaps search elsewhere for food.
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Almost two weeks ago I erected a new hide on the local brook. Regular readers of my blog will know that in the previous three years I have had some excellent views of the resident Kingfishers there. The hide is a small well camouflaged enclosure just large enough to sit inside but small enough to be unobtrusive. In front I had placed a likely appealing perch and when I first planted it in to the bank and based on my previous experience, I knew that any passing Kingfisher would not be able to resist it. The difference this year though was the difficult conditions that the birds had to contend with during the breeding period when water levels rose dangerously and flooded out nests on at least two occasions. I am licensed by Natural England to photograph Kingfishers at the nest and both of my licensed nests had suffered in this way. In addition to this, disturbance had been intense with the sand blasting and painting of iron works on the bridge near by. Hardly conducive to a natural experience. At last, the 3 week job which actually took 10 weeks was finished and the workmen had packed up and departed and peace prevailed. Last evening I sat in the hide at 6.55 with a clear view of the perch. I hadn't taken my camera, it was just a recce after all. Imagine my joy when within just 12 minutes there was a Kingfisher complete with small fish perched on the very perch where predicted. The bird saw me as I saw it and even though it was only literally 8 feet from me, I wasn't able to see it for long enough to know how old it was and what sex. This is great news, it of course means that a Kingfisher has taken over the territory and I am yet again (for the 4th year running) going to be able to watch the resident Kingfisher and get some great photographs. It also means that one or two friends who are keen to see a Kingfisher, will be able to join me. What was particularly pleasing for me was the success of my plan which was based on my understanding of Kingfisher behaviour, which I have learnt over the previous years. Because Kingfishers are territorial it's relatively easy to predict their behaviour as this proves.
During the day I had watched for the Buzzard and the Rabbit carcass. Oddly this had been ignored over the last few days but the Jays were regular visitors again providing some great photo opportunities.
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For the fourth morning in a row I was up at dawn or just before. I hate early mornings, and if I upset my body clock then I am in a state and at the moment I feel as though I am jet-lagged. It's almost been worth it and I know that eventually it will pay off but to describe it as frustrating just does not do justice to the complete and utter frustration of the last four days and a total of around 20 hours of staking out this Buzzard. This is an almost good photo and I have Photoshop to thank for that having fiddled with the exposure and contrast to get the best out of the image captured. Just to explain what is going on, I have the use of a private wood with sincere thanks and gratitude to the land owner Terry for the opportunity to use it. What an absolute privilege to have the run of this extremely private site and have it all to myself, just me the Foxes,Badgers, Shrews, Squirrels and Birds. Also a big thank you to my friends Dick and Rosemary for the access through their property. I have been baiting an area just in front of my hide on the edge of the wood with Rabbits and I know that "Bertie" as Dick calls him has been feeding on the carcasses, I have disturbed him in the act several times. On four occasions while I have been inside the hide he, or is it she, it's quite small so I think it's probably a male, has been very close, perched on a telegraph pole above the bait and eyeing it. I am 100% certain that it is not aware of me in the hide but I am also certain that it is suspicious and as it sits there.....on one occasion for 3 hours...... it may be preening and seemingly not taking too much notice but I am sure it is just being patient and biding it's time. After all, the bait is dead and not going anywhere and when the Buzzard returns it will still be there. So this morning at 7.10 there it was again, just in front of me and eyeing the bait.... 7.10 exactly the time that it was there on Tuesday, surely a pattern. Today though it didn't stay for long, just 10 minutes or so. Unfortunately it was misty and it made it so hard to get a really exceptional photograph, but very soon I will be successful!
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The Cinnabar Moth is a moth that I have always been interested in and as a boy I used to see the caterpillar of this species regularly. I was taught about the relationship that they have with Ragwort by a very good primary school teacher and I can trace my interest in wildlife back to the excellence of the teachers in my first few years at school. .Ragwort is a poisonous weed and every effort is made to try and eradicate it from farm land and even verges. I can fully understand why a farmer would want to clear it from his land because once dead and dried it can be very dangerous to horses if it gets mixed in with hay but knowing, as I do that the Cinnabar Moth relies almost exclusively on this plant for it's very survival then it is short sighted, well lets be more forceful here, no less than criminal that the needs of this moth are totally ignored by local and County Councils. I have even seen Ragwort being aggressively cleared by volunteer workers at Dawlish Warren Nature Reserve and I have confronted them about this on several occasions. I would have thought conservation was the number 1 priority here. Can it be that the people running the show there don't know how important this plant is to this one species. Cinnabar Moths are comparatively rare now and I think this is due 100% to the manic way that it is cleared from land even when there are no grazing species within miles and miles. Appropriately ragwort was used historically as a herbal remedy for hysteria.
As you can see from the photographs, the caterpillar of the Cinnabar Moth is Yellow with Black Stripes and in the same way that wasps and hornets are striped, this is a warning to predators that they are dangerous and in the case of the caterpillars,distasteful and poisonous. By feeding on the Ragwort the caterpillars ingest the toxins from the plant that they feed upon. August is the time to look for them and you will find them in full view, not in great numbers though, on a growing Ragwort plant (again see the pictures to know what the plant looks like).
The adult moth bears no resemblance whatsoever to the caterpillar and is a really attractive black and red combination. I have always thought of them as a day flying moth but apparently they also fly at night. I saw them here in the meadow amongst the as yet, not flowering ragwort in June and July. Now that you can see how really attractive the Cinnabar Moth Caterpillar is, wouldn't it be an absolute travesty if we destroyed them by taking away their food source because of hysteria?
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These last two days have been good ones for Nuthatches, I must remind myself not to take them for granted, it's lovely to see them and watch their interactions. This is a female and subservient to the male that breezes in and out and takes over when he's there.. At the moment the adults are not quite out of their post breeding moult so not looking as pristine as they will in a few weeks time.
I was up very bright and early this morning and sat in the wood hide at 5.30........ yes 5.30! I wanted to be inside before dawn without disturbing the Buzzard that I was expecting to come down to the various road kill carcasses set out to attract them. Dawn arrived and gradually the light brightened but oddly no Buzzards arrived, a disappointment to say the least. By 8.15 I had enough and came home for breakfast and my first coffee of the day. Terry told me that 3 Buzzards were around his property yesterday which is good news and everyone is familiar with the expression "as the crow flies" so a Buzzard can cover a large area in just a few minutes, one minute being out of sight and the next, right above you. It was odd that I hadn't had a Jay in front of the hide for days and days but this morning they were the headlining act with at least 3 perhaps, noisily coming and going and enjoying the peanuts. I wasn't set up to photograph them really and they were mostly too close to get in the view finder. Their presence proved that my hide and camouflage is working well. You can see that this bird, I think it's the adult female is deep in to a moult with "pin feathers" around the eyes and on the face, these are the new emerging feathers still covered in waxy sheaths. When this bird completes the moult in the next week or so she will be a beautiful bird.
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I blogged yesterday evening about the presence of the Buzzard on the free offerings in front of my hide and said that I was sure that I was going to get some success very soon. It was just after 6.30 when I got myself up and about and by 6.50 I was parked up and walking towards the hide along the edge of the wood. It was a pleasant morning and I was a bit deflated as I looked ahead not to see a Buzzard where I hoped it would be. Imagine my pleasure when it became apparent that it was actually head down and feeding on the carcass and I got very close before it flew up and in to the wood. I quickly got in the hide and started to wait with a real feeling of excitement. At 7.10 it returned and landed on the telegraph pole just in front of the hide. I was expecting it to come down to the prey and I waited and waited. The minutes ticked by and soon half an hour had elapsed and still it remained tantalisingly close as I composed the "shot" in my mind. My camo was working perfectly and when it started to preen with it's head down I quickly moved the lens to focus on to it, high at the top of the pole. The minutes ticked by to a whole hour and still it remained and that's the way it remained. Then at 10 past 10, literally 3 hours later, off it flew leaving me frustrated and disappointed but happy in the knowledge that I am sure it wont be long before it comes down to feed while I am there. As if that was not enough, during my wait I had a memorable visit from a vixen. I saw the Buzard bristle and look down at something that was disturbing it. A fox was making it's way towards the carcass. Then I blew it to be honest. I tried really hard to gaet a photo but the grass was long and the camera couldn't focus on it and noisily "hunted". The wirring of the auto focus was enough to disturb the fox and off it scarpered without me getting the photo. I should have just frozen and waited for it to come up to the free offering and then got a good shot with it just in front. If all this wasn't enough I had the utter pleasure of watching a tiny Pygmy Shrew in the hide with me. It repeatedly clambered around amongst the hazel sticks and leaves that the hide is made of and at one point with its long snout twitching up and down, clambered over my camera. A real treat.
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This post is just by way of an update and hopefully you will return regularly to find out what happens. Buzzards are now the most common bird of prey in Devon. For at least the last 6 weeks, probably longer, I have been baiting the area in front of the wood hide with a Rabbit carcass and staked down. I am trying to attract the local Buzzard who has a territory here, to come down and feed while I am in the hide and waiting with my camera. Mostly the carcass has disappeared overnight, probably taken by the local foxes but the last few days the carcass has remained. Something has happened to the foxes.... that's sad if they have been shot or something similar, I really hope not but it's weird that they have stopped coming to the food so suddenly. However, their absence has meant that the carcass has been there for longer and this evening I had some success at last. As I walked from the car up along the edge of the wood, a Buzzard lifted off from the grass in front of the hide and then when I froze it landed on the nearby fence as if it was reluctant to leave the area. It had second thoughts and when I moved it flew away! When I arrived at the scene the Rabbit had been carried to a nearby log and all that remained was bones and sinew, every morsel of flesh had gone and the bones had been picked clean. I am absolutely certain that the Buzzard had been feeding on the carcass. I sat in the hide for an hour but it didn't return. I plan to return first thing in the morning and sit it out to see if it comes back again. You must check back to find out.
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As I sit watching the Olympic marathon with the thunder ringing out and the rain bucketing down here in the West Country, I am taking the opportunity to get my images sorted for a talk entitled "Birding Opportunities in Southern Florida". I am very familiar with Florida and the birdlife there, visiting as I do annually (well almost). There are several species that are guaranteed and you encounter them on a daily basis without even looking really. One of these is the Loggerhead Shrike - Lanius ludovicianus. They appear to be territorial and I have seen them in a variety of habitats. Typically, any reasonably quiet area will hold a Shrike, usually inland several miles, I can't remember seeing them near the coast. Favourite areas can be wasteland areas near to parking lots and industrial units, the unkempt undergrowth in places like this contains small reptiles and large insects which is the birds favourite prey. This can be very useful because the car can make a good hide to watch them from. I have also found them on the edges of sports fields where they perch on high fences and wires looking out for food and also on grass verges at places like wildlife refuges which is where this one was taken.
In common with all shrike species, they have a pretty effective sharp pointed beak, ideal for ripping and tearing lizards and small snakes which is their modus operandi. The equivelent species in Europe is the Great Grey Shrike to which they are very closely related and share the same scientific name Lanius which is latin for Butcher.
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This Olympic lark is certainly getting in the way of my wildlife watching and photography. I am usually quite prepared to spend hours and hours waiting for a good opportunity but knowing that I am missing the once in a lifetime of a UK Olympics has been hard to resist. Over the last few days I have erected a new Kingfisher hide close to home. I am not sure that this year will be as successful as the previous 3 because I am certain that the local Kingfishers suffered badly when their nests were flooded out earlier in the season and I am 99% certain that the two breeding pairs that I know of, didn't produce youngsters. The new hide is certainly in a good spot and right smack where I have seen birds before in previous years so I am optimistic of some success. I am planning to post some photos of the hide and will give you a running commentary of activity, or otherwise, as and when it happens. At the wood hide I topped up the feeders and sat for an hour watching the comings and goings. Thankfully the birds have returned in numbers again including a couple of Nuthatches, I love them. I think this one (above) is a female and almost through the moult now that takes place after they have finished breeding. I heard, nearby, both Green Woodpecker and Jays but neither came in front of the hide. Greater Spotted Woodpecker soon I hope? I find it hard to understand why the Jays haven't shown this last few days, but surely they will again soon. I have been using a decoy lens which pokes out of the hide so that when I am "in residence" my camera repalces the dummy and the clever species like Crows and Buzzards are fooled. This certainly worked with the Crows today who came very close to the hide for the first time. But it wasn't the Buzzards (yet), that I want.
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