Wildlife in a Suburban Garden

Long-tailed duck (Clangula hyemalis) Exton Devon

There was a  female Long-tailed duck (Clangula hyemalis) on the  Exe Estuary today. It is highly unusual that a bird that breeds in the Arctic north specifically, circumpolar,  on the Arctic coasts of  Europe (Iceland and Norway), and Asia (Russia) North America (Canada, Alaska, USA and Greenland).  There is no explanation for one  seen here in Devon today right in the middle of the European summer. I took some photographs of the bird that was fishing in the shallow tidal waters right in front of Exton Station on the Avocet Line.  This is a pretty little duck and a massive rarity in the south of England at this time of the year.

Whinchats on Dartmoor

Male Whinchat

This last few days has seen me trying to get close to Whinchats on Dartmoor.  This is a species of chat that, unlike the Stonechat, is a migrant that winters in Africa.   I have been fortunate enough to see this species in The Gambia which was a thrill.  Dartmoor is a typical breeding habitat for the species. It is an upland area, relatively isolated and quiet.  The habitat is moorland with thick scrubby grass and boggy areas with scattered old hawthorns, bracken and gorse.  Fundamentally I would imagine that seclusion is the primary requirement and good nest sites are part of this.  In common with several other Dartmoor nesting species, such as Meadow Pipit, Tree Pipit and Stonechat they nest on the ground.

A clutch of eggs.

The nest is a small cup of fibre and grasses hidden in the grass and even when you know the location within a few square metres, it can be incredibly difficult to find.  Eggs are a gorgeous vivid turquoise blue and while I abhor the concept of egg collecting I can understand why someone with a less ethical and criminal attitude would be attracted to a bird's egg.  For me an egg is a beautiful  jewel without equal in the natural world.  

Chicks at a few days old.

 

Once eggs hatch the nestlings grow very quickly and will be ready to fledge the nest at around 14 days.  I watched the comings and goings to a nest yesterday and on average the parent birds delivered prey every 12 minutes. Hoverflies, moths, caterpillars, spiders, crickets and flies were all brought to the nest in the 2 hours that I observed. Usually more than one item was delivered on each visit so that equates to around 8 visits an hour for 16 hours and a total 252 prey items a day. It goes without saying that a habitat able to sustain such a rich amount of invertebrates is paramount.

A female Whinchat.

Willow Warbler

I have enjoyed watching a pair of Willow Warblers this week. They are nesting close to a path and high up in a bank but very close to the ground.  The tiny nest is really well concealed and it has to be because predation is very common and a large percentage of nests fail.  For this reason the young grow rapidly and fledge the nest at around 11 to 12 days old. They work really hard to feed their clutch and are constantly collecting prey and will deliver to the nest around 10 times an hour.

Cuckoo displaying to a female.

Another Cuckoo from the other day on Dartmoor.

This is arguably the best Cuckoo photograph that I have taken.  It took a great deal of effort and patience.  Cuckoos are only here in the UK for a relatively short time each summer and there is a short window when you can photograph them.  I had to get up very early in the morning to make the trip out on to Dartmoor where, with lots of experience I have discovered some good sites to give me the potential to see them.  It is really exciting when you have been sitting hidden amongst the moorland grass and bracken for a couple of hours and a Cuckoo suddenly flies in to land on the tree where you had anticipated it would. This bird is a male and it flew in to the territory of a female as I guessed it would.  One of the highlights of the year so far.

Willow Warblers coming to the nest.

 

The video is best viewed on an iPad.

I was lucky enough to be shown this nest by a BTO registered ringer and nest finder on Dartmoor this week. With some real patience, fieldcraft and common sense I took some lovely photos and video. The Willow warbler (Phylloscopus trochilus) is a small and common warbler that breeds on Dartmoor as well as in numerous other habitats and locations in the UK and Europe. They nest on the ground, for example in a depression, perhaps made by a cow's hoof on a bank, typically amongst grass and vegetation. The nest is  hard to find and even when I returned, after being shown it 12 hours earlier I really struggled to relocate it.  Once found I moved back to 30 yards or so and watched as the parents came in to feed the youngsters. Once I was really sure and confident that the birds were uncaring of me I moved just a tiny bit closer and then set up a video camera on to the nest. You can be assured that the birds were not disturbed at all or they would not have been coming in to feed the nestlings as you can see in  the video.  The footage took 40 minutes to film and in that time the parents visited 7 times, multiply that by 16 hours of daylight and you can see that the birds deliver food around 160 times in a day!  That's some kind of shift and a lot of prey needs to be available which includes all sorts of insects and caterpillars. 

As well as the Willow Warbler I was also privileged to be shown Whinchat nests with both eggs and others with nestlings.  It's sometimes hard to even find a Whinchat let alone find a nest so again this was a massive thrill for me. I plan to visit again today to film the activity at these nests. Again, the safety of the birds will be of paramount importance.  I would just like to mention at this point that I am a Schedule 1  licensed bird photographer and to get the licence  you need to fulfil a list of criteria which includes references from wildlife experts and senior members of the community as well as proving to Natural England that you have the necessary skills and acumen to photograph at a nest without disturbance. To whet the appetite here is the nest of a Whinchat which the BTO ringer checked and we took a quick photograph of.  Again the nest is on the ground and hidden away in the grass and vegetation.

Cuckoo displaying to a female.

The male displaying on the rock beneath the female.

So this is D Day  and we are now in to summer without a doubt.  I arrived at the cuckoo territory before 8 o'clock, confident that the early morning - well relatively early for me - would bring me some success.  I hiked up to the spot and began to set up.  Imagine my disappointment when opposite, I could see tents and people camping. I went to chat to them and discovered that they were about to pack up their stuff and leave. Even before they did I had some success though.  Their was the usual bubbling sound that I have associated with mating behaviour and first a female arrived in the tree followed with much excitement from both me and the cuckoo, a male. He landed close to her and with even more excitement, again from us both and carried on serenading her with that call song that we all know so well.

The female attracts her mate and watches him display.

At 9 15 the campers left and I knew that I was going to do better now, at least I hoped.  I was right because at 9.30 the male was back on the tree and I got some of the best views that I have had so far this year - not realising that better was to come in just a few minutes.  The male stayed in the tree for a few minutes before flying down to the ground and I was hoping it would perch on a really photogenic perch that I had seen it on - from a distance though- yesterday.  It didn't but instead it flew off ,strongly calling as it went, sex was on it's mind. The next event was the return of the female, followed seconds later by the male again. She remained in the tree but then some fascinating and extremely interesting behaviour occurred.  The male flew down to a rock where he proceeded to display to her.  He swayed slowly and deliberately from side to side and cocked his tail beautifully.  He then flew to a near log and carried on with the display.  All the while the female watched from above. It was as though he was in an arena and he was putting on a show for her, reminiscent of a lyre bird displaying in a lek. I was witnessing behaviour that others had rarely seen I would guess.  After a short while she left the tree and he flew after her very strongly and right above my head in the hide, just a foot or so from me, as I said,sex was on his mind.  When I had arrived this morning I had hoped for some good photo opportunities but I never imagined that they would be as good as this.

 

Cuckoo in a drizzle!

Having had such good cuckoo success yesterday I couldn't wait for the new day to dawn, then the weather forecast seemed to indicate a front moving through but I decided to risk it anyhow and I was back on the moor by around 9 o'clock.  I set up overlooking the tree where I had photographed the bird yesterday and it wasn't long before Cuckoos were calling - at least 2 and I watched them flying from tree to tree but not close enough for a photograph.  After an hour and with a Cuckoo calling almost constantly and not too far away, I decided to change tack and see if I could stalk up to where it was perched.  I knew this would be really hard but I could see a cuckoo now, low on and old dead tree stump.  I watched as it flew down to feed and I thought I could get much closer but I was wrong!   As I approached, almost on my belly - defying my age some would say - I was almost in position when suddenly from the tree above me another cuckoo - probably a female - flew out followed by the male who had now seen me as well!  I was disappointed but now I knew where they are feeding. I sat myself under a tree opposite and got myself camouflaged and hidden and began to wait.  Unfortunately the weather worsened and the promised wet front arrived.  I was shrouded in a mist and a steady drizzle began to fall. I peered out of a hole in my cam stuff and then, suddenly there was a female cuckoo flying in against the strong breeze. It landed right on the tree where I hoped one would!  She was wet through and probably didn't appreciate the mobbing of a meadow pipit which usually happens. She remained long enough for me to take a few nice pics before, with the mobbing pipit in tow, she flew to my right and in to a nearby hawthorn. I was going to swing my camera around to her but the pipit got the better of her and she flew off again strongly.  I love it when I put in a lot of effort and plan a strategy and it pays off, so today's encounter and subsequent photograph was very rewarding.

 

Cuckoo on Dartmoor

 

This is the best time to see and if you are lucky and have some knowledge of what it takes, the best time to photograph Cuckoos. I have been lucky this last few years but this year it has been hard work. I decided to put in a real shift yesterday and eventually it paid off with a great encounter involving both a male and the lovely female in the photographs. I first heard a cuckoo quite a distance away after waiting patiently for 7 hours, it had been that long between hearing one when I arrived and eventually hearing another - or the same one of course. It kept calling and then after a long while it was calling again but now much closer, I caught sight of it and made my way nearer with myself covered in cam netting. It was a male bird of course and it moved on without me getting close enough for a a good photograph but I could hear it further to my right. Then suddenly right where the male had been, there was a female and she was perched close now and I managed to get a shot or two as she flew down to feed. Success at last!

The one eyed fox.

 

I had an enchanting encounter with a family of young foxes yesterday evening, just before sunset. I had seen a fox by my caravan hide the other day, as I quietly made my way there I could see a fox just sitting there in the sun, whats more, it didn't seem to be all that alert or wary and I walked ever closer to it.  Then later on, my friend Dick told me that he had seen a vixen and cubs there recently so I thought I would go back with the camera and see if I could get a photo or two.  Again, as I approached the gate I saw three cubs who were playing in the grass and oblivious to me but eventually they disappeared in to the cover of the woodland.  It wasn't long before one came out again and continued to romp around in the long grass and amongst the wild flowers.  It came ever closer and closer to me but was still 30 feet away from my position as I stood out in the open but very still.  The wind was blowing in my direction so it probably couldn't scent  me.  I pursed my lips and made a few loud squeaks which really got the little fox interested and it started to approach me.  I have seen my brother do this and knew it worked but I didn't have an idea that it would be so effective.  I squeaked again and again and in the end it was literally no more than 6 feet from me, it just couldn't resist being inquisitive. and I could see why it hadn't seen me.  One eye was damaged and instead of a bright sparkle there was a white sunken and bloody socket.  The poor animal had lost an eye and this was why it was struggling with the concept of caution.  I would suspect that with nature being kindest to the strong and fit, this young animal will soon meet its end sadly.  How stupid is a fox that would approach a grown man's squeak?  Later on I saw an adult fox and tried the squeak again.  This time the wary, intelligent animal hastily made its way in to the undergrowth proving that if you want to live to adulthood and you are a fox you have to learn that its probably not a good idea to walk towards a strange sound.

In the photo below, you can see how close the cub came and also it's nasty injury that will have such a massive impact on it's life expectancy.

Stonechat portrait

I love Stonechats! I was out on Dartmoor this morning, looking for Cuckoos and to try for some photos of this great species. There is such a small window in which to be successful because in a few weeks time  the males will already be heading south back on migration. It was unbearably cold this morning, I could only manage an hour before I was cold right through to my bones. I had seen a Cuckoo and heard one in the distance but I think the windy conditions had made it a difficult day for them as well as me. On my walk back to the car I had my attention drawn by this Stonechat which is exactly what he was trying to do, draw my attention away from his nest!  They are such lovely birds though.