Stephen's Wildlife

The very old goose

Today we made a flying visit to the British museum in London. A fascinating place. We had three objectives. One, to visit family and share the day with them. Second, to provide material for my son’s school project on ancient Egypt. Third, to obtain an image of a bird for you.

I nearly posted a London pigeon, then as we entered the museum we saw a couple of herring gulls, one adult and one juvenile.

Then inside we spotted this bronze goose from the 3rd or 4th century. Job done. Normal service will be resumed on Monday.

The Egyptian Goose

When we left the house this morning, my son and I discussed what bird we would be able to tell you about today. Strangely enough this bird did not feature in that conversation. Our destination was Blashford lakes, just north of the market town of Ringwood on the western edge of the New Forest.

The Egyptian Goose is primarily resident in Norfolk and East Midlands and the RSPB estimate there to be over 1,000 pairs. The information on which they base their estimate is from 2007 – 2011 and they do say that the population is growing and spreading. Obviously that is proving to be the case.

It can be readily identified, as there is a conspicuous white patch on the wing and a dark brown patch around the eye, which clearly distinguish this goose from other species.

The Pheasant

The Pheasant is a game bird, introduced into Britain by the Normans. It is estimated that there may be 2.3 million breeding females in the UK. The male is brightly coloured, whereas the female is brownish yellow and quite hard to see against the background of a dry stubble field – see below.

The Nuthatch

Interesting fact: the Nuthatch is the only British bird that descends a tree trunk head first.

There are 220,000 pairs in England and Wales. Numbers are increasing and it is spreading into southern Scotland. It is a woodland bird, and quite shy. As we saw yesterday, it will visit feeding stations. This one was behind the visitors centre in the car park at RSPB Arne. It is readily recognisable with its blue-grey upperparts, buff underparts and black eye stripe.

The Kingfisher

The orange breast, long beak and iridescent blue head, back and wings: it can only be a kingfisher. All my photos of this bird thus far have been a blue smudge disappearing around a river bend. Today at RSPB Arne I get a half decent image that can actually be identified, only to be trumped by my 7 year old who shot the photo above.

There are only 3,800 – 6,400 pairs in the UK. Until the mid 1980s the species was declining in the UK, but since then there has been a partial recovery.

Stone the Crows

Crows, or more precisely, rooks were one bird species much in evidence as we caught the shuttle bus from the visitors centre to the main attraction, Stonehenge. Even though it is only an hour’s drive from home, today was my first ever visit. There was a chill wind blowing and we appreciated our coats and woollen hats. There was high cloud cover blocking direct sunlight. The atmosphere was quite autumnal without being close, or muggy.

Pied wagtails marshalled the car park, whilst starlings joined the rooks on the grass around the monument itself.

The visitors centre contained an exhibition showing quite a lot of archaeological artefacts, e.g. flint and bronze tools. It was quite descriptive of what Stonehenge would have been like 4,500 years ago. The 200 burial mounds in the vicinity and the alignment of the stones with the sun at the winter and summer solstices offer some insight into the original purpose of the site. But to the question, “Why?”, the honest answer is presented as, “Don’t know!”

The Yellow Crowned Bishop – in the UK?

On 25 August I visited a local reservoir, Longham lakes, with my two boys. These are their pictures. We saw this bird on the reeds and the boys just started clicking their cameras. Only later, after posting the picture on a specialist Facebook group, did someone identify the bird as a Yellow crowned bishop after initially thinking it may be an African weaver bird. It is a bird resident in sub-Saharan Africa and is not native to the UK. It created a bit of a stir and we were asked to send details of the sighting to the Dorset county recorder. We only saw it the once.

What this bird was doing at a Dorset reservoir we can only guess. Our best supposition is that it was an escapee from a local aviary.

Serendipity

Serendipity – “the occurrence of something by chance in a fortunate way”. Patience and persistence are two qualities that a wildlife photographer brings to his/her craft. Technical ability and familiarity with the camera’s controls increase the likelihood of being able to take advantage of ‘that’ moment requiring a spontaneous response.

Us Brits spend £200m per annum on bird food. We regularly top up the feeders and clean the feeders to ensure the health of our bird visitors. We provide bird baths. All this to attract birds to our gardens and increase the probability that we will see a variety of species at close quarters.

But so much in wildlife is beyond our control. When, as if by chance, a goldfinch nonchalantly lands on the bird bath just a few feet away and hangs around long enough for an impromptu photo shoot, that is serendipity.

Sunday Post – gratitude

Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.

1 Thessalonians 5:16‭-‬18 NIV
https://bible.com/bible/111/1th.5.16-18.NIV

The Cygnet

Hans Christian Andersen published his fairy tale, “The Ugly Duckling” in 1843, the story of a ‘duck’ who suffers abuse from others, until he matures into a beautiful swan. The story came to mind yesterday as I observed a few maturing cygnets at my local reservoir.

The lake was full of swans, almost to the point where they could be overlooked, other than when they were engaged in youthful activity of chasing one another.

The swans photo-bombed their way into images of smaller birds, such as this stonechat.

There were plenty of examples of the serene swan in all its regal beauty.