Passionate about wildlife
The annual renewal continues. Recent visits to Longham Lakes have been delightful. The air over the lake has been thick with insects and returning swallows, house martins and sand martins. These birds perform amazing aerial acrobatics as they change direction at high speed to feed on the insects.
On the lake itself and on its banks family groups of Canada and Greylag geese and goslings feed on the vegetation. Cute.
I don’t know why I captioned this photo in Spanish, other than I have been learning Spanish over the last eighteen months or so. I found ‘the old green man of the woods’ whilst walking the dog recently. From this angle the bumps on the tree and the moss give the impression of a man deep in thought. I’ve visited him a couple of times subsequently and will now divert my walk to check on him.
Primroses are my favourite spring wildflower. I love the pastel yellow and they are one of the first splashes of colour in local woodland. As a child I visited my grandparents’ home near Hereford and these flowers grew in the woodland behind their cottage.
Bluebells are another favourite for this time of year. Local woodlands are transformed for two or three weeks in April as a carpet of blue appears under the canopy of the trees.
I love this photo and have had it printed on A3 and it now hangs in my kitchen. It’s like an open air cathedral with the pine trees taking the role of pillars.
Finally, as Monty Python would say, “Now for something completely different” – a photo of home during lockdown…
A table for two. If you could share a glass of wine or cup of coffee at this table with anyone from any time in history who would it be and what would you ask them?
The easing of the lockdown in the UK gave an opportunity to revisit nature reserves for the first time in a few months. The last time I visited Stanpit Marsh was to see the Glossy Ibis last November. It had been raining heavily and was very wet underfoot. The Ibis is still on the reserve. I saw it in the distance silhouetted against the sky and dropping down into an inaccessible part of the Marsh.
It felt good to be reacquainting myself with this site. A real breath of fresh air. I’ve also upgraded my crop sensor DSLR camera to a full frame camera. I could not justify the expense of a mirrorless camera, but I chose a second hand Nikon D750 because of its low light capability. I know its not cutting edge, but the technology is proven, the cost of these DSLR cameras has fallen and the image quality for stills is exceptional. This visit gave me my first real chance to give the camera a workout.
This Jackdaw seemed almost tame. It landed very close and was unconcerned with my presence.
Yesterday I practiced a new technique for me. The picture of the lake is a panorama created from three separate photos “stitched” together. It’s not flawless, but it got my creative juices flowing and I am excited at the prospect of maybe adding some long exposure shots together – watch this space.
I normally see one or two small birds in the woodland alongside the lake. This time I saw a male chaffinch. Its quite a common bird, but I do love the colours in its plumage: the white bar on the wing, the pink breast, the brown back with a green rump and the grey crown and collar.
The swans were quite prominent. There were more than a dozen in one of the adjacent fields and a few on the lake coming and going. This one took off from the surface of the lake and passed incredibly close (see below). There was none of the honking you get from geese, but there was the whooshing sound of the powerful downbeat of its wings.
Canada geese are the most numerous species of goose on the lake. There are also Greylag geese and Egyptian geese. In a few weeks time we will see plenty of yellow goslings on the banks of the lake being supervised and protected by their parents as they feed on the grass and vegetation.
This starling is “dressed” in its breeding plumage. Perhaps best known for their group aerial displays this one was enjoying some “me-time”. We spotted him as we headed back to the car, parked just off Ham Lane, where we also saw an unusual Jackdaw.
My son saw the white feathers in the jackdaws plumage. “Maybe it’s an old one.” he said, as he looked at the colour of my hair. Cheek!
Just half a mile from home is the wonderfully named Canford Bottom. It has a roundabout with 70 sets of traffic lights. On the other side of the roundabout, accessed via an underpass on Old Ham Lane, the River Stour runs through fields and meadows. I popped down there this afternoon after the school run with the dog and my camera.
It was overcast, but not gloomy and there were some interesting bird species around, such as this pair of Gadwall. I did see a couple of kingfishers, but was unable to get a decent shot – sorry.
The river is quite mature at this stage. Overall its just over 60 miles long and we are just about 10 miles from its mouth at Christchurch harbour. Today the levels were quite full and the river was fast flowing. This little egret was fishing and ignored me as I got a few pictures from the opposite bank.
A mile further along Ham Lane is Longham Lakes. This has a large population of cormorants. This one appeared to need some time out from the colony and was perched here unconcerned by passers by.
There were smaller species around. It was easier to hear them than see them, but this male reed bunting landed on the barbed wire fence running alongside the river. It didn’t stay long, but gave me a choice of left side or right side profile.
Today I didn’t get to see any otters. I saw one earlier in the week, but again the light was poor. Otters have been reintroduced to the river about ten miles up stream and they do attract attention when they appear.
Late last summer my neighbour painted his shed. Now with the onset of spring I can really appreciate his work. The bokeh effect in this photograph of a newly emerged comma butterfly takes full advantage of the green background. It sets off the orange of the butterfly’s wings beautifully.
The butterfly flitted around the garden on a sunny spring afternoon and eventually landed on the cherry tree, itself just beginning to bud. The hottest March day in the UK since 1968 according to the BBC weatherman.
For those interested in the technicalities the camera I used was a Nikon D5200 with a crop sensor and the lens was a Tamron 100-400mm. The settings were ISO 200, f/8, 1/320 sec.
A gaggle of greylag geese gathered on the surface of the lake,
The honking, calling and squawking increased in intensity,
A crescendo of sound filled the air.
First one, then three, then seven and thirty birds took flight,
The air now filled with feathers, as well as sound.
They flew low over the water, getting louder and larger, straight toward me,
“Duck!” I thought.
“Don’t be silly!” I chided, as I enjoyed the intensity of sight and sound.
They flew so close, I could almost reach out and touch them.
This last weekend the RSPB ran its annual survey of garden birds. By all accounts the number of people submitting data increased significantly over last year and their were reports of people being unable to access the survey web page to record their count. Quite probably this was the ‘lockdown effect’.
My own count included 8 goldfinches. They are small birds, quite striking in appearance with their red face and yellow finch stripes on the wings. They normally form groups in the winter which may contain other finches, e.g. greenfinch, siskin, chaffinch. These groups are referred to as ‘charms’.
The UK winter lockdown continues. Yesterday we lost Captain Sir Tom Moore, a covid hero who raised over £38m last year on his 100th birthday for the NHS. The vaccine rollout continues offering light at the end of the tunnel, even as the virus continues to take its toll. This latest winter lockdown does appear to be accompanied by fatigue and weariness.
The blackcap is a winter visitor from possibly Germany or north-east Europe. This chap arrived just before Christmas and hung around for a few days. We were having lunch in the dining room when he appeared in the bush at the end of the garden bathed in sunlight. I could not resist grabbing the camera for a few shots before he flew off.
There is a significant population of cormorants at Longham Lakes. When in water they float with more of their body submerged than other waterfowl. Just their heads and backs are visible. They don’t stay above water for long before they dive on their next fishing expedition. When not feeding they take to the air to find a spot to dry out. This could be a tree or a floating platform. Often they can be seen perched on the electricity lines and pylons running alongside the lake.
The cormorant pictured above was slightly unusual. Whilst not far from the lakes, it found a resting spot in an adjacent field normally occupied by horses and was just resting. I was pleased to capture this shot with the low winter sun reflected in the bird’s green eye.
Stephen's Wildlife 