It’s always the way. You just sit down to a good meal and there’s a knock at the door.
Interruption
Tag Archives: Spring
Warning: Cuteness overload
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.
Local woodland in Spring
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?
Lockdown easing
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.
Canford Bottom
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.
Comma butterfly
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.
Garden visitors – April 2019
The garden has seen an explosion of colour this month. I must have been aware of this in previous years, but this year I have observed it more closely – yellow primroses and daffodils; white snowdrops and blossom; purple crocuses; pink camellia, cherry blossom, clematis and apple blossom; blue bluebells; green grass and new foliage.
Whilst the background colours and textures have changed, the change in visiting bird-life has been more subtle and not quite what I expected. The bird species I have seen are: sparrow, dunnock, pigeon, magpie, starling, robin, goldfinch, blue tit, blackbird.
There have been absences too. Where are the long tailed tits, siskins, chaffinches, coal tits, wrens, blackcaps? Have they deserted the garden feeding stations now that nature is producing abundant new growth and insects?
My photography knowledge has increased. I leave it to others to judge whether this has resulted in improved quality. I now photograph in RAW instead of JPEG, giving greater flexibility in the post production stage. My camera is now set on manual rather than automatic and I now select the ISO, shutter speed and aperture setting. Most wildlife photo ops are fleeting, lasting only a few seconds and require patience and perseverance. Familiarity with camera controls and settings are essential to respond when those brief seconds present themselves.
With warmer temperatures and school holidays I have ventured beyond the confines of the garden. These are a few pictures taken at Brownsea Island, Pamphill and Moors Valley.
Garden visitors – March 2019
March coincides with the Church’s observance of Lent, a period of repentance and penitence. Jesus himself was the model for the Lent period. Following his baptism he was ‘led by the Spirit’ into the wilderness and emerged 40 days later ‘in the power of the Spirit’. The Church of England has produced a series of devotional readings and prayers using the Beatitudes from Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount. They offer timeless teaching of spiritual rebirth with the ultimate promise and hope of sharing in Jesus’ resurrection.
Access to the garden has been restricted in March for various reasons and so it has been a joy in recent days to get back to see what I have been missing, particularly now that the storms appear to have passed and temperatures are slowly increasing.
Spring has arrived and the number of daylight hours now exceed the hours of darkness. The bird population that has survived the winter will now begin the process of renewal and rebirth. Insects are reappearing. Blossom and green shoots are bursting into life.
Bee collecting pollen 
Honey bee
In the garden two themes are apparent: nesting activity and birdsong.
Nesting
A few years ago we put up a nest box in the garden. Its never been used. I saw a blue tit inspecting it the other morning, but it must have found a better site, as it has not returned. To be fair the location isn’t brilliant. Its close to a feeding station, but it lacks privacy and security from squirrels, cats and other threats.
Whilst I have yet to see any evidence of birds actually nesting in the garden, there have been plenty of birds collecting nesting material.
Birdsong
Blackbird “Billy” in song 
Dunnock perched prominently in song
The dawn chorus starts at 5.30 am. Robins, blackbirds, dunnocks and pigeons are clearly discernible. Throughout the day birdsong in the garden will rise and fall as the birds come and go.
Female sparrow 
Male sparrow
In recent days the sparrow population has been particularly vocal.
The starlings click, whistle and squawk at each other and then descend on the feeding station, hoovering up the meal worm as fast as it is put out.
New visitors
I have seen a wren on a number of occasions and actually managed to capture a few images this month.
Despite the wren being one of the UK’s most numerous birds (see UK population table below), my experience is that it is quite secretive and normally scuttles away into the undergrowth.
The siskin, male and female, has been a constant visitor, but difficult to spot as it usually ‘hides’ among a group or charm of other finches.
Goldfinches are regular visitors to neighbouring gardens, but despite putting out seed specifically for finches they seem very wary of hopping over the fence. Maybe they can sense the presence of our cat – not that he’s ever caught anything bigger than a fly.
A very distinctive bird, but quite restless, the coal tit is constantly on the move.
Slightly smaller and sleeker than a wood pigeon…
Population – UK
The table below lists a few of the birds observed in the garden, showing their UK population and an indication of the trend, i.e. increasing or decreasing.
| Siskin | 420,000 pairs | increasing |
| Goldfinch | 1,200,000 territories | Increasing considerably |
| Chaffinch | 6,200,000 pairs | Increasing slowly |
| Sparrow | 5,300,000 | Declined by 64% since 1969 |
| Great tit | 2,600,000 | Moderate increase over 40 years |
| Blue tit | 3,600,000 | Modest increase recently |
| Coal tit | 760,000 | No overall trend |
| Long tailed tit | 340,000 | Modest increase in recent years |
| Goldcrest | 610,000 | Long term trend is slight increase |
| Chiffchaff | 1,200,000 | Increasing in recent years |
| Blackcap | 1,200,000 | Increasing since late 1970s |
| Blackbird | 5,100,000 | 15% decline over 40 years |
| Wren | 8,600,000 territories | Stable population |
| Dunnock | 2,500,000 | Numbers fell (1975-1995), now partially recovered |
| Bullfinch | 220,000 pairs | 40% decline in 25 years |
Source: RSPB Handbook of British Birds (4th Edition) – 2014
Stephen's Wildlife 