A brief look at Connaught water where there was little of interest before heading into the Lea Valley. I spent a few hours with some excellent views of Jay, bank vole and muntjac
and it was my last outing of the year.
23rd December
With a break in the weather I headed to Norfolk, I spent a little time looking for Reeve's Pheasants in the Brecks without luck but a stoat was a bonus. Next was Sculthorpe moor which had all the usual suspects including loads of brambling and a couple of cracking barn owls in the car park. A quick dash to the coast started at Cley where we bumped into a sacred ibis and in the Holkham goose fest I located a black brant and a hybrid and with 3 more barn owls before leaving the coast it was a nice day out.
Hedgehog Update - 770g.
21st December
A brief afternoon visit to Fowlmere, kingfisher and water shrew the highlights.
16th December
Bat Hibernacular checks in Cambs, 11 sites, 121 individuals of mostly daubenton's but other species seen were Barbastelle, Brown long eared, Natterer's and common pipistrelle a great weekend of bat counting.
Hedgehog Update - 690g.
15th December
Bat Hibernacular checks in a rather soggy Sussex gave 100 individuals of 5 species Daubenton's, Natterer's, Whiskered, Brants and Long Eared sp from 3 sites.
11th December
A pre work trip to Aldeburgh, where the Hornemann's Arctic Redpoll was showing incredibly well on the beach, a lovely bird. And I picked up some good gen on a chip shop!
Hedgehog Update - 648g.
9th December
With the car repaired, it was time for a test drive and I ended up at Donna Nook to see the grey seals the pups were pretty large but there were still some with small white pups. Heading south I stopped at Natureland in Skegness to take a look at the rescued hooded seal then onto Frampton Marsh where there was little around goldeneye the best I could find, before heading home.
4th December
Hedgehog Update - 600g.
29th November
Hedgehog Update - 574g.
28th November
I was temped by some local waxwings to a prework visit to Oakington, where despite the rain they showed very well, cracking birds.
24th November
After popping to North London for some car parts to keep the aged vehicle going, I headed to Fishers Green and spent a few hours in the cold and rain. Some nice views of jay and fox the best I could manage.
23rd November
The Hedgehog is doing well 470g and eating well, all ticks now gone.
22nd November
A brief to visit to Fowlmere did not produce much, kingfisher the highlight.
19th -21st November
Some small mammal trapping with the Cambs Mammal Group was quite productive, with wood, yellow necked and house mice, bank and field voles and common shrew.
18th November
Sorry no recent updates, but I have been a little under the weather and I do have to work sometimes and currently at the weekend also, pop back soon as I have several things planned over the next couple of weeks.
15th November
Rescued a hedgehog in the garden, only 360g so taken into care, has plenty of ticks and not in good health, will put updates on here.
2nd November
Managed a brief visit to Fowlmere where two fallow stags were chasing each other, plenty of winter thrushes and the usual muntjacs.
30th October
Fantastic Fowlmere -
I took an early morning visit to Fowlmere this morning hoping to see the Fallow deer rut, but it did not pan out as expected. The fallow deer stags were bellowing and I caught sight of a couple but they were in the brush and not very visible. They were separate from the large herd of hinds which were out in the open, I skilfully stalked them down to 20 feet, or so I thought as I had not noticed a lone hind away from the herd which spotted me as I was getting ready to take some photos and gave the alarm – busted! I also missed the muntjac with two fawns later on, so things were not going too well. I took a seat in the main hide, a fallow hind was standing close by but of course I picked the sticky window to open and it was off. I contented myself with the heron who suddenly took flight and all the ducks moved very quickly to one side of the mere, I suspected an otter, but I was wrong it was two otters. I suspected they were an adult and a cub and they were shortly joined by another youngster. The three were visible off and on for 45 mins or so but not very close or for very long, but well worth getting up for. The kingfisher tried to steal my attention as did some pinging bearded tits (but I did not really search for them as I had left my binouclars in the car), I concentrated on the otters. They eventually left and I was about to leave myself when the heron caught a massive perch and I stayed to watch it struggle with its gargantuan meal which somehow it eventually swallowed. Avian highlights were the heron, kingfisher, sparrowhawk, several bullfinches, siskins and hundreds of winter thrushes.
20th October
With the Eastern Olivaceous Warbler still present in Fife, I drove up overnight, only a fox of note during the journey. I arrived on site about 8am, with the bird showing well. It moved around a bit showing off and on calling regularly so easy to track, the Raddes warbler showed briefly as did a probably siberian chiff chaff but I left without searching for the RB fly. Next stop was Loch of the Lowes where the red squirrels were showing well but there was little else so I had a look round locally for red deer but could only find roe deer and red grouse! The rest of the afternoon / evening was spent at Blairgowrie looking for beavers. But it was quite disapointing with only one brief view of one swimming, a couple of dippers a few goosanders and a kingfisher were scant reward. A haggis supper and a herd of fallow deer on the outskirts of town were a bonus and in a layby on the A1 three brown rats and a Wood mouse the only things of note on the trip home.
14th October
We returned to the Forest of Dean for the afternoon, starting at Nagshead which was a little quiet but we did have a nice kingfisher, a stop at Cannop ponds for some food and a look at the mandarin ducks before heading to another part of the forest to hopefully see the rutting wild boar. And what a show they put on, we had over 25 boar with at least 3 large boar squabbling over females and attempting mating, while the juveniles were trying to keep out of the way, they showed very well indeed. Two of nature's best spectacles in two days not bad at all.
13th October
We visited Gigrin farm home of the red kite, I have not been for a few years and there are plenty of new hides some specifically for photographers. After an ice cream we headed to the hides and were not disappointed with the turnout approx. 250 kites present along with a few buzzards and assorted crows. An amazing spectacle and well recommended.
12th October
We drove through the Forest of Dean on our way to the Buith Wells area where we were staying for the weekend, no wild boar but a cracking fox which evaded the camera.
10th October
I have not been to Fowlmere for a few months so I made a pre work visit, timed slightly badly as it was still dark and I flushed a tawny owl. Things had not really changed since my last visit apart from the low numbers of muntjac seen. Birdwise zilch but the fallow deer herd were still present, although no rutting going on. Brown rat, rabbit and grey squirrel were also spotted and I though a brown hare had made a six mammal morning but a weasel along the access road upped the tally, not a bad couple of hours.
8th October
I was popping back up to Wicken fen for some habitat photos for the recent small mammal survey, passing a herd of roe deer in a field, I stopped in someones driveway entrance and went for the camera, but they had moved further away. But out of the corner of my eye in the garden / ditch at the edge of the field a small mammal was moving, a water shrew was wandering about not far away from me. It was sniffing the air probably aware of my presence but I had a good minute or two photographing it moving in and out of some plants going in and out of the water, cracking it vanished and I digiscoped the now distant deer. One water shrew all year then 7 in a few days
7th October
After a few hours sleep I found myself in East Yorkshire and managed to find a nice water vole in a crystal clear stream packed with trout, and with no one else around it was idyllic. After a spot of lunch (during which no fried potatoes were harmed) I headed to Tophill Low for a bat box check with the East Yorkshire bat group. It was quite warm and we lost the first nathusius pipistrelle but it was in a box in full sun. In the other boxes they were more co-operative and we had several individuals. Soprano and common pipistrelles, Natterer's and three whiskered bats rounded off the afternoon. Little else was seen so after a quick stop for some chips the weekend was over.
6th October
A very batty weekend, I started at RSPB Greylake where the drained lagoon which the spotted crake had been showing well was now very full of water. The crake showed off and on but never really out in the open or well. The small reserve had a couple of grass snakes that showed in the pleasant autumn sunshine. I had a few errands to run before I headed to my evening destination via the chip shop where I joined in with some bat catching. Conditions were not ideal but there were a few bats around and we caught 6 species both lesser and greater horseshoe, brown long eared, Daubentons and Natterer's and two Bechstein's. A serotine was showing off and on all night but well away from the traps. Some high speed filming was being carried out of the bats by one of the team which was amazing to see, some footage can be seen here .
28th September - 4th October
I have been busy with work but before and after have been doing some smalll mammal survey work at Wicken Fen. Lots of hard work but with cracking results with at least 5 water shrews caught. There were plenty of bank voles, wood mice common shrews and a lone pygmy shrew. Plenty of roe deer and muntjac seen as well.
