Woodland Hide Part 1 - Early April 2013

Long tailed Tit

PART 1

I tend to get many crazy ideas that I think might benefit my photography, usually they are completely unrealistic due to personal and financial limitations. But on this occasion I thought I would give them a go, after getting fed up of unsuccessfully photographing the garden birds that visit the feeding station in the garden, due to the lighting or the lack of natural perches.

So basically I longed for my own 'Outdoor Photo Studio' after seeing a couple of examples of shots that other enthusiasts had gotten from their own D.I.Y 'Feeding Stations' I started to give the idea of my own a lot more thought.

First of all I guess I needed somewhere that was quiet, had plenty of cover for the birds from predators but also had open areas that would allow Hide positioning and the placement of props that allowed a nice clean background behind the subject. With the weather pretty poor that weekend I had a wander around the river looking for possible locations hoping to find somewhere I could place my pop up hide comfortably and fairly concealed.

I know for one, thinking of creating a feeding station at the beginning of April probably wasn't the cleverest forward planning as most of the birds would be finding natural food sources and thinking about breeding, but I had thought at least it would be in position for the autumn. It was whilst pondering this thought that I came across an old lean-to. Put together originally to house the mower for the river bank. 

All over grown and covered in moss and damp, I could instantly see some potential, the mower hadn't been kept in there for a good couple of years rendering the shed pretty much unused. It overlooked a small clear area before the ground reached a stream 25 ft in front. Large conifers to the left and smaller trees to the right. A nice blend of cover and clearing.

STAGE 1 - THE ERECTION

So I had found the perfect shell for my dream D.I.Y woodland hide, so the most important thing I had to sort out prior to getting started was getting Dad to agree to let me remove parts from one of his sheds and clear a largish area right next to the river bank. The bigger bonus was it was only a 2-3 minute walk from the back door.

Surprisingly he agreed fairly easily, so Saturday morning I was stood routing through his van searching for the tools I needed to transform my new found project. Now it is fairly well known that I am not the greatest at D.I.Y or even anything practical that involves common sense, so you can imagine dads face as I loaded a wheel barrow with Saws, Hammers, Fencing poles, Spirit Level, Cordless Drill, Croppers and a Rip Hook. To this day I'm still not sure if it was a look of bewilderment as to if I had any idea what these tools where or as to if he would be taking me to casualty in an hour or so.

What I found

First job was to clear the ground area so I could visualise where I wanted props, feeders and stuff to go, here the Rip Hook came into action and I had soon cleared an area which was covered in dead grass and reed. The croppers where handy in removing plenty of overhanging branches leaving me a couple of good natural hooks to hang feeders from.

Before & After 

My next stage was to remove the old panelling on the side of the Lean-to, re-join together and create myself two hide windows, which I then even to my own surprise managed to fix hinges on to. So windows in place at the right height, I found a rather useful pile of old bridge planks and transformed into a table platform about 3.5 metres from my hide windows. 

These planks also came in quite handy when cut down into matching lengths in positioning over top the muddy earthen floor inside the hide. With hide pretty much complete and feeding table in position, I put up half a dozen feeders around the area to start to drawing in the birds. Sunflower seed hearts, Nyger Seed & Peanuts all dotted around the clearing. 

Having found a nice moss covered tree root nearby I quickly dug it up and positioned it atop of my table platform. Hoping it would be a great stopping point for the birds as they came into the feeders on the pole next to it. A couple of branches from the still green Christmas tree were placed upright in the ground on the other side of the pole feeders completing my initial station set-up.

DIY SOS

All in all nothing to strenuous, all done in a good mornings work. But for someone with my very limited practical D.I.Y skills I was pretty chuffed with how it had all come along and the fact I didn't need to visit casualty.

STAGE 2 - THE BIRDS

Finished I was under no illusion that I would see anything visiting my new feeders for a couple of days, so was fully prepared to wait until the following weekend before spending any time in my new hide. However after having a quick peep the next morning it was clear to see that about 3 of my feeders had taken a little bit of a hammering and the seed levels had dropped by and inch or more.

I am guessing it was due to the unseasonal cold weather, but as a couple of Great Tits swooped in to land on the peanut feeder my mind was made up, to spend a couple of hours in the hide during the afternoon. Still not really expecting to see too much I left the hide exactly 2 hours later froze to the bone but over the moon with what I had seen. 14 Species already!

Blue Tit, Great Tit, Long-tailed Tit, Coal Tit, Marsh Tit, Chaffinch, Robin, Dunnock, Treecreeper, Blackbird, Great spotted Woodpecker, Moorhen, Pheasant & Wren all visited regularly. My most desired species however when initially planning was the Great spotted Woodpecker and the Jay. So to have a female GSW visit within hours of completion I was over the moon.

Coal Tit

As with all of my bright ideas though the conditions for photography couldn't have been much worse, it was freezing cold, far to cold to be sat motionless in a hide for a few hours, and the dull day meant the natural light was pretty poor maximising most of the camera settings.

I did manage a few shots I was happy with as the Long tailed Tits on occasions took fancy to my strategically placed Christmas Tree branch. A Coal Tit was the first bird to find some baited seed on the mossy tree root, and was soon visiting every 2-3 minutes, however being one of the smallest bird table visitors getting the bird to pause long enough for a shot proved tricky. The Robin however was much more obliging pausing long enough for a nice portrait.

Robin

So apart from loosing most of the feeling in my fingers and body due to the cold! I was absolutely over the moon with how quickly the birds had found the new food source. And even more impressed by the amount of species that had already visited.

Now I know not everyone has the luxury of such surroundings and the shell for a hide, but a little bit of hard work can create something that benefits both nature and the photographer. And your D.I.Y skills can't be any worse than mine!

Check back for my next post which will have a lot more shots from the Woodland hide during the first couple weeks of April.

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Snowy Garden Birds - 20th Jan

So if you read my last blog you'll gather that I didn't really have much luck with the whole Garden Birds in the snow scenario, I had dreamt of loads of picture perfect images to adorn the fronts of christmas cards throughout the 2013 festive season, and after fridays dismal showing it was clear that wasn't going to be too easy.

So come Sunday, with plenty of snow still on the ground I thought I would give it another bash, I placed my props, a wooden handle fork - primed with mealworms and seed, and a branch from the now forlorn Christmas tree placed strategically near my feeders.

As you can see from the shots below I had some minor success, 6 Hours spent out in the cold, with some pretty indifferent light, but not one shot did I take of a bird on the props placed!  However less of the studio set up and more about the wildlife.

The Blackbirds and the Robins where the main visitors during the snow storm on friday, and it didn't take them long to appear to feed on the extra grub I had supplied, the Blackbirds particularly enjoying a few apples I had cut up and put out in the hope of drawing down a hungry Fieldfare. Plenty of Fieldfare flew over and even a couple landed in the trees at the bottom of the garden but none brave or hungry enough to venture down for a feed.

Cock Blackbird

Female Blackbird

As the occasional flurry of snow decided to fall, the feeders started to hot up with 6 or 7 ravenous Blue Tits visited on a constant cycle, occasionally joined by 2 or 3 bullying Great Tits. This as always causes the smaller birds to scatter and there I was primed finger on shutter ready for a shot on my spruce! Not to be although I do quite like a few shots I got of a patiently waiting Blue Tit sat on some of mothers garden trellis.

Blue Tit

The smallest of the visitors was the Marsh Tit, they seem to adopt the grab and run technique, getting some seed before zooming off into the trees with their morsel, this made photographing them pretty tricky, luckily one had to wait its turn on the feeder so paused momentarily on the frame of the dog kennel.

Marsh Tit

If ever a garden bird arrived Mob handed its the Long-tailed Tit, one appears then within seconds the feeders are teeming with 7-8 noisy birds. I would say they were probably the most numerous and frequent visitor, and a little more willing to pause for pictures, again none landing on the props.

Long-tailed Tit

So the main purpose of my photography session in the garden was to try and get some nice natural looking wintery Robin pictures, I finally managed to get the conditions I wanted just no willing subjects, well not on a natural perch anyways.

Robin

With all the action going on above on the feeders, it was pretty inevitable that some birds would be benefitting from the falling seed, the Pied Wagtail is an occasional visitor to the garden, but on this occasion present all day long zooming in to grab a few morsels before vanishing then re appearing 2 or 3 minutes later. The local Chaffinches also used this ploy although they didn't stick around long enough for a photo.

Pied Wagtail

Spending that much time in the garden you tend to pay attention to everything flying by, flying over or passing through. Jay, Woodpigeon, Buzzard, Red Kite, Kestrel, Pheasant, Grey Wagtail, Kingfisher & Little Egret all seen at some point during the day from the garden seat.

So not a completely dead loss, Im quite happy with a few shots considering the light was pretty poor for the entire weekend. 

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Garden Birding - 9th Dec

A quick half hour sat in the garden by the river, didn't bring me a Kingfisher, but a pair of Buzzards did come fairly low over top of the Garden. Which enabled me to get a couple of nice shots as the sunshine caught there undersides.

Buzzard

Several different Blackbirds in the garden at the moment some with darker bills, which I assume are our native birds Scandinavian cousins. I did manage a shot of one of the British natives launching off of the shed roof after an interloper like a tornado jet.

Territorial Blackbird

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Geese, Deer, Terns & More

My apologies for the lack of posts in the past week, Just haven't seem to gotten around to writing. So I shall write this and hopefully you wont be bored by the ramblings of a weeks adventures.

So after telling myself I wouldn't visit Rooksbury in the evenings to let the Otters have a little rest from one less spectator, I headed down last Tuesday lunchtime in some nice bright light, and had the pleasure of watching a pair of Common Terns fishing for a rather unexpected 10mins or so, before they disappeared rather as abruptly as they appeared. Not a species I've seen down at Rooksbury or in and around landlocked Andover for that matter. Noisy blighter's mind!

Common Tern

Rooksbury Tern

So still in the quest for Otters but some that might be a little more local and without the disruption of other voyeurs I sat up down on the conflux of the Half Water and the River Test (Once all of the Fishermen had gone home), Dad had been seeing the odd sign and it seemed like a good a spot as any. Perched on my stool facing downstream I could see in both directions, and a quick turn of the head back upstream, so whilst becoming increasingly distracted by the new river Mute Swan arrivals all 7 of them, I heard something behind me and a quick glance around upstream resulted in a Brownish shape swimming across the river nearly at the far bank a good 100 yards away, now I wouldn't like to swear on it being a Water Vole because it could well have been an Otters head, but the rather large splash that occurred a minute or so later confused me even more.

I did however manage to capture another unexpected visitor to the River bank, Just wish I hadn't been quite so exposed so the Muntjac Buck might have come a little closer. A good spot all in all, with Sedge Warbler, Chiffchaff, Swift, Swallow, Kestrel, Tufted Duck, Coot, Moorhen, Little Grebe, Long Tailed Tit &  Blue Tit all seen too. As the light started to fade I caught sight of this little Roe Doe in the amongst the trees, who seemed quite happy to pose for me.

Mute Swans & Cygnets

Muntjac Buck

Roe Doe

Monday night in glorious sunshine, I headed up the river in pursuit in some recently spotted Hobby's, no such luck however I did add to my 2012 list with addition of 2 Spotted Flycatchers. Also quite abundant on the River bank along with the obligatory Chiffchaff was Bullfinches, 3 pairs spotted on one stretch alone. With nothing really playing ball for the camera, I thought I'd check up on the Greylags, the goslings are growing up pretty fast and there seem to be more there than before too. A Cock Pheasant was quite obliging on the way home too.

A small proportion of the Greylags

Spring Cock

With a lot dryer weather set for a few days, my evening job as groundsman for St. Mary Bourne Cricket Club is taking slightly more presidence than getting out with the camera, but why not merge the two I hear you say! Well I kinda did, a regular visitor to my square when the mowers going the male Blackbird.

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And A Partridge In The Hedgerow

Well my apologies first of all for the lack of posts this week, haven’t had the chance to get out at all, the weathers been pretty rubbish and more annoyingly I’ve been suffering from a serious bout of Man Flu! And we all know what that means!!!

Feeling near enough alive again, and having a surprisingly quiet day planned I used the excuse of walking the dogs, to trek around the estate. And I must say a very festive result, 25 species of bird for Christmas, and no im not just making that number up.

Below listed are the Bird Species spotted today around the estate and on the garden feeders:

1.Blue Tit 2.Great Tit 3.Blackbird 4.House Sparrow 5.Dunnock 6.Grey Heron 7.Green Sandpiper 8.Wood Pigeon 9.Carrion Crow 10.Treecreeper 11.Goldcrest 12.Long Tailed Tit 13.Buzzard 14.Yellowhammer 15.Chaffinch 16.Red Legged Partridge 17.Coal Tit 18.Great Spotted Woodpecker 19.Sparrowhawk 20.Little Egret 21.Mallard 22.Common Teal 23.Pheasant 24.Tawny Owl 25.Robin

Also spotted – Roe Deer, Brown Hare, Rabbit & Stoat

Hopefully I will be able to get out and about again before the New Year, may even get a chance to pop up to Slimbridge during next week. So I shall take this opportunity to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year, may you all drink and eat too much and give and receive plenty.

Female Great-spotted Woodpecker

Christmas Lights

Female House Sparrow

What You Looking At...

Snow, Sun, Rain, Hail all before 12pm I was a little apprehensive as to how wet and cold I might get on today's lunchtime excursion to Anton Lakes. Luckily it stayed dry, and wasn't too cold, to be fair its probably warmer outside than in the office at the moment. 2 Days with no heating is starting to take its toll.

My walk was pretty short today, not a lot showing up, I'm guessing this is due to the colder weather beginning to creep in, with a lot of Birds heading to Gardens for a feast on the Bird tables of Hampshire.
I did however see, Blue Tit, Great Tit, Long Tailed Tit, Wren, Blackbird, Chaffinch, Goldfinch, Song Trush, Redwing, Kingfisher, Mute Swan, Tufted Duck, Black Headed Gull, Gadwall, Mallard, Coot, Little Grebe, Moorhen & Canada Goose.

Swan Portrait

Black Headed Gull

Redwing

Cygnet

I did almost have a rather funny altercation with 3 Hooded Youths, now with out being Stereotypical or even Racist they were Black and looked like my camera was in danger of thievery, after forcing me to walk on the grass as they hogged the path, I was verbally assaulted with "What you looking at...." In a rather menacing and accusing tone, as I looked back down the path at the Small flock of Redwings crossing from the Tree-line to the nearest hedgerow. Now lets be honest, even if I was delusional enough to be taking pics of passer-by's I wouldn't be doing so in Wellington's or a Camo Jacket. But hey ho thats Andover. Im just so glad they weren't closer to me because in such situations when confronted by ridiculous looking people Im more than likely to start laughing.

What Did I Miss?

Well turns out the only thing I did miss was a nice warm office. Only joking, but the excitement of last weeks trip to Anton Lakes wasn't duplicated today, However lots of Birds showing up, Fieldfare galore with smallish flocks seen all of the way around the site. A lone pair of Bullfinches hid amongst the branches, but neither moving near enough to the outsides of the bush for a decent photograph.

With the first proper frost this morning (Icy covering on the roads) all of the Native birds seem to have multiplied in numbers, so I'm reckoning some migrant Blue Tit, Great Tit, Blackbirds & Wrens have joined the winter population.

Todays chorus of Robin song pretty much drowned out the sound of anything else, and it seemed every
15-20 yards brought forth 2 or 3 battling for territories throughout my lunchtime walk, does mean however that they are a little bit easier to photograph.

Robins

Quite a few Jenny Wrens showing up, along with a definite increase in Chaffinch & Goldfinch, already in mixed flocks. Sadly no Kingfishers around the lakes or the ajoining waterways today, although a rather mottled Buzzard did fly off from his perch out in the water meadow as I walked past.

On the water the story is still pretty much the same, Mute Swans, Canada Geese, Gadwall, Tufted Duck, Little Grebe, Moorhen, Coot, Black Headed Gull & Mallard, although the Mallard numbers definitely seem to have swollen, possibly a lot more 'Wild" birds coming in as they were a lot more flighty than normal.

Mute Swan

The remainder of the walk back to the car brought pretty much the same as the first half, with the addition of 4 Redwing & a lone Greenfinch. Off to Exmoor tomorrow for a change of scenery, not packing the camera however so you'll just have to believe me if I see something exciting.

Beaten By The Binmen!

With a bit more light on offer today, I got the camera out early this morning and sat myself up in the bedroom window, curtains drawn and lens poking through, to see what would come in on the bird table! The resident Robin, a Great Tit, Blue Tits bombing back and forth. Then the Great Spotted Woodpecker appeared, perched atop the nearest telegraph pole, I steadied myself, finger stretched at the ready on the shutter button, all the other birds disappear from the feeders, he calls, he flies towards the Nuts landing on the fence checking out the area, I move position slightly, and then the bloody Dustbin men come, male Woodpecker a gonna!

Robin

I thought Id spend my lunch break around Rooksbury Mill today as the sun kept appearing through the cloud, with the hope of getting some shots of the Kingfisher with better light. A lot of the Blackbirds from wednesday seeming to have vanished with just a few showing up around the reserve. Mute Swans, Tufted Duck, Mallard, Little Grebe & Gadwall all showing on the smaller lake. The larger and main lake almost empty with only 2 Swans a Moorhen and a Coot present.

I returned to the small former watercress bed several times during my lunch hour, as this was the place I saw the Kingfisher earlier in the week, I stood and waited for about a total of 30 mins, hidden behind a bramble patch peering out for a glimpse. Nothing, I could hear a pair calling quite frequently to my right on the main river, but nothing appeared in-front of me. There was however a small bird on the drainage pipes from the other cress beds which enter the pool, Sat preening in the midday sun, not once giving me a glimpse of its tail or wing weathers. The only identification I can give is a Grey Wagtail, possibly a juvenile, attached below are some pictures. Please let me know if you have any other ideas.