Shropshire - 23 - 24th Feb

Whilst in Shropshire for the weekend and prior to my trip across the border for Red Kites, I made an early morning jaunt up on to the Long Mynd in search of Red Grouse. The roads up were pretty icy and its always reassuring when the road signs read something along the lines of don't use in winter. But my new car powered its way up and around the single track bends on quite a steep accent no problem, and I reached the top in no time.

The temperature at the top was a good 4 or 5 degrees colder than in the bottom of the valley and a keen wind blew across the moorland, window down I drove at a crawling pace, ears pricked to pick up the call I was hoping for. Within about 50 yards of the gliding club entrance I soon heard the distinctive 'chut!chut!chut!chut!chut!chuttt....' call. A quick scan an I could see a Cock Red Grouse stood upright against some very similar coloured heather. A stealthy approach on foot didn't allow me any closer as the bird rocketed off from the heather with its fast-whirring wingbeats. 

Giving up on the foot approach I stuck to the car, seeing and hearing 13 or  14 cocks calling from fairly near the roadside. One did come close enough to the car for a shot through the window, but I left via the Church Stretton end feeling pretty unfulfilled  Plenty of Meadow Pipits and Skylark also on the top with the occasional Pheasant popping up out of the heather.

Red Grouse

After visiting Gigrin on the Saturday, Sunday morning we headed up towards Shrewsbury, to Venus Pool, the weather was bitterly cold and overcast so we never spent to long in the hides, the highlight being a pair of Great-crested Grebe displaying and sharing weed not to far from the hide. A pair of Shoveler slept on one of the islands along with c.40 Lapwing and c.60 Snipe, several pairs of Gadwall and Pochard on the water.

The woodland hide and feeding station was very busy as it was on my visit earlier in the month, plenty of Chaffinch, Blue Tits, Great Tits, Greenfinch and a couple of Great Spotted Woodpecker all visiting in the short period we sat watching.

All in all a fairly productive if not frustrating weekend with the weather.

Blue Tit

Great Tit

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Bickerley Common - 13th Jan

Goldcrest

We are only 20 odd days into the new year and already I have quite a considerable backlog of blog posts to write. After 2 weeks of solid rain and a dismal saturday, awaking to sunshine on Sunday morning was quite surprising. With no solid plans and Nat down for the weekend, a quick decision was made to try the other end of the South Coast.

Camera, Bino's and warm weather gear packed and in the car on the way to Ringwood. For the past month or so reports have been almost daily regarding a Great White Egret and Glossy Ibis on the Avon floods at Bickerley Common, just outside of Ringwood. This was the first port of call an as we pulled into the rather destructive car park (pot holes everywhere) I stopped a couple of Birders as they walked back to their car. Ibis showing well at a distance but no sign of the Egret. Typical as I have never seen a GWE, but 1 out of 2 can't be bad.

Their is a causeway that runs across the width of the meadows and acts as a great elevated platform to look out either side over the swollen river and flooded meadows. The usual smaller bird flitted between the path side trees. Wren, Robin, Blue Tit, Great Tit, Blackbird & Dunnock all seen within metres on the path.

Some nearby 'pip-ing' got me searching and I soon picked up half a dozen Meadow Pipit on the stems of the long grass glistening in the bright morning sun. They were quickly joined by a pair of Stonechat, a species I didn't expect to see in such a damp habitat.

As the river meandered out of sight, two large flocks of feeding Canada Geese came into view, with numbers I would guess in excess of 150. The odd Mute Swan preened here and there dotted about across the floods. A White dot in the distance got my attention but too far away to clarify, a passer by saw me checking it out and informed me it was the GWE. Maybe my luck was in, but after getting a little closer 200 yards or so further down the causeway I confirmed it was a Little Egret after all.

This stop for a better view brought me my best views to date of a Goldcrest, as an invading group of Long-tailed Tits descended on the nearby tree, a pair of tiny Goldcrests joined them. I am quite pleased with my photographs, however catching them in the light was a bit of an impossible task shooting towards the sun. They move so fast!

Goldcrest

Finally reaching the main bridge over the meadows, I soon picked up the Glossy Ibis on the far side feeding with plenty of Teal. The shallow water was covered in feeding birds with Teal, Lapwing & Black-headed Gull spread all over the area. A great start to the day, and good to get a Glossy in the notebook!

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In A Bit Of A Rut

The plan was to head down to Exmoor for a few days at the beginning of October, with a lot of indifferent weather and reports from elsewhere in the country of a lot of Red Deer action, I was quite hopeful for a few hours with the wild beasts in the Exmoor National Park.

How wrong could I have been, a 5.30am get up and a pretty speedy 118 miles down the A303, 2 hours later we (Girlfriend & I) were tucking into a full english and giving the ordnance survey a good once over. Down through Exford and up and out onto the Moor, Exmoor seems to be the only place I know of in England where the weather can change from Rain to clear skies in the matter of minutes. Rainbows appear and before you can trace them are gone as the cloud disperses. This particular day was no different, with a keen wind, wrapped up we headed off on the path up towards Dunkery Beacon, a place that has never failed in the past to deliver a herd or two.

A slight detour off of the path through the very wet heather brought me my first views of the Red Deer, about 45-50 to be precise, but any hope of some action vanished pretty quickly, as all they seemed to be worried about was feeding. 4 or 5 Young Stags seem to approach the big old boy, but it was all rather tame and friendly, as he didn't at all seem bothered by there presence. And so it remained throughout the next couple of days. We spent about 6-7 hours watching the Deer and in all that time, I only heard a Stag roar twice. I did manage to capture that on camera although a little far away.

Nice to see plentiful flocks of Golden Plover feeding up on top of the moors exploiting the wet peaty soil, however getting close enough for a picture without causing them to take flight proved too much.

The Roaring Big Boy

Think He Winded Me

Another Roar

A Small Number of the Dunkery Herd

I had a couple of stalks in the hope of singling out a nice Red Stag to photograph, one involved stalking for about a mile over and under, through heather and gorse to get within 20 yards of a group of 4 Stags, however when I got to the final gorse bush I was using as cover, I decided to go the wrong side and came out a lot closer than intended. FAIL, ruining all hopes of a shot. 

A lot of people seem to descend upon London's parks during the Rut to capture the bellowing Stags in all of their glory, and although I've nothing at all against that, for some reason I've always thought if I were to do so it would be cheating a little. The Deer always seem a little more tolerant of humans and far easier to get close to. So I have always told myself to keep it natural and keep it wild. Perhaps I should change my views I might get some decent shots. 

My Closest Encounter

Along with the Red Deer, another ever present on Exmoor are the Exmoor Ponies one of our last breeds of wild horse. They unlike the Deer are far more approachable and seem quite happy to pose.

Exmoor Pony

With the route out of Dulverton closed with roadworks, an alternative way up on to the moor was found, along and across the area known has Hawkridge, a road I had never taken before, leading down to a rather photogenic spot called Landacre Bridge giving views up and down the River Barle. On this occasion the weather struck again, in the 50 yards from leaving the car in bright sunshine to walking to the bridge it was pissing it down!

The area of the National Park here prooved a little more productive for bird life, although unconfirmed Im pretty sure I saw a Hen Harrier working low over top the heather, Stonechat could be seen a top the gorse along with the ever plentiful Meadow Pipit, Kestrel, Raven and a rather lost covey of Red-leg Partridge, trundling along the moor top road. And a flock of 12-15 Redpoll which took me a little by surprise, although later reading my bird book explained that it seemed perfectly adequate habitat for such species.

The River Barle From Landacre Bridge

Saturday our last full day out on the Moor, and a natural phenomenon occurred, one that I haven't ever witnessed before. The sky clear of cloud, the sun out and beating down causing heat hazes everywhere, and not a drop of rain in sight! Certainly makes the scenery look a lot better!

View to Bossington - from Porlock Hill

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Pembrokeshire - Part 2

So determined to make it out too Skomer on Friday, before the weekend hoards arrived we packed up all the gear on Thursday evening and were up and out of the Boathouse by 7.50am joining the already 20 strong queue down at Martin's Haven for the first boat to Skomer which departed at 10am. Within minutes the first 50 places on the boat were taken and 30 or so cars joined ours in the car park. So with an hour and a bit to kill, I thought I'd have a wander up and around the Deer Park in the early morning gloom, the fog from the previous day still hanging in the air, although visibility was a lot better. Loads of small birds perched and singing from the tops of the gorse bushes, with Whitethroat, Linnet, Chaffinch, Sedge Warbler, Meadow Pipit and Stonechat all seen. I walked out to the furthest point, and was rewarded by a fly by of about 15 or so Chough all calling as they dived and weaved their ways along the cliff edge.

Whitethroat

As the clock neared 10 we headed down the very steep road towards the embarkation point, whilst Nat used the public conveniences I was distracted by the close proximity of the Swallows visiting their nests on the Toilet building, eager to try and get a closish shot I soon got the lens cap off but the morning gloom left me disappointed, however some chirping behind me caused me to turn around and see a Swallow perched no more than 15 feet away preening and stretching its wings. Not all that often you see them perched on anything other than a Telephone wire so I was quite pleased to see one on an isolated bramble. Even better with a Green backdrop.

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Meadow Pipits Aplenty

Another weekend spent at the Girlfriend's in Shropshire, and I set off hoping for some migrants on the upper moorlands in the south of the county. Saturday morning we headed off to the Long Mynd hopeful for a break in the showers, first bird spotted as we reached the top of the hill from Church Stretton, a Meadow Pipit, I managed to grab a few shots thinking maybe this new addition to my species list might not be see again. How wrong I could be! Its fair to say Im not sure which was more numerous along the length of the Long Mynd, Meadow Pipits or People, hundreds if not a thousand or more Walkers and Cyclists seemed tp appear over every brow and in every gully, about every 50 yards along the road. The Meadow Pipits also seemed to be just as numerous rising and chasing each other from the heather.

Particularly Happy With This Shot 

Meadow Pipit

Other bird life was pretty scarce, Im guessing because of the invasion of people, all I noted were Ravens, 3 Buzzards, 2 Kestrels, 2 Red Grouse, and numerous Chaffinches, some of which the cock birds were very inquisitive, forcing me to retreat a little so I could focus properly.

Cock Chaffinch 

Hillside Ponies

Waking up to clear skies on Sunday Morning we headed off to Titterstone Clee, with the hope of a Ring Ouzel and Wheatear. The Wheatear was a confirmed tick as we saw 25-30 pairs all around half way up to the summit, and a few around the quarry. Even mixing in with a couple of Linnet. Unfortunately they all remained very flighty, and I couldn't get close enough for a shot I was happy with. We did also get a brief glimpse of a Peregrine in the gale force winds before it shot off out of sight elsewhere.

So compared to my last weekend visit not the most successful of trips, but 4 new species added to my list for 2012 so It cannot all be bad.