'Boom Boom'

I think as Photographers we all have a nemesis species. Mine has always been the Bittern, I had great views of an over wintering bird at Slimbridge one year way in the distant past, before I took up photography to the extent that I do now. In the 4 or 5 years since I have been teased with glimpses and empty promises. Even the bird that flushed from the edge of the reed at the bottom of Mum and Dads garden didn’t hang around long enough for me to photograph. Maybe the fact that I almost stood on it and quite possibly almost s**t myself as it erupted from the riverside in front of me contributed to the fact it never got its picture taken. This also almost resulted in a very nearly broken camera lens as I almost lost grip of my tripod.

Locally seeing Bittern is a bit of a gamble, like looking for a needle in the haystack and various other cliches. Without any large areas of reed bed nearby the best to hope for is a flyover or flushing a bird passing through from the edge of the river. So the best place to head to see them every winter is Blashford Lakes on the south western edge of the New Forest. A bit of a drive from my local patch at about 45 miles but well worth it for the wide range of other diverse wintering wildfowl and woodland birds. The Ivy North hide overlooks a relatively small area of reed that fringes the quite large Ivy Lake. Each winter from November on wards reports usually appear daily of individual Bittern crossing the cut channels in the reeds. On a fair few occasions’ two birds had been reported so any time I am in that area during the winter months I always try make an effort to visit and spend a little time in the Ivy North hide to see if I can spot one.

Now as with most big reserves, hides that only have a few open windows are usually taken pretty quickly, with a photographer camped out in them day in day out for weeks upon end. The Ivy North Hide is most definitely one of those kind of hides. With only the two side windows opening, each are always taken. In the past 4 years I have probably visited at least a dozen times. Having to make do with peering through the murky tinted glass as the clear views are protected religiously by most usually extremely rude ‘Togs’. Most visits I have not seen anything nor has anyone else that I have spoken too, but on a few occasions you get the typical response oh you missed it by 5 minutes. I’m sure these campers take satisfaction in saying that to someone like me, just to ruin my day!

So fast forward to February 2016 and I still hadn’t seen a Bittern posing nicely in front of my lens. It was an extremely drizzly and murky Sunday. My girlfriend was at work, and I was sat at home bored off my t*ts. I thought I know I’ll go and have a look in the hides at Blashford, it was such a sh**ty day that I didn’t hold up much hope of any taking any photographs so I only took my 400mm lens, manily so I didn’t have to lug around my heavy tripod. As I drove down the M27 the light got worse, it was cold and I was generally still feeling increasingly more miserable. On arrival at Blashford I wandered off to the Ivy North Hide first and was shocked to find that it was empty, a luxury I had never encountered before. I perched myself down on the bench, got my camera setup and gazed out of the open window at the drizzle cloaked reed bed.

The whistle of hundreds of Teal and the odd squeak of a Moorhen the only noise to break the stillness of the day. A few brave souls came and went, eager to get out of the cold, but soon finding the hide didn’t offer much of a respite. Several times I considered moving on, but then thought to myself it’s not like I had anything else to do. The Minutes ticked by into an hour, I continually stared out at this gap in the reed bed where the reed was cut shorter. Nothing moving at all, more minutes ticked by and still I had the hide to myself when eventually I registered some movement. The gap was no more than 30 feet away but already halfway across it was a bloody Bittern. Finger to the shutter button I clicked away best I could as this skulker worked its way in slow motion across the small gap.

This was about the time I wished I had my big lens. Although the 400mm is perfect for handholding it hasn’t delivered the images I was expecting when getting it. Trying to shoot this prehistoric looking bird perfectly camouflaged against the dying reed was proving difficult. Even more so when it caught a fish, a fair size Jack Pike I think. I couldn’t work an angle to get a clear shot as odd strands of loose reed covered either the head or eyes, I guess that’s the restriction from photographing from a set position and a hide with only one window. Anyhow I got some great views of this shy bird and some photos to match.

It was even better to have the hide to myself and to witness the whole encounter on my own. Even if I had become one of those hide window hogging a**sholes I mentioned earlier! 

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Woodland Hide Part 2 - Mid April 2013

Blue Tit 

PART 2
So with my feeding station up and running the next step was to sit back and let the birds flock in. Well maybe that was a bit of an exaggeration but having found a comfortable stool to sit on inside my lean-to hide I was well set. With the fishing season fast approaching on the 1st May and a weeks holiday booked on the 19th April, I had to make sure I could cram in as many visits as possible during the first two weeks of April before having to remove my feeders for the fishing season.

Disaster however struck almost immediately as on the monday morning as I managed an hour in the freezing cold hide at 6.00am. Once settled I turned my Canon 7D on to notice that the memory card wasn't being read by the camera, so I had a fiddle and a blow out of the slot, still nothing. Camera-less I returned home and investigated further, if anyone has a camera with a CF Card slot I would caution you to be so careful when removing and inserting memory cards, I somehow heavy handidly managed to bend one of the central pins resulting in needing a new Card slot and a £168 bill from the Canon recommended repairers! Ouch!!!!!!

But enough about my camera dramas two weeks before holiday, luckily I had the trusty EOS 550D that I keep for shooting landscapes. Big lens attached and I was back in business. The sunshine even decided to show itself for a short while, and as I had a couple of hungry Great Tits visiting my mossy log to feed on the Peanuts and Sunflower hearts hidden in various out of sight crevices. I made full use of the gorgeous orange cast the sun created off of the drying reed and grass by the stream edge in the background.

Great Tit

 

A frequent visitor to the station all throughout the day was the Moorhen, such a skulking species of bird very cautious to come out into the open, and any slight movement or noise and the birds would disappear back into cover. At times 3 individual Moorhens where visiting for dropped seed. I'm guessing the close proximity of the River Test and the stream that runs in front of the hide is a good vessel for arriving and departing quickly.

Moorhen 

As I mentioned in my previous post I couldn't be happier with the amount and diversity of bird species that were visiting my feeders after just a couple of days, the Marsh Tits where a real treat and although not quite as bold as the commoner Blue Tits & Great Tits, they did give some great views. The only problem being the backgrounds in the photographs where a little cluttered. More cropper work needed!

Marsh Tit

As unexpected visitors go I had a few over the course of the week, a Grey Heron on a couple of occasions took quite the liking to my clearing by the river and tried an incoming landing, spotting me sat in my hide at the last second before bailing out. Landing gear trailing as it flew off. A couple of Little Grebe bombed up and down the stream quite regularly often calling a good 50 - 60 yards down stream and within seconds surfacing unexpectedly on the stream right in front of me.

The highlight with out a doubt however was the tell tell call of a Kingfisher followed by the iridescent flash of blue and aqua as it darted by. I live in hope that I might be able to place an attractive perch on the streams edge and get some shots of one our most loved birds. But back to what birds I could actually photograph, having left some seed in the crevices of the log a couple of days later when I next returned to the hide I found that the entire log had almost been stripped of moss. 

I'm not sure if this was the smaller birds looking for nesting materials, work of the Cock Pheasant who had been strutting his stuff around the station or maybe the handy work of the pair of Jays that visit when I haven't been there. I had seen them on most occasions flitting around the edge of the clearing but to cautious to visit when I was in residence.

Robin 

My camera had also found its way back from the repairers so I was quite happy as the thought of not having it for my 'Scottish Holiday' left me feeling quite ill!

After discovering that getting shots of birds on certain perches wasn't as easy as I anticipated I did a little bit of research and come to the conclusion I needed a more attractive appealing food source, so on a lunch break from work I had a trip to Pets at Home and come out with a lot of large meal worms. Live bait!

It's fair to say the new bribe worked and I got some lovely shots of the Long-tailed Tits and Blue Tits that were easily the most frequent and numerous visitors.

Long tailed Tit

Blue Tit

The most unexpected visitors came on my last session in the hide however, having emptied the remains of my meal worms on to the ground beneath the feeders, I had a rather larger bird swoop in from above me, to this day I am even pretty sure it was sat on top of my hide. A female Kestrel dropped in and started feeding on the meal worms. 

Having been a little surprised and having nearly feel off of my stool, I managed to move my lens around and aim towards her on the floor no more that 3 ft away. Knowing that the shutter would most likely give away my position I managed two shots, one to turn her head and the second you see below, before she flew off through the trees with a beak full of mealworms.

Female Kestrel

So having managed some nice shots that I was pleased with in a short couple of weeks, I am really looking forward to setting it all up in the autumn and making full use of 5 or 6 winter months and some hungry birds. Modification ideas are already clogging up my mind and I am hoping to include a reflection type pool of some kind on my table platform too.

Here are all the species I have seen from within my lean-to, I never dreamed I would see so many.

Blue Tit

Great Tit

Long-tailed Tit

Coal Tit

Marsh Tit

Chaffinch

Goldcrest

Chiffchaff

Robin

Great spotted Woodpecker

Jay

Grey Heron

Little Grebe

Moorhen

Treecreeper

Moorhen

Dunnock

Pheasant

Muntjac

Kestrel

Woodpigeon

Kingfisher Blackbird

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Rooksbury Lunchtime - 11th Jan

Finally a lunch time wander in the sunshine, and my first visit to the lakes in the new year. Not a lot about really other than the usual wintering Tufted Duck on the Small lake about half a dozen pairs mixed in with 4 Little Grebe, Moorhen & 2 pairs of Gadwall.

It's funny how wildlife can still make you laugh, the below picture for instance tells the story a little bit but being there made me chuckle. Most of the Tufties headed away from me as I crouched down at the edge of the lakes to take some pics, all except this female. She remained posing for me in some gorgeous low winter sunshine. She suddenly turned around and realised the others had beggared off, and soon was hightailing it off after them, I must admit it still makes me smile now.

The Left Behind Tuftie

The remainder of my walk was pretty fruitless, I did get relatively close to a Little Egret perched up on one of the path side branches, something I have failed to do with the large population we have on the River at home. In the matter of 5 minutes the cloud had descended too. The only other sighting of note was 5 Canada Geese on the big lake.

Little Egret

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A New One For The List

So it seems getting around to writing a blog post at the moment is about frequent as more than 2 days of sunshine in a row. I was looking back through what I had and hadn't posted lately, and realised im about a month behind. So here is a conscious effort to catch up. The following images where taken from the weekend of the 1st July. My last and latest venture out and about away from the comforts of the River Test. 

Nat was down for the weekend, so we headed off to the Thatcham Nature Discovery Centre & Reedbed's Reserve in the hope of maybe adding something different to the species list that seems not to have been added to much in the past 2 months or so and also the pleasure of visiting a new site which wasn't to far from home. Turns out we were pretty disappointed, proving more to be a outdoor adventure playground for the kids than a nature reserve, the lakes where surrounded on all sides by screaming and shouting children running here, there and everywhere. Coupled with dogs doing as they pleased on the paths. It wasn't long before we left in huff, questioning the mentality of the population of Thatcham.

There where however a few species of Waterfowl to photography on the lakes, and I did add a new species to the list, one that seems to have eluded me until this stage in the year. 4 Egyptian Geese present, taking the list up to 141.

Egyptian Goose

Greylag Goose 

Greylag Goose 

Moorhen

Pochard 

So having left with the sun shining and the rest of the afternoon in front of us, we popped in quickly to see how the Cricket team were getting on away to Burghclere, turned out the local farmers happened to be making the most of the good weather, cutting and bringing in the silage in the fields surrounding the cricket pitch. The arrival of 5 Red Kites proved far more entertaining than the cricket as they circled and called high above the pitch.

Red Kite

With plenty of rain falling in early july, the feeding stations around the garden seem to have been repopulated although none of the visitors stay to long for a photograph, although a Blue Tit did perch long enough for a picture. Another visitor to the lawn making the most of the softer ground has been the Green Woodpecker, who did pose for a picture Im fairly happy with.

Blue Tit

Green Woodpecker

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Water Vole Aquatics & No.122

With some birthday money from my grandparents invested wisely I think in a new Manfrotto Tripod and Ball Head, I thought I better head out somewhere to road test it. So friday lunchtime I popped down to Rooksbury Mill for a mooch about. The weather was as it has been for weeks pretty undecisive, one minute sunny the other doom and gloom.

A quick scan of both lakes prooved pretty unfulfilling, the normal Mute Swans, Coot, Mallard, Gadwall & Tufted Duck the only inhabitants, so I focused my attentions on the River Anton, as there seemed to be plenty of Water Vole activity. From a good vantage point from the bridge its quite brilliant to watch these little mammals bombing up and down the waterway and running along the top of the faggots aiding the flow.

The bridge proved to also be a pretty good spot for birds, as I added another species to my year list the Whitethroat (No. 122) I had heard 2 different calling males prior to actually seeing him. Decent photo opportunities at a minimum, as for whence emerging in the open, he was bombarded by a male Blackcap, Who seemed pretty adamant to sing a whole lot louder and in-competition with the dozen or so other Blackcaps perched on the riverside branches.

Whitethroat

Female Blackcap

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A New Discovery & 2 Pairs Of Showoffs!

My apologies for a serious lack of updates this week, Work has been pretty manic, and I've had to work late on a few occasions. Which has cut down a serious amount of Wildlife time, how ever I did manage and a couple of hours before and after work on Tuesday down at Rooksbury, on the look out for the 2 Otters that were seen on Monday & Tuesday, no luck, I just got wet.

I did manage to grab 45 minutes around home on Wednesday night, as the sun reappeared through the constant on and off showers. A nice gaggle of Greylag feeding on the shorter grass by the river bank, they seem to quite like this part of the river, as I've seen them there several times. A lone Moorhen also shot across the shorter grass in-front of me, It still amazes me how huge their feet are! They do get up quite a speed! One of the male Blackcaps from the weekend was singing in the branches, just managed to a fire off a couple of shots before he disappeared.

Gaggle Of Greylag

Roadrunner

Blackcap

Now we've been getting a pair of birds visiting the feeders quite regularly since they've been put up, and I wasn't sure about the Identification, not in the sense that I had no Idea just that they were very similar, I have now managed to get a fairly close up, but grainy shot that I can share with you. Its taken a while to distinguish the difference, and the leading factors for my identification is the shape and color of the bill and the call. So I give you the Marsh Tit. Now you can see how viewing from a distance gave me an discernible problem, the difference between Marsh & Willow Tit. But I managed to sit within 10 feet of the feeder, and after viewing and listening Im fairly confident now. So I give you my first ever Marsh Tit.

Garden Marsh Tit

Also whilst waiting for the above mentioned bird, I was distracted by a shadow moving rapidly across the lawn. I look up to discover not one caster of said shadow but two, in the form of Red Kites, the evening sunlight catching the coloring on the birds undersides brilliantly.

Show offs!

To round off a pretty rubbish day yesterday I got home at about 7 pm for Dad to happily rub it in, that I had missed a pair of Green Woodpeckers feeding for about 35 minutes in the sunshine no more than 15 feet from the Kitchen window on the lawn. Gutted with a capital G! And to make matters worse he had a pretty good video to prove it!

Watercress For Lunch

With the weather somewhat settled for a few hours, I thought a trip out at lunchtime would be just the ticket. Rooksbury Mill which I must admit has been somewhat neglected by me in recent weeks the location.

Had a quick peep over the pedestrian bridge up the River Anton, no wildlife in site, just the "Moany Photographer" sat on the sluices to the side of one bank, tripod positioned midstream. Not sure what he was waiting for, not sure it wouldn't have seen him and fled in terror, hardly inconspicuous.

On all my visits to Rooksbury, today seemed to show off the most birdlife. Must be the cold weather, with the smaller Brooks Lake my first stop I was surprised to see it abudent with 4/5 x as many inhabitants than normal. 25-30 Tufted Duck, 15-20 Gadwall, Coots, Moorhen, a pair of Little Grebe, 3 Mute Swan and the a dozen or so Mallard.

Female Gadwall

The larger Mill Lake seems to have been invaded by Black-headed Gulls, a much larger number now present, again Tufted Duck and Gadwall, Coot, Mute Swan & Moorhen all present, a pair of Teal flushed from the edge of the Boardwalk as I walked around the far edge. A Little Egret also flew from the woodland cover to the right hand side of the path, circling the lake eventually landing atop a nearby house. The lake revealing itself to be half under ice the further around I could see, concentrating all of the Bird numbers on the remaining clear water.

Little Egret

Whilst trying to photograph a couple of swans in the nearby reed bed, I was distracted by a large duck like bird taking flight from the lake edge, better views revealed a Drake Goosander, my first for the area and the for the year, unfortunately not sticking around long enough to get a picture. Not long after a Grey Wagtail flew overhead, also another first for the year.

With no perching birds visible, (although I could hear, House Sparrow, Great Tit, Robin & Blue Tit) I headed back around the Brooks lake, spotting Chaffinch, Greenfinch & Goldfinch on the way. My intentions of getting a better Gadwall pic headed pretty much out of the window, as I spied movement next to a pair of Blackbirds in amongst a small area of watercress. A Water Rail, who fled pretty rapidly under the overhanging ivy, So i positioned myself and within 5 minutes he/she was back out in the open, allowing me some pretty good views.

Water Rail

Water Rail

Water Rail

Not a bad hour, well hour and 5 minutes, Why do you always see something interesting when its time to go back to work? Puts the Year list up to 86 Species so far.

Thwarted By The Sunshine

As a fair weather lunchtime birder, today's bright orange light was a bit of a blessing as I sat in the office counting down the minutes to my break. Once out and all geared up with woolly hat and gloves, I headed to Anton Lakes perfect on a nice bright crisp afternoon. Not quick enough with the camera to catch the numerous Redwing taking flight around the lakes edge, the bright conditions really highlighting the russet underwing.

Next spotted a new species for the location and my first of 2012. A female Blackcap disappearing into the ivy covered tree. The lakes proved pretty quiet, with only a few Mallard, Coot, Moorhen, Tufted Duck & Little Grebe showing at the far end. A quick glimpse of Aqua gave the Kingfisher away as it headed into the overhanging branches on the opposing bank. Both Kestrel & Sparrowhawk giving a good showing on the adjoining meadow.

As I walked around to the far bank, hoping for a good glimpse of the Redwing's I instead stopped pretty sharply as the earlier Kingfisher appeared through the willow wisps 20ft in front of me. Now I know as a photographer the number one rule pretty much is don't shoot into the sun, and there only 20ft before me is a Kingfisher sat on a branch, also perched flush in the middle of the sunlight. Bloody typical, Just my luck I can see I am fast on the way to becoming a moany photographer! I've spent a while bring this photo back to life. Not to bad in the end I guess!

The Shadow Kingfisher

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.

Like I'd Never Been Away

A trip to Rooksbury Mill was in order today, As I don't think what with various bits and bobs going on that I'd visited there in about 2 weeks. I was pretty disappointed to find all the small birds had vanished, In the whole hour I spent around the lakes, I didn't see one Blue Tit, Great Tit or Sparrow, a sorry state of affairs. A few Goldfinches did show up as I got back to the car park, but that was about it.

A few more ducks appearing on the big lake now, Mainly Tufted Ducks, Coots, Moorhen, the odd Black Headed Gull, a pair of Little Grebe and a lone Juvenile Great Crested Grebe (No.50 on the December Area List). He/She was a bit far out for a decent picture.

Very Distant Great Crested Grebe

The species and numbers on the smaller lake haven't really changed at all, Half a dozen or so Gadwall, 8-10 Tufted Duck, 2 Little Grebe and 4 Mute Swans. Both Kingfishers were calling up and down the river but I never got a glimpse today, here's to hoping for more luck at Anton Lakes tomorrow if the weather permits.

Tufted Duck Drakes

Gadwall Drake

Gadwall

Mute Swan Cygnet