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Monday 18 March 2024

Elmley Visits.

 So far this year I have managed to get to Elmley Nature Reserve twice. Once in January, with David, and then a couple of weeks ago with Lisa.

The visit with David was on a very cold day. Unbeknown to us at the time, there were massive delays on the road that day just south of Emley at the junction with the M2. This is ongoing major roadworks which were causing delays of traffic going north of well over an hour. The satnav did know and was sending us down lots of single lane roads, which on that particular day were also very icy. We passed one van that had slid off into a ditch and also saw a coming together of a couple of cars. At one point when a car was coming towards us I just touched the brakes and slid some distance heading straight for the other car. Fortunately, the car did stop in time as well as keeping in a straight line. It nearly turned into a very expensive day.

Anyway, eventually we did arrive and had a pretty good day at the reserve, despite not getting any particularly good pictures. We did see a rather nice distant male Hen Harrier, and the usual waders along the track, and later in the afternoon a couple of Barn Owls and some Short-eared Owls.



Lapwing.



Barn Owl.






Short-eared Owl.


With the later trip with Lisa, we were expecting similar problems with the traffic, so we left home very early, and of course we sailed through in record time, getting to the reserve 40 minutes before it even opened!! At least we had our breakfast with us, so we could eat that at our leisure. Once we were onto the reserve we saw plenty of  Lapwing and Redshank, a species that was not seen surprisingly in the earlier visit. A couple of these Redshank also performed very well for us.






Redshank.



Lapwing.



We also located one of the resident Little Owls, sitting on the old school building.



Little Owl.

Elmley is well known for its numbers of Brown Hare. We ended up seeing around 10 of these beautiful animals. Most were well out in the fields, but 2 were hunkered down quite near the track in the scrubbier grasses. It wasn't easy getting the car into the exact spot to see through the tangle of grasses to get a clear head shot, but it was just about possible.



Brown Hare.

Very near the Hares was a female Kestrel that was hunting very close to the car. With only a 500mm it was actually difficult some of the time getting the whole of the bird in the frame. It was a little better when it moved a bit further away!!


















Female Kestrel.

Unfortunately, with it being a little breezy, the Short-eared Owls didn't really show for us before we had to leave, as the gates are locked at 4pm at this time of year. We did see a couple, but one was distant and the other dropped from a fence post onto the ground and stayed there for the duration. It probably caught some prey, so didn't need to hunt again for a couple of hours.

We left the reserve hoping for another clear run, but that was soon scuppered when the road south of the M2 was closed!! Still, it wasn't too bad a drive home following the diversion.










Tuesday 5 March 2024

Super Sanderlings.

 During my 2 week break in Worthing, I managed to have 4 different sessions with the local Sanderling. This is a lovely small wader that I have photographed on a handful of occasions over the years, but not particularly successfully.

As their name suggests, Sanderling do like the sand, as that is where their main food supply is. Over in Seaford, the beaches are pebbles, hence, no Sanderling.

By studying the tide times it was easy to get to the beach when the sand was showing, and as the beach in Worthing is very close to where Lisa lives it was great to arrive and leave at the right times. 

The first two visits were with Lisa, before her skiing holiday, but the other two visits were on my own. With the 4 visits I took so many pictures of these little characters. They were also much easier to photograph than I remember from previous experiences, with the birds running almost up to me, so long as I kept very still and low to the ground.

There may be a bit of a Sanderling over-load here, but it was extremely difficult knowing which photos to post.



I think this one is my personal favourite shot from the sessions.

It was a bit of a shame that all the days were cloudy, as it may have helped add a bit of a sparkle to the pictures, but on the other hand, as the birds are very lightly coloured, too much sunshine would have blown out the detail of the feathers.







Sanderling hunting.



Finding a Ragworm.



After a short pull, out the worm comes.




The latest in Sanderling fashion!! Part of a Sanderling study.




Sanderling shaking off the water after a wash.












Hoping the water movement will bring more food.







This one actually came too close at one point to focus on.



Foraging in a rockpool.


This is just a small selection of the photos I took. Basically, I can now delete all my previous Sanderling photos!!


Wednesday 28 February 2024

50 Years of Badgers.

 Back in 1974, at the age of 15, I found a Badger sett at Offham. A couple of days later, or should I say nights later, on the 19th February I walked from home in Lewes, to Offham and prepared to wait until I had seen my very first Badger.

As it was, I didn't have to wait too long as at 6pm a Badger walked along a path that I was standing nearby, before going down a large entrance to the sett about 10 feet in front of me. A few minutes later it came out again and wandered down the bank where it went out of view. After that, according to my notes of the evening, it made a large noise!! I can still remember my first sighting of that Badger as if it was only a few weeks ago. From that moment I was 'hooked'!!

That was without a doubt an evening that changed my life, as I started studying this iconic animal, seeing them at several sites in the vicinity, mostly travelling by foot or pushbike. (That's me and not the Badger of course)!!

It was only a little over a year before I had my 50th evening of watching Badgers. I was so mad keen on them that my nickname at school was 'BadgerBob'.

I kept notes of every evening right up until my 151st evening on 5th April 1976. I guess it's not too much of a surprise that I slowed down on the Badger watching after this time as by then I had met Penny!! However, although I did slow down I still went quite frequently, and I had many memorable evenings of Badger watching with friends and family members. I remember vividly taking my Dad. He was sitting up one tree whilst I was up another. We were both looking at a Badger, but not the same one. We were both pointing to the one we were looking at wondering why the other one wasn't taking any notice!!

Penny also came many times, as did my Mum a few times. I must have spent well over 2000 hours over the years watching these wonderful animals. It brings much pleasure knowing Matt enjoys the odd evening of watching them over in Hampshire. Chris also occasionally enjoys an evening out on the Downs watching them.

My lovely Mother-in-law has also reminded me that she too came with me a few times!! I even brought her back!!

Over the years I have rarely taken photographs of them. I did have a few 35mm slides, which have probably gone mouldy now. A handful of digital photos are all I have now. I do have one of the very first colour photos of a mating pair, which was probably from February 1975 or 1976. Fortunately I did take a digital copy of this photo, which I have literally just found whilst writing this blog!! Looking at it I should perhaps photoshop out the dust spots.



Mating Badgers.

 (one of the first colour images of this ).

My digital photos below, and a special thanks to my friend Dave Palmer for inviting myself and then a few days later, Penny too, to see them in his garden. By this time Penny wasn't well enough to go trekking over the Downs, so it was wonderful she was able to see one at close range at Dave's. She really was so excited to see a Badger after so many years.












The lovely Badger from Dave's garden.




Badger Cub.



Badger Cub in the late sunshine.



Sow Badger.



These are all from the South Downs National Park near Lewes.


As my 50th anniversary of seeing my first Badger came nearer I have wondered if I could see a Badger on the 19th February this year. I went a few weeks ago to a local sett and saw one, and then, Lisa and I found a really good looking sett at the back of Worthing. The week before the 19th we both went and tried at this sett. We were really pleased to see a couple of Badgers here. They also came out around the same time, at around 5.50pm. As it was, I was in Worthing of the week of the anniversary, and as the weather was good I set off full of confidence. Lisa was away skiing in France, but as I was having work done at home I stayed at hers to avoid all the noise!! I got to the sett in plenty of time and waited, and waited. Unfortunately, after all the plans, the Badgers had different ideas and stayed in until I had given up, after 3 hours!!  A real shame. I guess my scent had got to a hole that I was unaware of, as it was a sett I wasn't that familiar with. On the way back to the car however, a Badger was seen on the path some distance away. It was a relief to actually see one on my 50th though!!

I am now so lucky that Lisa is also really keen on wildlife, and is keen to do some Badger watching in the future. I might even add to my few photos in the near future.

Here's to the next 50 years. Well, probably not I guess.


Sunday 28 January 2024

An Epic Butterfly Start to 2024.

 With our warming climate I often see butterflies in all 12 months of the year. I was on course for this again in 2023, but failed on the final hurdle, with no UK sightings in December.

2024 started, and it was starting to look as though I would actually fail at the first hurdle, as up until the 26th I hadn't seen any at all. Even more frustrating as Matt had actually seen one on January 1st!!

On Friday, the 26th, Lisa was heading over to mine for a trip out in the sunshine to hopefully see some Bearded Tits. While I was waiting for her to arrive, I loaded up the car with the camera gear along with wellies and coats etc, and then decided to clean out the bird feeder. Whilst cleaning the feeders I suddenly became aware of a couple of Red Admirals flying around my head. Yay, at last, a butterfly sighting. 

It then became much, much better though, as they landed on the wall of the house and then joined up to mate. Now, Red Admirals are very rarely seen mating at any time of the year. Obviously they do mate, as they are a common butterfly, but they must do it very discreetly normally. It is even rarer for a winter coupling and this could even be the first time its been photographed in the UK during the winter??

My first photo of this event was all done in a bit of a panic, as of course the camera was in the car already for the trip out. Even worse was the macro lens was upstairs in the house. I very quickly took a photo on the mobile, just to make sure I had some evidence, and then raced to the car and upstairs to get both the camera and lens I needed. 



Mating Red Admirals. (female with open wings and male behind her).

I then managed to get close enough to the wall to get both butterflies sharp, as at this point they were both closed wings. It was very difficult getting into the best position to get them sharp as it was shooting straight down from above them. After getting a few images I text Lisa, hoping she would get the message and that she would arrive before they flew. Fortunately, a couple of minutes later I saw her car draw up, and she managed to see and photograph this very rare event. 



Mating Red Admirals. As seen from above them. (Female on left).

After we had both taken enough photos to ensure we had some sharp ones, we left them in peace and went off to hopefully see some Bearded Tits. 2 were seen, but it was without doubt that the Red Admirals had been the stars of the day!!!




Saturday 20 January 2024

The Beautiful Bearded Reedling.

 The beautiful Bearded Reedling, most often called the Bearded Tit, is a wonderful bird that lives in the reedbeds. In Summer it is an insect feeder, but in the Winter, when there are few insects to feed upon, they turn to the seed-heads of the Reeds to feed on. 

The best time to observe them is on cold, still days when they can be seen feeding in the reedbeds on the seed-heads. 

As we have recently had a few really cold days with very light winds I have been searching for these lovely birds, hoping to get some nice photos of them. We have several reedbeds in Sussex where these birds are found, although my best photographs have always come from Dungeness in the past.

Three times I have been out in the past week, with my first attempt being with Lisa, who had always wanted to see them, but had never had the opportunity. Unfortunately, although it was a calm day when we tried, it was also very dull, so photography was going to be tough. The main target though was to at least see the birds and for Lisa to get a few record shots.

It was very early in our trip when we saw the first birds. I was carefully leading the way, but concentrating on the water in the meadow, which at times was quite deep, when Lisa spotted two Bearded Reedling just in front of us. For the next 90 minutes or so we were watching the birds that at one point numbered 5 birds, but mostly 4 birds. There were 2 males and 2 females for the majority of the time. Lisa managed to take quite a few photos although the birds generally stayed well hidden deep in the reedbeds. The light remained very poor, and as it was mid to late afternoon, the light of course, got much worse.

3 days later, the sun came out, and it was still light winds. Therefore I just had to go back and have another attempt. Lisa unfortunately was working, but conditions were so good I just had to try again. This time I met up with David, who I had been with for my best ever session with these birds back in January 2017. In the same area as 3 days earlier I quickly re-found the birds again. Once again, they stayed mostly deep in the reedbed, making it very difficult to get clear views and photographs of them. However, one of the females did feed for a short while on the edge of the reed-bed allowing some clear images.












Female Bearded Reedling.

The female of this species is absolutely gorgeous, but the male is even more spectacular, so it was very frustrating seeing the 2 males in the group feeding quite close, but in the middle of the reedbed where photography was not viable. Eventually we moved to a different area of the site where another male and female were found. The reedbed here wasn't so dense, but once again the birds stayed in the middle of the reeds making it hard to get close shots. Towards the end of the session I did get a shot from distance of the male that I quite like.



Male Bearded Reedling in the Reed-bed.

The weather actually remained good for a couple more days, so another attempt was possible. Once again David joined me. The original birds were located again very quickly, but this time they were much more elusive, so it was back to the other area for the pair. At first there was no sign of them, but after a short while they were seen flying into the same area as they were before. Strangely, this time, instead of feeding on the Reed seed-heads they seemed to be enjoying the Reed-mace. It took quite a while again, but eventually a few shots of both the female and male feeding on the Reed-mace were achieved.

All these photos took a great deal of patience and several hours were spent on all 3 days, but when a bird is as good looking as these, it is time very much well spent.



Female Bearded Reedling.






Male Bearded Reedling.






Wednesday 17 January 2024

Fungi.

 Towards the end of 2023 I did have a few little trips out and about, with a few different forms of fungi. The best day was in a West Sussex woodland with Lisa where we found several Magpie Inkcaps, a species that had managed to evade me up until that point, despite it being far from rare. On the same walk we did stumble across a couple of other interesting fungi, following on from seeing Parrot Waxcaps for the first time and a lovely display of Porcelain Fungi in East Sussex.



Magpie Inkcap.



Fly Agaric.



Parrot Waxcap.



Porcelain Fungi.

David and I also had an uneventful day to Dungeness, where all the birds we had hoped to see remained unseen!! Apart from a close view of a Great White Egret, that hardly warranted the long day, the camera stayed pretty quiet.



Great White Egret.

On a walk from home in December, several Kestrels were seen. Some of them did allow a close approach too, which was rather nice. Especially as on a few walks I continued to miss the Long-billed Dowitcher, that was a first for East Sussex. It turned up in mid October, but wasn't seen by me on any of my visits until mid January. Fortunately it stayed around long enough for me to see it!! A grab shot of a Rock Pipit was the only other mini highlight for me. Far from a rarity, but one that rarely poses for a photo.






Two different Kestrels.



Rock Pipit.