Owl mania!

Last week we discovered we were on the doorstep of one of Dorset's worst kept secrets in the bird world. We found out that just up the road was a fantastic piece of rough grassland that Short-eared owls frequent. We only found out about it from one of Megan's friends, who literally has this fine piece of unimproved grassland at the end of their garden, posting some cracking Short-eared owl pics online.
On Tuesday we had to try to find the shorties, heading straight out after work to the area we thought might be the owls hunting ground. As we neared the suspected area, we turned a corner to see a mass of cars, thrown onto verges on either side of the road. I had been told this was a popular venue, particularly with nature photographers, and they weren't wrong. It was like turning up to a Canon camera marketing event; lots of blokes with camera set ups costing more than most family hatchbacks. But anyhoo we didnt have to wait long to see our first Shortie. Shortly after getting out of the car we spotted two quartering the long grass hunting for small mammals.

Short-eared owl 

I'd normally be ecstatic at such a sight - don't get me wrong it was incredibly amazing to get such great views but having found them so quickly, not even a stones throw out of the car (could have watched them from the windscreen infact) sort of took a bit of the fun out of it. Perhaps some of the fun of nature watching is having to work for it?

Short-eared owl

We stayed and watched in awe for a hour or so as the Short-eared owls hunted in grassland on both sides of the road, which cut their hunting grounds in half. Just before dusk a male Hen harrier past on through at a fair height and not hanging about. Most likely heading in to roost somewhere near by.

Male Hen harrier

Living so close to such a nature spectacle we had to head back the next night after work. The owls didn't put on such a show being very flightly, doing laps of the field boundaries. We did see another Hen harrier, a female this time, which was quite a delight. On the journey home we also saw a Barn owl.

Barn owl

The week has left me wandering what other amazing wildlife is on the doorstep perhaps you should ask yourself the same question....?

Build it and they will come

Last year I made a little House sparrow terrace after having lots of sparrow activity in the garden. We got this up early summer, obviously this was much to late for them to use that year but this year we have had some interest. Alas not from House sparrows but from a pair of Great tits. The design of a sparrow terrace is basically three nest boxes side by side (House sparrows live in communities and like to nest near each other) and I don't think the Great tits have made up their minds which box to use. The other evening I watched them hop out of the central box only to go to the end box and then the other end. Perhaps they like the idea of taking over the whole thing? Guess time will tell.

Not being satisfied with just one nest box in the garden we've now got another 3 - two open fronted, Wren or Robin boxes and a normal box with a sparrow (32mm - only drill bit I had) sized hole. Today we finally got around to getting the holed and open fronted boxes up. I thought they would weather in this year and perhaps get used in a year or two. Amazingly within 10mins we had viewings from a pair of Blue tits and Great tits (probably the same ones scoping out Sparrow terrace).

"Hello Im here for a viewing....."

I look forward to seeing which species use the boxes around the garden. Even if its just a couple of Blue and Great tits (I wasn't really expecting Black redstart or Pied flycatcher), it would feel really satisfying knowing I had built something the birds had used to nest in.

Norfolk Trip Day 1

Lakenheath Fen 

We set off earlyish Thursday morning for a leisurely drive up the M3 and the M25. To break up the journey we dropped in to RSPB Lakenheath Fen for a 'sandwich with a view' and get a flavour of things to come in Norfolk.

Checking the sightings board in the visitor centre it was clear it was a special place with an incredible abundance of birds. Stepping out of the centre door we were greeted with a selection of feeders with a collection of Chaffinches, Tits and some very smart looking Reed buntings. We wandered through the reserve, up past a large pool on the side of the Little Ouse River. On it were the usual waterfowl along with two Whooper swans. We carried on walking, into a stiff wind, all the way to the far end of the reserve. Here we sat for while transfixed by at least six Marsh harrier hunting over the reed bed. As we watched these large graceful birds swoop in slow motion, skimming the tops of the reeds we noticed 2 very large white birds fly in, landing on a ditch bank. Amazing! Less than two hours into getting our Norfolk (although technically we were still in Suffolk) trip under way we had seen two birds I thought we had little chance of seeing – two Common Cranes. They preened for a little while and then wandered about feeding giving great, if not a little distant, views through the scope.

Common Cranes - Lakenheath Fen
iPhone digiscoping

Elated with what we had just seen we headed back in the direction of our starting point. Walking back along a well-trodden track way Megan spotted a small bouncy, strangely very white, mammal. At first glance we thought it was an almost albino Weasel, due to its very small size, but after a better look and seeing the black tip of its tail we decided it was a small lightly coloured Stoat!

Light coloured Stoat - Lakenheath Fen
Canon 5dmk2, 400mm, f/5.6, 1/400sec iso400

After rejoining with the car, we pointed it in the direction of our accommodation in Wells-next-the-sea and headed off excited with what other goodies Norfolk had in store. After this brief taster, we were sure it wasn’t going to disappoint.

Still too Cold For Moths....

Well that's another month done and to be honest its been hectic! At work, four days out of five we've been busy on the reserves with some sort of loud machinery in hand. On the rough days its felt like the old days of contracting, slogging along in the rain, but its  not been all bad though. Throughout February there have been some nature gems; seen two butterflies, both Red admirals one on the 18th (Swanwick wood) and another on the 20th (Taunton high street) and the first Yellowhammer of the year on the 12th. 

Red Admiral - Swanwick Wood (Feb 2015)
iphone

Trying to squeeze in some bird ringing between other commitments and the weather has been tricky but we have managed to get out on a couple of sessions. We went on a 'quest for crests' (a hunt for Firecrests at Holly Hill country park in Walsash) on the 6th. We had great success ringing Firecrest (3), Goldcrest (4) and a Great tit.  

Firecrest - Holly Hill (Feb 2015)
Canon 5dmk2, 100mm, f/5.6, 1/80sec, iso125

Firecrest - Holly Hill (Feb 2015)
Canon 5dmk2, 100mm, f/5.6, 1/80sec, iso125

We also went down to Manor Farm on the 15th, erecting six sets of nets with good results with a fine mix of species; Wren (1), Robin (4), House sparrow (17), Blackbird (2), Song thrush (1), Dunnock (4), Wood pigeon (1), Blue tit (1) & Chaffinch (1).

Warmer night time temperatures have turned my attention to the moth trap recently. I optimistically put the trap out in January with no success, when others were catching December and Winter moths, but unfortunately they all alluded me. Thursday night again I put the trap out thinking I would at least catch a Chestnut (first species caught in both 2013 & 14) but unfortunately I picked the only night in two weeks to have a frost with temperatures dropping to -2.5degrees, so yet again no moths.

With the first few buds starting to break on the Blackthorn, spring is just around the corner and I can hardly wait!!

Sunday New Forest wander

As I previously alluded to the weather was not very favourable for ringing this weekend so instead, on sunday, we headed to the New Forest with binoculars and cameras to see what birds we could find.

Ibsley Common/Digden Bottom
Earlier in the week a Great grey shrike had been reported in one of the closest part of the forest so we headed there first hoping for a glimpse. Shrikes are notoriously mobile requiring large areas to find their prey so it was expecting alot to turn up and find it sat at the top of a gorse bush. As expected, unfortunately this didn't happen. Getting out of the car we were greeted by a harsh, northerly, bitingly cold wind. We took a quick walk through the areas where the shrike had been reported. After drawing a blank we headed down to the shelter of the valley bottom. We found plenty of birds doing the same; two pairs of Stonechat, a group of Chaffinch (one in song - the first Ive noted this year), two Green woodpecker, two Woodcock, three Bullfinch, a Great spotted woodpecker and a group of Long-tailed tits working their way through the grass feeding on seed heads. We left to delve deeper in the forest having not seeing any sign of the Shrike.

Blackwater Arboretum 
This is the second time I've visited the jewel in the forest and its fastly becoming a firm favourite. After getting into the gated Arboretum we headed straight for the chatter from three Larch trees. A good group (13+) of Siskin were busily feeding.

Siskin - Blackwater Arboretum (Feb 2015)

We noticed two birds that weren't Siskins at all, they were a pair of exotically coloured Crossbills!! This was the first male Crossbill I've ever seen and boy was it fancy!

Male Crossbill - Blackwater Arboretum (Feb 2015

Male Crossbill - Blackwater Arboretum (Feb 2015) 

After a feed on the Larch cones for a few mins they flew off into the forest. We then walked into the centre of the arboretum to see if the Bullfinch were still about. They were and there was a flock around nine strong (5 male, 4 female). It was a treat to see them so close and clearly, feeding on the floor. Two of the UK's most colourful bird species within a few moments of each other - a real treat.

Last week in Jan

Well thats the end of what seems like the longest month of the year. Don't get me wrong, I don't want to wish the year away but nothing really seems to happen in the month of January. In the dark months of winter one thing that has been keeping the nature bothering senses going is the birds, and to be honest I've quite enjoyed birding and hopefully learnt a whole load along the way.

One place that is full of life in winter is Farlington Marshes, a place Im lucky enough to call work. On Tuesday I finally caught up with the Spoonbill, in close quarters on the stream in the centre of the reserve and then a day later I saw the same bird joined by another.

Farlington Spoonbill shorty after awaking from a snooze 

Spoonbill - suspected Juv plumage (abundance of black within the wing)  

On later discussions we thought this bird I managed to get some snaps of was a young bird while the other bird it seems to hang around with is an adult. Only other exciting thing of note was seeing another Marsh harrier hunting the reed beds on the marsh. The most commonly sighted harrier on site has been the strikingly marked male but the bird I saw on Tuesday was a female. Could this be a start of something beautiful....? Could this be a breeding pair later in the year?

Goldcrest in Beechcroft Garden

The weekends weather prevented any bird ringing to take place but we did manage to squeeze in a quick lunchtime session at the office on friday. We caught 4 birds (well technically 5 but I let the chaffinch slip through my fingers after extraction - less said about that the better). Goldcrests were in great numbers for such as short session, three new birds in total, and a new Coal tit.

Coal tit in Beechcroft Garden

Jan Ringing - Swanwick & Beechcroft

Last week was one of the more busier weeks ringing wise for a little while. In total we managed to squeeze in three sessions across the week, and although the species were not all that rare or spectacular it was great to get lots of ringing practice, learning lots along the way. 

Dunnock at Swanwick

On Wednesday lunchtime we raced down to Swanwick lakes. We first thought we'd just recce the site for a bird ringing event in April, but after seeing a few birds using the feeders we threw up a net. After 5mins we had caught 15 birds - more than enough for a quick session so we got the net down sharpish. We caught Blue tit (11), Great tit (3) and a Dunnock. The most exciting thing was one of the Blue tits was a retrap, first ringed as a chick in back in May.

Nuthatch - Female (left) Male (Right)

Friday we swapped sandwich eating for a quick lunchtime ringing session in the office garden. We caught a good selection of birds; Great tit (1), retrap Firecrest (1) and Nuthatch (2). As you can see we caught the two Nuthatch at the same time which gave us a chance to compare males and females. The males clearly have much darker brown underparts in the lower tail coverts and flanks.

Great tit - Female (Left) Male (Right)

Saturday we started early and put a net up around the feeders at Swanwick Lakes in the same place as Wednesday, but with more time we had the net open for a couple of hours and caught 65 birds; Blue tit (39), Great tit (17), Robin (3), Nuthatch (3) and Coal tit (1). It was a great session for getting plenty of extraction practice and comparing sexes and ages of Great & Blue tits. Also it was the first time I've ever ringed a Coal tit.

Great tit - Adult (left) Juv (right). Line indicates moult break with dull juv feathers to right of line. 

Coal tit