Category Archives: water birds

Why Leave the Garden?

March 9, 2014 by Words | 6 Comments

Why leave the garden? It was another beautiful sunny day. Quite mild, and more time for getting on with the spring clear up. Not that it’s too much of a hardship with so much to see just by looking around. And there’s one big surprise at the end.

Overhead, several buzzards flew over late morning. The gulls chased them without ever really getting serious; just enough to shepherd the buzzards directly over the garden.

Common buzzard over garden

Common buzzard over garden

Common buzzard over garden

The gulls were rather more upset when a heron crossed the sky. They cleared a large passage for it, and by the sound of them were clearly not happy. It’s the first time I’ve seen a heron from the garden so although it was some distance away and the shot isn’t up to much, it’s here as part of the ongoing record.

grey heron over Woodingdean

A good part of the afternoon was spent removing weeds and leaves from the garden pond. It was somewhat neglected last year and was becoming a bit of a tangle. I clean it out by hand and spotted several newts (plus I inadvertently caught one, but quickly returned it to the water). The job’s only part done, but it does mean that tonight I was able to take this photo of one of the many newts.

smooth newt

Slightly off topic is this next shot. It was taken during the day but I’ve converted it to black and white. I had hoped to see a plane leave trails directly across the moon (I think I’ve got a shot like that from several years ago), but this will do.

moon and plane

The big (and very welcome) surprise comes towards the end of these video clips from the trail camera. Plenty of foxes, and a couple of badgers to enjoy.

Watch the video and you’ll know what I’m looking forward to seeing soon!

Camera note: all photos taken with the Canon 7D and EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L USM IS lens except the newt which was taken with the EF 100mm f/2.8L macro IS USM lens.

Also posted in Badger, Bird of Prey, Foxes, Moon, Newt Tagged , , , , , |

Springtime Chaffinch (plus swans and a fox)

March 6, 2014 by Words | 4 Comments

With the sun deciding to stay around for the whole day you could be forgiven for thinking that spring is really on its way. There’s blossom on the trees, and this pretty male chaffinch was making the most of it this morning at Seven Sisters.

Chaffinch (male)

Chaffinch (male)

Chaffinch (male)

Chaffinch (male)

There was little else until the end of the day, when I passed back through Seven Sisters on my way home. The smaller birds were hiding in the trees, but a pair of mute swans were gliding on the still water in the end-of-day light.

Pair of mute swans

Mute swan

Not much change in the garden. In other words, Pretty was back flying the flag for the foxes. I don’t think she scratched or picked at herself at all this evening, which is certainly a good sign that her treatment for mange is working. She certainly looks well enough as you can see in these photos.

Fox

Fox

Camera note: all bird photos taken with the Canon 7D and EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L USM IS lens. The fox photos were taken with the EF 100mm f/2.8L macro IS USM lens.

Also posted in Birds, Foxes Tagged , , |

Sunny Day at Falmer Pond

March 5, 2014 by Words | 4 Comments

More sunshine today, though I didn’t have long to enjoy it. Still, it was a pleasure not to be dodging rain and there were some nice images among the few photos I had time to take.

In this first one a moorhen investigates the No Fishing sign.

Moorhen and No Fishing sign

And here’s a simple portrait shot of one of its kin, on the glassy still water. Not only no rain, but no wind. 🙂

Moorhen on still pond

The gulls were largely absent, so it was relatively quiet as well; until some noisy ducks flew in over the village.

Trio of ducks flying past village cottage

Duck landing in pond

It took some searching out, but I eventually also found one of the local rats. It had eluded me at first as it was sitting several feet above the water, resting in the fine branches of an overhanging tree.

Rat in tree above Falmer Pond

Rat in tree above Falmer Pond

Rat in tree above Falmer Pond

Back home, Pretty’s mange treatment seems to be having some effect. She’s still scratching at her coat, but much less intensely than before. She is probably now the most consistent of all the fox visitors we’ve had in about 9 years of watching them. There’s barely been a week when she hasn’t appeared, and generally she shows up several times a day.

Fox scratching

Fox not scratching

Camera note: all daytime photos taken with the Canon 7D and EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L USM IS lens. The fox photos are with the EF 100mm f/2.8L macro IS USM lens.

Also posted in Foxes, mange, rats Tagged , , , , , |