Breaking New Ground & Other Observations - 2nd to 7th May, 2023

The following is an account of some highlights from the first part of the month of May.

Tuesday, 2nd May                    Watermead Country Park

With a trio of Black-crowned Night Herons being reported from Watermead Park for a few days, and this being a place that I'd never visited, in spite of it only being half an hour from my home, I decided that I should give the place a visit.

The outing did not start well as, having got about 10 miles down the road, I realised that I'd left my wallet at home and had no means of paying for the car park there. I had to turn back and pick it up. The further complication was that, with the extra miles, I'd have to re-charge our car as I'd originally left home with just enough charge to get me there and back with not much extra in hand. I gave it just under an hour's worth of charge and set off again.

I arrived at Watermead Park to find that the recommended car park, unlike others at this place, was free of charge - grrrrrrr!!! 

The location for seeing the Night Herons was very close to the car park, and I found others already there, bemoaning the fact that the birds had not been seen that day. I stayed a while but, haveing been told of a Tawny Owl that was not far away, I went to check it out. It was very high up in a tree, and impossible to get a clear shot at. It's a long while since I last saw a Tawny Owl, and it will probably be a long while until I next see one, these were the best that I could manage.

Tawny Owl (Strix aluco)  - Watermead CP

I had been chatting with other people whilst looking at the owl, and was encouraged to explore the area further, in spite of realising that I was going to be at least an hour later home than I said I'd be. I was fortunate in being able to accompany a keen birder who knew the area well.

The greatest find for me on that walk was a Whitethroat - not a rare bird but another species that I don't often see - I last photographed one in 2017! I got some shots of it on barbed wire, and then some distant shots of it in a more natural environment.

Whitethroat (Sylvia communis) - Watermead CP

Before departing, I had another look for the Night Herons, but to no avail. As I stood there, a Canada Goose came drifting by. It was now time to go home.

Canada Goose (Branta canadensis) - Watermead CP

Wednesday, 3rd May                    Garden

The Large Red Damselflies were still emerging from our mini-pond. I got some shots of this one before it departed. 

Large Red Damselfly (Pyrrhosoma nymphula) - garden on 3rd May, 2023

Whilst checking the pond, I found a pair of flies mating, and took some shots.

Fly (Sarcophaga sp.) in cop - garden on 3rd May, 2023

It then occurred to me that the scene might be better conveyed if I took some video.

If you would like, you can also see this in slo-mo, below.

I then photographed a Blackbird, singing in the top of our Elder. 

Blackbird (Turdus merula) (male) - garden on 35rd May, 2023

There's nothing like the song of a Blackbird to lift the spirits so, again, video seemed to be required.

This female Orange-tip seemed to be ovipositing, but I have only found one Orange-tip egg this year and failed to find the caterpillar after it hatched.
 

Orange-tip (Anthocharis cardamines) (female) - garden on 3rd May, 2023

The moth trap went out that night, and only one moth was caught. It was a rather fine one, however!

Waved Umber (Menophra abruptaria) (male) - from garden moth trap, 3rd May, 2023

Thursday, 4th May                    Garden

One of the Azaleas in our garden was blooming more beautifully than ever. 

Azalea - garden on 4th May, 2023

From the conservatory, I noticed a strange insect on the edge of the mini-pond. I grabbed the camera and went out to find this fearsome-looking creature.

Ichneumon stramentor (female) - garden on 4th May, 2023

Friday, 5th May                    Garden

Although Bullfinch visit the garden fairly frequently, they usually make straight for the feeders and then depart again. It has, therefore, been a bit difficult to photograph them. On this occasion I managed a shot of a female - not a good shot, but at least it's a shot of one not on a feeder!

Bullfinch (Pyrrhula pyrrhula) (female) - garden on 5th May, 2023

Saturday, 6th May                    Garden

The damselfly emergences from our mini-pond were tailing off now, and the Robin was having to look elsewhere for food for his youngsters in the nest.

Robin (Erithacus rubecula) - garden on 6th May, 2023

Sunday, 7th May                    Garden ; Saltersford Valley Country Park ; Thortit Lake

This year seems to have been a very good year for Holly Blue butterflies and lately I have been seeing them almost everywhere I go. A feature of the Holly blue is that it tends to rest with its wings closed, and it is often necessary to wait quite a long time for it to open its wings just enough to see whether it has dark tips to the upper side of the fore-wings - denoting it to be a female. I had never managed to photograph one with its wings wide open.

Holly Blue (Celastrina argiolus) (female) - garden on 7th May, 2023

 - - that was, until this day! What a little beauty !!!!

Holly Blue (Celastrina argiolus) (female) - garden on 7th May, 2023

That afternoon, I took a trip out to a couple of very local spots, in the hope of finding my first dragonflies. I failed in this respect, but there were other things to keep me entertained.

 

As I approached the boardwalk I was greeted by a bright stand of Marsh Marigold.

 

Marsh Marigold (Caltha palustris) - Saltersford Valley CP

From the far end of the boardwalk, I watched a male Reed Bunting, although it was not very cooperative from a photographic point of view.

 

Reed Bunting (Emberiza schoeniclus) (male) - Saltersford Valley CP

Here are some of the other items that appeared in front of my lens during my wanderings.

 

Orange-tip (Anthocharis cardamines) (female) - Saltersford Valley CP on 7th May, 2023

St. George's Mushroom (Calocybe gambosa) - Saltersford Valley CP

Alder Leaf Beetle (Agelastica alni) - Saltersford Valley CP

Bog Bean (Menyanthes trifoliata) - Saltersford Valley CP

Speckled Wood (Pararge aegeria) - Saltersford Valley CP

Having not found any Odonata, and with some time in hand, on the way home I dropped in for a brief visit to Thortit Lake. I didn't find any Odonata here either, but a Common Tern was fishing on the lake. I'd not yet had any real success with the new camera with birds in flight, so thought I'd have a go here. The situation was quite difficult, with a fairly small bird at some distance, against a confusing back drop as far as autofocus is concerned. I was relatively surprised and pleased with the results.

 

Common Tern (Sterna hirundo) - Thortit La

  

This brings me to the end of this blog post. My next blog post will probably be in about a week's time and will probably feature more visits from home. In the meantime, please take good care of yourselves and Nature.

 

Thank you for dropping by - - - Richard 

A Different Owl! - on 26th November, 2018

At the end of my last blog post which, again, featured the owls at a local site, I stated that this next post would probably have a different subject matter. Well it does and it doesn't! You're not, however, getting a post on my garden wildlife. Furthermore, the photographic content of this post is well below par!

A couple of weeks ago, I gave my talk 'The Little Owls of Leicestershire - and some that aren't so little' to a club relatively local to my home. This was a delightful group and, after the questions at the end, I was approached by one gentleman who said that he was hearing an owl from his house most nights, and occasionally seeing one in his garden. From his description, it was almost certainly a Tawny Owl that he was seeing and hearing. I was delighted when he very kindly invited me to visit him to have a look at the lie of the land and check out the area for the owl.

A visit was arranged for the afternoon of Monday 26th November, and the weather was in our favour. I arrived at around 15h30 and was shown round his land that surrounds his home. Whilst there was visibly great potential for owls and other wildlife there, no specific evidence was located by this recce.

While on site, there was a huge amount of noise from a massive housing development taking place down in the valley below. Bleeps from reversing vehicles, noisy machinery, the scream of cutting wheels, and bangs of various sorts, meant that if a Tawny Owl had called from beside our ears, I not sure we would have heard it! However, I was told not to worry as it would all finish when it got dark - and it did!

It seemed that it was almost immediately after the noise stopped that a Tawny Owl appeared, making a brief call before it arrived and settled in a tree, only about 40 metres in front of us. It stayed for a short while before heading down the meadow, chased by a Kestrel but, sadly, I did not see it look in our direction while it was in front of us.

Tawny Owl (Strix aluco)

The Silver Birch tree it landed in at the bottom of the meadow was approximately 100 metres from our position, but it was in a very dark corner, and you'd never know it was there if you didn't know where to look. Indeed, if we took our eyes off it, it was a little difficult to find it again. I was, therefore, surprised that I managed to get any sort of shot at all! For the photographers amongst you, these were taken at ISO 5,000, 1/25 sec (handheld), lens at 500mm, with a exposure comp factor of -2.7 EV to try and keep the shutter speed up and impart some degree of actuality to the scene!

Tawny Owl (Strix aluco)

I guess it probably stayed in the tree for about 10 minutes, accompanied by loud protests from other birds, including a couple of Magpies that tried, unsuccessfully, to frighten it off. After a while, it departed into tall trees and was not spotted again. 

I've been invited to return and will, hopefully be back in a couple of weeks or so. My thanks to my host for a most fabulously interesting evening. It's very rarely I get to see a Tawny Owl and it seems that, when I do, on too many occasions, it's roadkill. 

Thank you for dropping by. I refuse to speculate on the subject of my next blog post - it depends on what turns up in the interim. With the weather forecast being as bad as it is, it might be very little!

Tawny Time - on 8th June, 2015

It's been nearly three weeks since my last post, mainly because of a ten-day trip to Scotland (which should feature in my next post) and processing the photos from that trip.

Last month, I invested around seven and a half hours at a known Tawny Owl location, without any results, so a tip-off from a good friend (thank you!) about another Tawny location just had to be investigated, using my car as a hide.

I hadn't been there long before I heard one of the birds (a male) calling and then a female also started to call. The calls of the male got closer and the Blackbirds started making a fuss, so I sat there in eager anticipation. My first sighting was when one of the birds flew overhead and up the road ahead of me and disappeared into a tree about 150 metres away.

I'd been there for a couple of hours before one of the birds flew into a tree about 50 metres from me, where it sat for a minute or so before flying towards me and over my head. Sadly, it was against white cloud, with a branch in the way. This is the best that I could manage.

Tawny Owl (Strix aluco) (female?) - Leicestershire

After about an hour, both birds came from behind me and went straight into the same tree. Frustratingly, their position was awful, as you can see from the following.

Tawny Owls (Strix aluco) (male and female) - Leicestershire

They both sat there for a couple of minutes and then flew back towards me, one passing over my head and the other flying into the back of a tree, only about 12 metres away. It popped up where I was not expecting it and I only managed to fire off two frames before it was off again. Sadly, my camera was still set for the birds in the 50 metre tree but, with a bit of work, I've managed to sort out these two frames, during which the bird moved its head a little. This is my favourite of the two.

Tawny Owl (Strix aluco) - Leicestershire

Around 15 minutes later one of the birds was back in the 50 metre tree again, but this time a little better placed than previously.

Tawny Owl (Strix aluco) - Leicestershire

It then flew up the road to a tree around 150 metres away and this was my last sighting.

Tawny Owl (Strix aluco) - Leicestershire

I hung around for another half an hour, but there were no further sightings. It had been an extremely interesting and enjoyable four and a half hours, even if the photographic results are not up to scratch! My undying thanks to my informant for the tip-off!

Thank you for dropping by.

Theraputic Thursdays - 10th April, 2014

Anyone who's main passion is owls can tell you that it tends to be a relatively lonely occupation. Much of the time the search is fruitless, and it often involves sitting quietly and on one's own for long periods, particularly as much of it takes place in the twilight hours. Sometimes, especially if no new discoveries are made for a long time, I find myself starting to get a little demotivated and little things like windy weather, the threat of rain, aches and pains, or just plain 'too much to do at home' mean that I don't get out as much as I should do. I seem to be going through one of these patches at the moment and have, this week, made a conscious effort to get myself out of the rut, and with partial success.

One thing that does help keep me on the straight and narrow is my regular Thursday afternoon/evening out with my pal Titus White.  - that's not his real name but an alias to protect the fact that he has Barn Owls nesting in his garden (think Latin name). I met Titus about three years ago when he was given my name as someone to ask about some pellets he was finding in his garden which he knew were not from his Barnies. Since then we've become really good friends and, unless the world is falling apart, we get together every Thursday afternoon and do a spot of owling together. These Thursdays are most enjoyable and quite productive, even though we do seem to stick to the same approximate route for our travels each time. A couple of years ago, Titus started accompanying me on my Osprey Watch duties at Rutland Water and in the summer months our Thursday evenings, once a fortnight, are spent there.

This post relates to the first of our non-Osprey afternoons after the transition from the winter month norm of taking a (late) picnic lunch out with us, to taking a picnic evening meal with us so that we can make the most of owling opportunities as darkness falls.

The afternoon started off  cloudy but bright, with little wind, and prospects were quite good. On my way to Titus's place, I pass my local patch. One of the Little Owls was out at my Site No.02. This was taken from my car.

Little Owl - my Site No.02

Having transferred to Titus's car, we headed out. Our first sighting was at my LO Site No.44, where both the owls were out and sitting cosily together. I'd been wondering if, because of the early mild weather, mating and incubation may have started early this year, but the indication from this day was that the renewal of the pair bond was probably still taking place. These two images were also taken from the car. Fortunately it was cloudy by now as, otherwise, these two images would have been into the sun and virtually impossible.

Little Owls - my Site No.44

Just up the road, at my LO Site No.46, one of the owls was out on a distant post. Sadly it was still cloudy, as sun would have helped immensely here.

Little Owl - my Site No.46

A short while later, the second owl here appeared in a cavity in the nest tree.

Passing by my LO Site No.41 no owl was seen, which was a little worrying as the owls are usually visible here, but nearby building works were being very noisy that day, which might have had a bearing on the matter.

We next parked by sites Nos. 34 and 36. At first we didn't see any owls, but then I noticed one on a log at No.36. A little later, a Little Owl flew into the nest tree of Site No.34 and, almost immediately, the second owl appeared in the nest cavity. We were now up to seven owls (or, in my case, eight).

No.36 was the location where I'd approached a couple of weeks earlier, shielded by a small herd of cows. There were no cows on this occasion, and it was my turn to try for the shot (Titus had had his turn the previous Thursday!). The owl let me walk past, and back again, without moving. I'd set my camera up before the approach, but the light conditions when I got there were totally different and I shot at much too low a speed so the images weren't that good.

Little Owl - my Site No.36

We next moved on to LO Site No.42. Sightings here are rather rare and only seem to take place in very good weather. We weren't to be lucky on this occasion and, after an hour or so, decided to give up and check out a few more sites, but still with no luck.

We returned to LO Site No.41 and had just spotted what we thought to be an owl when a group of three off-roaders came through extremely noisily. I took some photos of them, which wasn't the smartest thing to do as they looked as if they were going to give some trouble - until another car arrived. Amazingly, however, they didn't disturb the owl. It was starting to get dark by now and the owl was on the shady side of the tree. I only include this shot as I rather like the entanglement that this owl is often found in - although it doesn't make for easy photography!

Little Owl - my Site No.41

We could still hear the off-roaders ahead of us so decided to avoid trouble and turn back. We stopped at a place where, at various times over the past couple of years, I'd seen Barn Owl, Tawny Owl and Common Kestrel all perched in exactly the same place (and I mean within a couple of inches - although obviously not at the same time!). It was all but fully dark and only just possible to see anything (we were parked about 100 yards/metres away), when something appeared in an opening - a Tawny Owl. This is just a record shot, but this afternoon and evening out has now given me the incentive to try and do better with the Tawny Owl here (and the Barn Owl, for that matter!).

Tawny Owl - undisclosed site

We had no further sightings on our way home but we had had a nine-owl day (or, in my case, ten), which was not a bad haul.

Tomorrow (I'm writing this on Wednesday 16th April) it's back to Rutland Water, with three eggs in the Osprey nest, a relatively good weather forecast and the prospect of some good owling and other sightings along the way, and in good company! I'm looking forward to it!!!

Changes and Disappointments - on 27th April, 2013

For a number of reasons, I've not done as much owling lately as I would have liked, and the few excursions I have had have not yielded very exciting results. The birds seem to be keeping their heads down, so to speak. On Saturday I resolved to put in the hours to try and get some results. It was windy and dull, but the forecast was for brighter, less windy, weather later.

I had to go and get some bird seed from my supplier in the morning, and this gave me a chance to check on my Little Owl Site No. 15. On the way out there was nothing to be seen, but the hailstones were falling out of the sky and it was windy! On the way back, however, one of the owls was out, clinging precariously to a 'ledge' on the main trunk of the tree, in the lee of the wind. The field containing the nest tree is under cultivation so I can only view from the roadside, over 100 metres (yards) away.

Little Owl - my Site No.15

I  then had an early lunch, packed a picnic, and set off to do some owling. My intention was to visit some of my more recently found sites, from which I've had little or nothing in the way of photos. My route took me past Cossington Meadows and, as there'd been reports of a couple of Ring Ouzel there, I thought I'd make a quick stop. The birds were still there, but staying very distant and well-hidden, so only record shots were obtained.

Ring Ouzel (pair) - Cossington Meadows - honestly!

Ring Ouzel - Cossington Meadows

My next stop was at my LO Site No.29, but no owl was seen. I had better luck at my Site No.21, where one of the owls was out, sheltering from the wind.

Little Owl - my Site No.21

I next went to check up on a site where I'd seen a Barn Owl a couple of times but, on subsequent visits, had found the farmer and others working round the buildings. My pal Titus and I had checked out this place on Thursday and found a whole mass of Barn Owl pellets had appeared since I first checked it out with the farmer who was working in the building at the time. We'd gone back late on Thursday evening (at about 20:50), and I'd briefly noted a shadowy bird which flew back into the building as we stopped. I thought I knew what I'd seen but I wasn't sure enough! On this Saturday I didn't approach the building but checked that all was in order for a later visit as darkness drew in.

My next stop was at my LO site No.37, but nothing was seen and I'm not sure that I've correctly located the nest tree here.

A few hundred metres (yards) down the road is where I park to visit my LO Sites Nos.34 & 36. I'd planned to set up my hide by No.36 and get some photos, but I was dismayed to see that the field was now occupied by frisky cattle. Instead I sat in my car and watched both the nest trees whilst I had some of my picnic tea. I was a little worried when, ouyt of the corner of my eye, I thought I saw a Jackdaw emerge from the nest hole of No.34, but it didn't happen again.

As photography was not going to be possible here I decided to have a look to see if anything was happening a little further on at LO Site No.38. No owl was seen and there was farm work going on nearby. However, just a few metres up the road I spotted a little bird on the fence. It flew down into the field as I stopped, and I did manage a distant shot of a super male Whinchat - my first of the year!

Whinchat (male)

I'd only gone another couple of hundred metres (yards) up the road when I noticed a line of birds on the fence that was going at a right-angle away from the road. It was not until this moment that I knew that Wheatear formed flocks! There were nine on the fence and another two (at least) in the field below the fence. Because of the intervening fence beside me I failed to get a photo before they were suddenly off.

I went to check out a potential owl site (no luck) before heading back. Where the Whinchat had been there were now five Wheatear and a Whinchat. Two of the Wheatear were on the fence beside the road, but they flew off into the field when I was still a long way off. I only got very distant views of all six birds, but here is the best I could manage of a Wheatear.

Wheatear (female)

I continued back to the parking place for LO Sites Nos.34 & 36. This time I had positive confirmation that my Site No.34 had been taken over by Jackdaws. I hope that the owls were just evicted by the Jackdaws, and not killed. There was further disappointment when I saw Jackdaws entering the tree at Site No.36. However, as this tree has several entrances, the takeover is not totally confirmed.

The light was starting to fail by now, so I set off back to the Barn Owl site, parking about 150 metres from the barn. I sat in my car, finishing off my picnic, and waited. Just after 20:00 a Brown Hare appeared, and started messing about in the field. Suddenly it started coming towards me and stopped only about 20 metres (yards) away from my car. I managed to open the left hand side window (I'd been watching for the owl through the right hand side window) and get in a few shots with the camera before it was off.

Brown Hare

I waited and I waited, and as it was getting dark I made up my mind to depart for home at 21:00. At 20.55 a bird appeared on the timbers of the barn in exactly the same place that I'd glimpsed it two days earlier - I was right, it was a Tawny Owl! I took loads of shots in the hope that one would at least be recognisable (I was shooting at a distance of about 150 metres, with the lens at 500 mm, and 1/13 second, ISO 3200, -1.7 step compensation, handheld!). Amazingly several of the images, although not good, were OK for conveying the scene! This is a heavy crop!

Tawny Owl - undisclosed site, Leicestershire

My concern now is for the Barn Owl. Is this change a case of another eviction? Knowing the fierce reputation of Tawny Owls, it's hard to believe that these two species are existing side-by-side.

This story had to end on a high note. Ten minutes later, on my way home, in my headlights I saw a Little Owl sitting on a fence. I stopped and it moved two fence posts further away, and out of range. I moved on again and it was gone from view. This is currently my provisional new LO Site No.40! I shall return to check it out soon!

I arrived home just after 22:00 at the end of an interesting day, tinged with more than a little disappointment.