Slow March Pt.2 - 16th to 31st March,2024

This blog post gives an account of some of the highlights of what was a rather gentle month in terms of excursions, but included a few welcome harbingers of spring.

Sunday, 17th March          Nature Alive, Coalville

It was a relatively sunny day, and quite warm too. I fancied a short trip out, but had to take into consideration the fact that, being fine weather after a period of poor weather, and a Sunday also, most of my usual haunts that were not still under water would be busy with people. I had heard of the Nature Alive nature reserve in Coalville but never visited. It was formed on a brown-field site of a relatively small area, trapped between a railway line, the Coalville ring road, and a small retail park. It has some ponds, the largest of which was formed by mining subsidence.

Having parked my car and entered the site, I walked up the slope to the embankment (on which a railway branch line to Swarkestone to the north once ran), and then descended the other side and found myself confronted by a torrent of water about 4 inches (10cm) deep running down the path towards me. Fortunately I had put on wellingtons, so was able to pass along the path undeterred. It was only about 15 metres until I reached dry land and was able to explore.

In one of the two smaller ponds I found there was a Coot having a splash-about.

Coot (Fulica atra) - Nature Alive

At the main lake, a pair of drake Mallards were having an interaction.

 

Mallard (Anas platyrhynchos) (male) - Nature Alive

One of them then approached me, possibly hoping to be fed!

 

Mallard (Anas platyrhynchos) (male) - Nature Alive

I carried on past the main lake, finding a few insects enjoying the flowers in the sunshine.

 

Buff-tailed Bumblebee (Bombus terrestris) - Nature Alive

Hairy-footed Flower Bee (Anthophora plumipes) (male) - Nature Alive

There were some eye-catching clumps of Marsh Marigold around.

 

Marsh Marigold (Caltha palustris) - Nature Alive

Arriving back at the main lake, there were two drake Shoveler in the distance.

Shoveler (Spatula clypeata) (male) - Nature Alive

Before I left, I could not resist taking a shot of one of the many magnificent clumps of Primrose that were on the site.

Primula (Primula vulgaris) - Nature alive

Monday, 18th March          Garden

This was a very special day, due to our first (and, so far, only) sighting of the year of Redpoll in our garden. It was a splendid male, and I did manage some shots, although I'd have been happier if I got some that were not on a feeder. Lesser Redpoll is a 'red-listed' species.

Lesser Redpoll (Acanthis cabaret) (male) - our garden

Tuesday, 19th March          Saltersford Valley Country Park  :  Donisthorpe Rail Trail

A quick visit to Saltersford Valley CP in the afternoon was a little disappointing in that the boardwalk was still closed, water levels were very high, and paths were still flooded. I saw nothing of real interest and only photographed a Mute Swan which appeared to have some staining from the discoloured water caused by leakage from the old coal mine workings.

Mute Swan (Cygnus olor) - Saltersford Valley CP

As I had spent so little time here, I decided to check out the disused railway line that is now a public trail, accessible from by the church on Church Street, Donisthorpe.

Again I found little to occupy me, but I did manage to get some photos of a Red-legged Partridge - a species that I have not photographed for a while.

Red-legged Partridge (Alectoris rufa) - Donisthorpe Rail Trail

The only other photos I took were of a lone wild violet.

Common Dog Violet (Viola riviniana) - Donisthorpe Rail Trail

Wednesday, 20th March          Garden  :  Bardon Hill area

We were visited by two male Siskin on this day, and I managed a few shots of one of them, away from the feeders.

Siskin (Spinus spinus) (male) - our garden

The previous day, there had been reports of a group of approximately 25 Waxwings on an industrial estate near Bardon Hill. As Bardon Hill is quite local to me, I felt compelled to visit for what might be my last chance of seeing a Waxwing of the season. I did a bit of research on Google Earth and sorted out where I was going to park in an area where most roads are very busy with trucks. 

Having parked, I only had to walk a couple of hundred metres before I spotted the flock in a distant tree, a little away from the area that they had been reported in. I took some records shots, as shown below.

Bohemian Waxwing (Bombycilla garrulus) - Bardon Hill Industrial Estate

I counted 31 birds before I retraced my steps back to the road that my car was parked on, in the hope of being able to find another viewpoint for the birds that was perhaps a little nearer and not into the light, although it was not particularly bright weather.

I soon realised that there was no prospect of seeing the perched birds from this road and, to my dismay, the flock flew over my head and headed south in the approximate direction of the road that I was on. I followed the road to the end, but saw no sign of the Waxwings anywhere, although I did get a distant view of a Buzzard perched in a tree.

Common Buzzard (Buteo buteo) - Bardon Hill area

Thursday, 21st March          Garden

At the back end of last year, we had got used to regular visits from Magpie. However, this year they have become rather more elusive. On this day, two Magpies visited and I managed to catch one snaffling some dried Black Soldier-fly lavae that I'd tipped out of one of the Hedgehog feeding trays.

Magpie (Pica pica) - our garden

Friday, 22nd March          Our Conservatory

I noticed a small spider crawling up the window frame in our conservatory. I have not been able to positively identify it, but believe it to be one of the Philodromus species. If I had to make a guess, I'd say a female Philodromus dispar. It was released into the wild.

possible (Philodromus dispar) (female) - our conservatory

That afternoon I went to Calke Explore, which I have already reported on.

Friday, 29th March          Garden

This was something of a red letter day, as a Comma butterfly visited the garden - the first of the year. It was a bit tatty, so I believe it to be one that had emerged from winter hibernation.

Comma (Polygonia c-album) - our garden

Although a very common bird, the male Chaffinch is rather handsome.

Chaffinch (Fringilla coelebs) (male) - our garden

Saturday, 30th March          Garden  :  Willesley Wood

This was a good day for buterflies in the garden, with Brimstone, Peacock, and Small Tortoiseshell being seen. I only got usable photos of the Small Tortoiseshell.

Small Tortoiseshell (Aglais urticae) - our garden

I was also pleased to see my first Bee-fly of the year.

Dark-edged Bee-fly (Bombylius major) - our garden

Seeing the butterflies in the garden prompted me to visit a local place which has been relatively productive for butterflies, including Brimstone.

I arrived and parked the car - although it is close to home, the road between my house and Willesley Wood is very dangerous to walk along as it is a narrow bendy road, running between dense hedges and has no verges.  There is, therefore, no option but to walk in the road, along which cars tend to travel at high speed.

As soon as I entered the site, I saw a Brimstone butterfly but it was distant and mobile, and soon disappeared. 

There were very deep puddles along the path and I was glad that I was wearing wellingtons. As I approached Thortit Lake I was astounded by how high the water level was. I suspect that it was about a metre above its usual level, and was approximately 4 inches (100 cm) deep over the path at one point. I wish, now, that I had taken some photos to illustrate this.

A female Mute Swan was busy tidying a nest, possibly incubating eggs, and it struck me that while this nest was currently like an island near the edge of the water, and quite safe from the many dogs that are walked here, when the water level receded to its normal situation the nest would be some distance from the water, and high and dry.

Mute Swan (Cygnus olor) (female) - Thortit Lake

A little further on, the male swan was dabbling around. That tree trunk, surrounded by water, is usually well out of the water.

Mute Swan (Cygnus olor) (male) - Thortit Lake

Close by, there was a Coot which seemed more confiding than I'm used to with this species.

Coot (Fulica atra) - Thortit Lake

There was little happening on the north side of the lake so I headed off in an anti-clockwise perambulation. Reaching the path on the south side of the lake, I was surprised to see water reaching up to the path. Usually, water is not visible from this path as it is about 150 metres away, through densely packed trees. 

At one point, I had nice views of a Heron.

Grey Heron (Ardea cinerea) - Thortit Lake

I also found my second Bee-fly of the year!

Dark-edged Bee-fly (Bombylius major) -Willesley Wood

I then headed back to my car, stopping to photograph a very tatty Peacock by the exit gate.

Peacock (Aglais io) - Willesley Wood

I was just about to get into my car, when a Brimstone flew by and stopped briefly, further up the lane. I followed it for a while and eventually it stopped long enough for me to take a record shot.

Brimstone (Gonepteryx rhamni) (male) - Willesley Woodside

Sunday, 31st March          Garden

Not a particularly eventful day but I had a rare opportunity to photograph a Wren in the garden - it is not the presence of the Wren that is rare, but the opportunity to photograph one, as they are forever on the move and soon vanish!

Wren (Troglodytes troglodytes) - our garden

 

Thus ended what I believe was the wettest March on record. Fortunately, the weather seems to be improving a little and spring has now sprung - fingers are crossed that we continue to get some more helpful wildlife watching opportunities.

As usual, I expect my next blog post to be in about a week's time. In the meantime, please take good care of yourselves and Nature. Thank you for dropping by - - - Richard

 

Getting To Grips with a New Camera - 9th to 23rd March, 2023

Header image, while this post is current:-

Black-headed Gulls on the island at Hicks Lodge on 23rd March, 2023

In recent blog posts, I have mentioned that I had decided that it was time to find an alternative to the camera set-up that I use for the majority of my photography. This was due to two main factors, the first being that it (like me!) was getting old and unreliable, and the second being that, at my age, I was finding it rather heavy to carry around for any great length of time. I might have solved the 'unreliable' aspect with expensive servicing of both camera and lens, but that would not solve the weight issue.

My old set-up was a 24.2Mp Nikon D7200 with a Sigma 50-500 lens. This was great for distance work and was also useful for semi-macro work when photographing dragonflies. The combined weight was over 2.4kg. To replace this with a Nikon mirrorless system was going to cost me over £4,000 and save me absolutely no weight at all. I looked for alternatives and chatted to other photographers, and found that, after 30+ years of being a Nikon user, if I switched to Canon, I could get a set-up at half the price and half the weight. I have ended up with a Canon EOS R7 with a Canon RF 100-400 lens. The shorter reach of the Canon lens is compensated for by the R7 having a 32.5MP sensor.

The change of manufacturer with the added complexity of facilities on the camera body has put me on a steep learning curve. I would guess that the options for settings on the Canon probably number in excess of twenty times those on the the Nikon D7200! However, the sophistication of, for example, the focussing options is amazing.

As I usually shoot in Raw mode, assimilating the Canon software for manipulation and conversion of images, having used the Nikon equivalent for so many years, is almost as difficult as learning the facilities of the camera itself.

This post will feature images from my first two weeks of usage. I was hampered for much of this period by poor weather and too much going on at home, so didn't have time for intensive experimentation. This post does, however, include a garden first for the year, and a garden 'lifer'.

Thursday, 9th March                    Garden

There was snow on the ground this day, giving some challenging lighting conditions. I thought I'd set up the camera to a good basic mode for first attempts, but found out the next day when I came to process the images that I'd set it up to shoot in .jpg mode. The results, however, were not too bad.

Pied Wagtail (Motacilla alba yarrellii) (female) - garden on 9th March. 2023

Friday, 10th March                    Garden

I thought I'd sorted out the .jpg/RAW situation, but no, I'd managed to set it up so that I was taking both .jpg and RAW - .jpg to one card and RAW to the other. This caused some confusion, but at least I had some raw images with which to try the Canon conversion software.

The weather and light were somewhat better and the camera set up was starting to show promise.

Lesser Redpoll (Acanthis cabaret) - garden on 10th March, 2023

Wren (Troglodytes troglodytes) - Garden on 10 March, 2023

Saturday, 11th March                    Garden

I'd still not discovered my error with the .jpg/RAW situation but, nevertheless, managed to get some shots of garden visitors. I was quite pleased to see that the camera had managed to do justice to the irridescence on the neck of the Stock Dove and even managed to find irridescence on the neck of a Woodpigeon.

Stock Dove (Columba oenas) - garden on 11th March, 2023

Woodpigeon (Columba palumbus) - garden on 11th March, 2023

Tuesday, 14th March                   Sence Valley Forest Park ; Garden

This day, I had my first attempt at using the camera 'out in the field'. I chose to go to Sence Valley as I thought that it would give me opportunities to test the camera in a variety of situations.

This next set of three images of Coots on Goss Water demonstrates how the camera coped with a dark subject against a variety of background light conditions. I'm quite pleased!

Coot (Fulica Atra) - Sence Valley FP

It also coped well with a swan that accosted me at close quarters on the ramp of Horseshoe Lake, although there's a bit of burn-out in the white on its back.

Mute Swan (Cygnus olor) - Sence Valley FP

I then moved on to the concrete hide overlooking Stonebridge Lake, and got some more shots of birds on the water that I was quite pleased with.

Black-headed Gull (Chroicocephalus ridibundus) - Sence Valley FP

Mute Swan (Cygnus olor) - Sence Valley FP

I was keen to see how the auto-focus on the new camera set-up would cope with subjects in a partially obscured and confused situation, and was pleasantly surprised.

Reed Bunting (Emberiza schoeniclus) (male) - Sence Valley FP

The majority of the preceding images have been quite heavily cropped, but the following, taken on my return to Goss Water, will, I hope, give you some impression as to how much detail the set-up is capable of capturing. The first image, below, is about a 90% width crop on a shot taken with the lens at 359mm. The second and third images are crops taken at the same length and settings.

Cormorant (Phalacrocorax carbo) - Sence Valley FP

Later that day, I managed to record a Bullfinch that visited our garden. I'm pleased to be able to report that we are now getting occasional visits from male and female Bullfinch once more.

Bullfinch (Pyrrhula pyrrhula) (male) - garden on 14th March, 2023

Thursday, 16th March                    Garden

We rarely get visits to our garden from Brambling but, when we do, it is usually at around this time of year. Although the weather and light was not good, this was our lucky day!

Brambling (Fringilla montifringilla) (male) - garden on16th March, 2023

Friday, 17th March                    Garden

The treat of the day was a garden visit by a Blackcap.

Blackcap (Sylvia atricapilla) (female) - garden on 17th March, 2023

Saturday, 18th March                    Garden

This day gave us what was possibly the most exciting garden sighting of the year, with a garden 'lifer' in the form of a Linnet. Although described as 'a common resident breeder and passage migrant' in the vice-county, I do not often see one on my local travels, so having one in the garden was rather special. Sadly, I only managed shots of it on a feeder.

Linnet (Linaria cannabina) - garden on 18th March, 20023

Sunday, 19th March                    Garden

I was now tending to photograph anything that moved, with the objective of getting a little more used to the camera, and this seems to be paying off, although I have not yet mastered finding distant subjects in the electronic viewfinder. 

Woodpigeon (Columba palumbus) - garden on 19th March, 2023

Stock Dove (Columba oenas) - garden on 19th March, 2023

Wednesday 22nd March                    Kelham Bridge Nature Reserve

In the hope of finding interesting subject matter for the camera, I made a return visit to Kelham Bridge. Although virtually nothing was seen, the camera worked well, and I had an enjoyable time there - particularly as I got some good advice from a fellow Canon mirrorless user.

Canada Goose (Branta canadensis) - Kelham Bridge NR

Gadwall (Anas strepera) (male) - Kelham Bridge NR

Thursday, 23rd March                    Hicks Lodge

I went here, primarily as I had yet to attempt much in the way of flight shots with the new camera, although it was said to have an excellent facility for focus-tracking moving objects. In this respect, I failed miserably as I was in the hide, with just gulls in flight, zooming around at some distance on an unpredictable trajectory or flashing past the window at great speed. I was still having difficulty in finding them in the viewfinder and losing them again before I could achieve focus.

I did manage to get some shots of birds that were moving more sedately, however! 

Coot (Fulica atra) - Hicks Lodge

Mallard (Anas platyrhynchos) (male) - Hicks Lodge

Mute Swan (Cygnus olor) - Hicks Lodge

Canada Goose (Branta canadensis) - Hicks Lodge

Greylag Goose (Anser anser)  - Hicks Lodge

I will bring this post to a close now. I feel that I am starting to get there with the new camera, but I still have a lot to learn. The Canon instruction manual for the camera is a mere 963 pages long! The on-line manual for the Canon DPP processing software is a little less daunting at 192 pages. They say that you can't teach an old dog new tricks - I have to prove them wrong!

I suspect that my next post will be in a about a week's time. In the meantime, please take good care of yourselves and Nature. Thank you for dropping by - - - Richard