Full frame Rail.......

During the last few visits down to my local river I have been chancing upon a few bird species of note. The main target has been the Kingfishers (see previous posts), it can take quite sometime for these little blue gems to show, if they show at all? Consequently when parked up for hours on end other species do come along and sometimes can show quite well, or not!

A week or so ago I spotted a Water Rail sneaking along in the reedy fringes that boarder the shallow part of the river. This was my first ever sighting of this species down here after eight years of visiting. OK Water Rails are not that uncommon but to have one show here on my part of the river was really quite unusual and a very notable sighting as far as I am concerned. 

On my next visit on Saturday morning (with Col Green) the Water Rail was again seen, it was in the exact same location as it had been during my previous sighting, under a large reed raft and only occasionally venturing to the waters edge where it could been clearly seen. Yes I did manage a couple of distant shots of it (with Col's camera) as it scurried between the patches of dense vegetation. The resultant images were OK but I thought I could do better so a return on Sunday morning was planned.

On the Sunday morning I ignored, the Kingfishers, the newly arrived Little Egret, the pair of Grey Wagtails and the Green Sandpipers, this morning was going to be dedicated to the Water Rail. Now Water Rails are notably cautious and secretive creatures which makes watching them a challenge. For this reason driving slowly up and down the rivers edge (as I usually do) wasn't the tactic for today, instead I parked up opposite the weed raft where I'd seen it on two previous occasions and waited. 

After only 20 minutes the bird was seen as it dashed from one side of the shallow river to the other, the problem was it was 20 metres downstream! Then within seconds it emerged again and bolted straight into the weed raft opposite me, this is when the waiting game really started. For the next hour the bird was occasionally seen, it would come to the edge of the dense undergrowth, over turn a couple of damp leaves, feed avidly on what it had revealed and then disappear. In all that time I didn't manage any images that would be deemed "keepers"  the bird was either too fast or there was obstacles blocking the view.

Then remarkably and uncharacteristically and without warning the Rail just sauntered out from within the cover and just stood there, right out in the open in all its glory! I just couldn't believe my luck and the camera rocked into action.

It seemed relaxed and totally unfazed with the presence of the car or the camera shutter rattling away. It had a bit of a shake then to my almost disbelief it started to cross the river straight towards me!

As it crossed the river it actually started to come too close, I was now completely filling the frame with just the bird!

 

Just before it disappeared it held one last pose right in front of me, here I was able to attain this full frame shot with the water droplet on its bill. 

What a fantastic encounter, to have photograph a Water Rail right out in the open and up so close was an almost unimaginable encounter, and one I shall not forget in a long time.

Thanks for stopping by, hopefully catch up again soon.

At long last!

Sometimes, and I do mean sometimes, a long term plan does come to fruition..........

For several years now whilst monitoring the Little Owls at one of my sites I do occasionally see a pair of Kingfishers. Mostly the sightings are restricted to just a blue blur as they blast up and down the river, however they do sometimes rest up on a bank side perch and offer some better views, for a few fleeting seconds!  This noted behaviour tempted me last year into to trying for some perched up images, there was a lot of time invested with mixed results initially. But in time I did manage to slowly gain better views and consequently improved images of both the male, female and juvenile Kingfishers.

But was I content?.........No I wasn't! Don't get me wrong, I was more than satisfied with the slow but sure improvements with the images that I was attaining, but the one image that I'd got in my minds eye that had so far eluded me was one with both the male and female Kingfishers together. So you can probably imagine my smugness when this morning I not only managed an image of the pair of them together and in focus, I actually superseded my own expectations and nailed a few images of them mating!!

It was an excellent and very productive early morning visit with great views of Kingfisher (obviously), Little Egret, Green Sandpiper, Grey Wagtail and Water Rail!! I now have over 400 more images to go through from this morning before I can even think of publishing another post on here, watch this space!

Catch up again soon...........

More Kingfishers

Yesterday morning (Sunday) I made another visit down to my local river, the couple of hours spent there proved to be very rewarding with some great views of both the male and female Kingfishers. These are just a quick sample from over 300 images I rattled off whilst there!

Female

Whilst there I witnessed both birds individually catch a Bullhead for dinner. Just amazing how they can swallow whole a fish of such size in comparison to their body size.

Female

Female

The male bird, below certainly has the more vivid feather colouration, deeper blues and oranges, oh and of course a blacker bill.

Male

After many many visits to this site over the years, mainly to watch the Little Owls I added another "first" to my species list in the form of a Water-rail, it took my very much by surprise when I spotted it walking along the concrete causeway. This alone is reason enough for me to go back asap, oh and the Little Owls, Kingfishers etc...........

Catch up again soon!

Down The River

Early Sunday morning it was clear and bright, it appeared to be just the perfect conditions for a spot of wildlife watching and photography. However, I was deceived because as I started the car the temperature gauge flashed back at me,  it was minus 2 degrees!

I'd decided that I was going to visit one of my favorite local sites over near the village of South Wigston. My last visit here was well before Christmas, recent conditions have limited visits because of how wet the fields have been which makes driving across the soggy grass an almost impossibility (bring back to old Landrover!). The other reason why I haven't visited is because I'd lost the key that the farmer gave me to access the many gates that are encountered, that obstacle was soon overcome though as I went round to visit him and borrowed his!

Upon arrival the first birds encountered were a pair of Green Woodpeckers feeding in the fields, dam things were far to shy and no images attained. I drove up and parked against the side of the river, the next bird seen was a first for this site, a male Goosander! It was around 50 yards up stream and diving on a regular basis, I tried to get nearer each time it dived but after 20 minutes of employing this tactic I gave up, it was far too cute and I never did get any nearer so I went back to the car to see what else would come by.

The next showy subject was in the form of a Green Sandpiper, at first the bird was quite distant but in time it slowly moved nearer and nearer whilst feeding in the shallow water. Eventually it came close enough for me to capture a variety of images, below.

  

After a good time (20 minutes or so) the Sandpiper wandered off further down the river and out of reasonable distance for photography. My next "within range" bird was a pair of Grey Wagtails, great to watch as they fluttered around catching Nymphs and fly's, sadly no usable images were obtained.

Eventually my main subject, the Kingfisher finally put in an appearance, this was a pleasing sight as last year a pair used and bred on this stretch of the river but there was no way of knowing if they would be here again? So to see a single bird perched up on a post on the far bank was very encouraging indeed!  I would have been more than happy with this viewing of the single bird but my luck was really in when a second bird appeared and landed on a branch just down the river from where I was parked!

For the next 30 minutes I was rewarded with some stunning views of both the male and female Kingfisher as they posed for me. 

Female - red base to the bill

Female

Male - almost all black bill

What made this viewing of the Kingfishers even more rewarding was they must have been nest excavating quite close by as they both had traces of mud on their bills (did you spot it in the images?). So things do look promising that this pair of Kingfishers will breed yet again on this stretch of the river, can't wait, bring on the Spring!

Thanks for stopping by, catch up again soon...............

New Little Owl Site

During the week I had a couple of late in the day sorties out to check on a couple of potential Barn Owl locations. Sadly neither location produced any Barnie sightings but I did stumble upon a new Little Owl territory. 

Initially I was crawling along at low speed down an off road lane that belongs to one of my farmer friends, all the car windows were wide open which enables better listening for any nearby owls that maybe calling. I have found that this time of year (pre-breeding season) it is really good for locating new owl territories as they can become very vocal at dusk, and this is what happened on this occasion. Unlike of late this particular evening the wind had dropped and it was quite still, therefore any calls tended to reverberate around the nearby vicinity. 

When the call(s) were first heard there was absolutely no doubt it was that of a Little owls. I inched nearer to where the calls were coming from and to my delight there right in front of me were a pair of Little Owls perched on an old fence. The hen bird didn't tolerate my close proximity but luckily the male stayed around long enough for me to capture this one usable image, below. 

The conditions for photography were abysmal, it was 6:50pm and in almost complete darkness but the obliging owl remained still enough for me to manually focus on him (with the aid of a full moon) and with the settings at ISO 3200 I did manage to achieve a shutter speed of 1/20 second! Obviously the image was then in need of some post processing but considering the challenging conditions I am very pleased with the final outcome.

I will be returning back to this same location as soon as possible to hopefully get some better viewing and attain a few improved images.

Only a short post but rest assured I will be back again soon.

Bye for now................

PS I forgot to mention that I now have a twitter account, for anyone interested it is @PMRiddle

Premier league owls.........

During recent years my main focal point has somewhat drifted away from Little Owls and moved more over towards Barn Owls, don't get me wrong my affection for Little Owls is still as strong as it ever was and I really enjoy spending time with them, but when it comes to "making a difference" and putting something back the local Barn Owls needed more help. Col Green and I have already started doing "our bit" again this year, only two weekends ago we made another 3 Barn Owl boxes (see poor quality iPhone image below) of which one has already been sited because a local farmer disturbed a pair of Barn Owls that were roosting in haystacks in his barn.

Col with more "internal" Barn Owl boxes

Back in 2009 I knew of only one breeding pair of Barns Owls within my survey area, for this reason Col and I started making and erecting boxes and slowly slowly they are starting to make a difference. Last year we had eleven breeding pairs and that was in somewhat challenging weather conditions, so goodness knows how many there would have been if we'd had settled weather? It is very satisfying to visit a nest box in the spring to find Barn Owls have taken up residency, they don't always breed (bad weather, young birds, lack of food, just a roost site etc) but never the less it is just enough reward to know we have helped in someway to support/repopulate the local numbers. However, the problem with Barn Owls is they are almost entirely nocturnal (90% ish) which makes watching them very difficult indeed. 

So to compensate for the lack of watching daytime activity with the Barnies I then turn back to my Little Owls to get my "owling fix" because they are far more active in the daytime. I have found that early spring (yes it's upon us earlier this year, or the birds in my garden think so as the Robins and Blue Tits are nest building already!) is an excellent time to search out owls because they do tend to be quite vocal and give up their presences prior to the breeding season, especially Tawny Owls. So for this reason I have started to get out and about again in the evenings, I crawl slowly along the quiet country lanes (far away from any noise pollution) listening for any calling birds. So far on 5 or 6 trips out I have located 12 different Tawny territories (5 of them new ones!) but only 6 Little Owl territories (which is concerning), of which none were new ones. I must admit though, my gut feeling is the local numbers of Little Owls is also starting to dwindle, I'm just not seeing as many as I use to, or is it that I am not dedicating as much time to them?

It was good to confirm that one of my Little Owl sites (No 47) was again holding a pair, at the time of finding it was dark so viewing and photographic opportunities were obviously limited. I had to wait for the weekend before I was able to re-visit, but again my time was limited because the mighty Leicester City FC were live on the TV in a top of the table premiership clash against Manchester City, and I wasn't going to miss that!  

Initially I parked up near to an area that I knew the owls favoured and regularly frequented. After a 30 minute wait the male owl appeared in a nearby tree, soon to be followed by the female.

After a while the male's confidence grew and he moved a little closer, but he continued to give me "the stare". 

During the next hour or so the views of both the owls (mainly the male) were excellent, it was windy and spasmodically cloudy which kept changing the light conditions making it a challenge for photography, but I did manage a few "keepers" below........

The hen bird (below) is very shy compared to the male, she only came close on the one occasion. I did notice however that her left eye didn't appear to be quite right?

It appears that since my last visit back in late 2015 she has damaged her left eye, see close up image below. Initially I was concerned but it didn't seem to be bothering her as she was flying around without too much bother.

This last image was my favorite from the session, good light and a great pose whilst he was calling.

As it turned out I was very lucky that day, early morning the weather held off (later it turned into a horrid grey day with torrential rain) whilst I managed my "owly fix" and later on that day I joined my mates down the pub where we watched my beloved Leicester City trounce Man City 3-1 for us to go back to the summit of the Premier League, as you may have guessed a few pints were had in celebration, it would have been rude not to!!!! 

Thanks for stopping by, hopefully catch up again soon......................

"Snowy Owls".

Hi all!!

This is my first post of 2016 and not surprisingly it features Little Owls. On the morning of January 17th Leicestershire awoke to a blanket of snow, this was encouragement enough to get me out there in search of some "snowy owls". 

The conditions made it tricky driving as I negotiated the slippery country lanes, but I had no option as to see an owl at one of my "known sites" getting deep into the countryside and off the beat and track was a necessity. Initially no owls were seen which was a disappointment, however my persistence was eventually rewarded when a single Little Owl was espied perched up in one of its favoured trees. The views were really close but its not exactly the "snowy" image I was after, I suppose beggars can't be choosers? 

Little Owl - Site No 87

Later on in the morning another Little Owl was located perched up on top of an old farm building, this bird was a lot further away than the first owl I located but this did allow for a bit more snow and nearer the wintry image I was after.

Little Owl - Site No 53

This morning was also the first time I have tried out the new Nissan 4 x 4 in "trying" conditions, it performed very well indeed and I didn't get stuck! 

Sorry it's only a short post, much more to come in 2016 hopefully!

Catch up again soon.................

Sparrowhawk

This is my first image of 2016, and a complete fluke! It was taken at 3:30pm today (only 20 minutes ago as I write this post). I was busy working away at home when this handsome chap landed on the fence right outside my office window. 

Initially I just watch and admired knowing that as soon as I moved he would fly off, but after staying perched for a minute or so I went for it. I gingerly moved away from the window, grabbed the camera and returned to my seat, he was still there! 

I called my son (Joe) in to my office to slowly open the blinds, remarkably as he did the Sparrowhawk still stayed put. I couldn't get the whole of him in the frame (too close) so I just rattled off a few shots of its head and shoulders. Shooting through the double glazed window has obviously effective the quality/sharpness as has the high ISO and slow shutter speed but the results are not too bad considering. The pinkish backdrop is the brick wall of my next door neighbors house.

This was the closest I have ever been to a Sparrowhawk and to get some images too (albeit through glass) was a real bonus. I hope this bit of luck is a sign of what is to come my way in 2016?

See ya all soon!!!!!

Raptor alley!

Hi all!

Getting out lately has been somewhat limited, dark mornings and nights leaves only the weekends for any quality birding. But quality was just what is was at a site in Leicestershire that I have been concentrating on lately, raptors of note have been Kestrels, Buzzards, Sparrowhawks, 2 x Tawny Owls, 2 x Barn Owls, 3 x Short Eared Owls and a Merlin!!

This area has a good variety of different types of habitat but my main tactic has been to settle down out of view in a small spinney that overlooks an area of rough grassland. Viewing has been excellent but photographically it has been a challenge, either the subject is too distant or the light levels have been poor.

However, after several visits and countless invested hours the subjects and light do sometimes oblige.

The Short Eared owls here only show/hunt for a few minutes at a time, in between there can be several hours of waiting. My chosen "staked out" location on the edge of the spinney had a few posts running along in front of me, I was hoping that one of the owls would land here and offer some better views, one of them did but it was the furthest post away, typical!

I'm pretty sure the owls didn't know of my presence and occasionally one would drift across right in front of me. The views were utterly breath taking but the lack of light and slower shutter speeds did hamper the final results somewhat.  

Several times the owls would dive for prey right in front of me, I never did see them catch anything, a 100% unsuccessful catch rate! This bird below sat in the grass for an age after another fruitless dive, lucky it did as I had to revert to manual focus to attain this image as the long grass played havoc.

In between the owls showing I had to be satisfied with what ever other bird species decided to put in an appearance, on several occasions a Sparrowhawk would fly in and attack the Yellowhammers and Buntings, I didn't actually see it catch anything and I tried in vain to capture a flight shot of it, without success! However, it did once land reasonably close on top of the hedgerow, I managed this next image just as it took flight. 

A pair of Stonechats came very close on occasions, they did keep me entertained and occupied my time whilst waiting for one of the raptors/owls to show.

A pair of Kestrels also frequently showed, most of the time hovering over the field whilst hunting, sadly most of the time they were too distant to capture an image. But after several flyby attempts of a flight shot I did manage to capture the two images below. 

Sorry but I'd like to finish this post with a few more Short Eared Owl images, they were my main quarry and thoroughly satisfying to see these majestic winter visitors up so close.

I will definitely be making some return visits, hopefully the Shorties will hang around long enough for me to capture them again only in some better light conditions. And maybe, just maybe I will also be lucky enough to have some closer encounters and photographic opportunities with one of the Barn Owls or even the Merlin?

Thanks for stopping by, the chances are this will be my last post of 2015 so I'd like to take this opportunity to thank you for visiting and here's wishing you all a very merry xmas and a happy new year!!

Paul.

Ravens!

This morning just as I was getting into my car to head out for work I heard the very distinctive "cronk cronk cronk" call of a Raven. Not a call you hear in Leicestershire that often but to have heard one within hearing distance from my home was very rare indeed! I glanced down the road to where the calls seemed to be coming from just as a pair of Ravens spiraled down out of the sky and seemingly into the nearby sheep field. I couldn't be sure that they had landed as a huge pile of manure obscured my view? 

I needed no further incentive, my work documents and briefcase were thrown into the car and I rushed back into the house to grab my camera. The walk to the end of my road took me all of 30 seconds, there I stood at the t-junction watching over the field for a few minutes. No Ravens could be seen, however there was an unusual amount of activity from the local Magpies and a solitary Buzzard that dropped down behind the large manure pile. I walked along the road for a hundred yards or so. thus enabling a better view behind the manure pile, what I saw next was amazing!!! All on the ground tucked in behind the manure heap was three buzzards, at least 20 Magpies and 2 Ravens!!! It was too far away for an image so I quickly crossed the road and went through the kissing gate and into the field, I was then presented with a dilemma, a muddy quagmire was in between me and where I needed to get to!!!  Now normally this wouldn't present a problem but because I was in my suit and dress shoes I knew they were going to get pretty messed up, I hesitated for a few seconds and then just went for it. A few seconds later I was up against the far end of the manure pile which ran a hundred yards or so away from me. Because I was crouched down the birds couldn't see me, my black shoes were now brown and to compound matters there were muddy splashes all over my trousers dooohhhhh!!!

Gingerly I glanced around the pile which spooked the Buzzards, then the Magpies all at once took flight but the two Ravens remained. The camera was raised and a few shots of them were rattled off, one second later they too were spooked and took flight!

Considering the distance and the lack of preparation I am very pleased with the results, albeit the murky brown blob (manure pile) in the front left corner of the first image does spoil it somewhat?

It wasn't until I studied the images later that I realised the attraction to all this activity was a carcass laying in the field, I can only presume it was that of a poor sheep? 

These are absolutely my best ever images of a Raven, even if they are a bit gory. Definitely worth the dry cleaning bill!!!

Thanks for stopping by, catch up soon.........

Short Eared Owl - December 2015

Tis that time of year again, no I'm not on about the on-approach of xmas, but something totally different.........Short Eared Owls! 

Each winter we are blessed in the UK with these birds moving down from their northern breeding grounds in search of suitable areas that will provide food and shelter. Their numbers can vary from year to year but looking in the birding news over the last few weeks it appears that we maybe in for quite a good year as sightings are frequently being reported, possibly a sign of a harsh winter to come?

If your lucky they will settle for a wintering area near you, so for the last few weeks I have been regularly visiting suitable areas to see if I could find a bird(s) of my own. Up until last weekend I'd so far drawn a blank, not one bird seen. However, I don't give up that easy and finally I was rewarded with the sighting of a single bird at a location I'd already visited four or five times! 

To be fair I nearly missed this bird too, I'd been parked up for two hours viewing a suitable looking tussocky field and nothing was seen. I was just about to call it a day as the light started to fade,  I was again resigned to another "no show"  when a single bird emerged from the long  grass!

I watched as it quartered back and forth whilst hunting for voles, it was getting darker by the second which wasn't conducive for photography, shooting at an ISO of 1600 this was the only "usage image" I captured of it in flight.

It then settled down on the ground after an unsuccessful dive for prey, it sat there for a few minutes and I was quite amused as a male Pheasant walked out to have a look at it! They had a "stare off" for a few seconds before the owl took flight again.

The owl then came closer than before and settled on a spindly twig about 50 yards from me, it sat here for quite some time which allowed me to add my x 1.4 converter to my 500mm lens. This gave me a bit more focal reach, considering the distance and low light levels I am very pleased with the results even if the sharpness isn't top notch.

So now I have located a wintering bird it is fingers crossed that it stays using this same area until I can re-visit at the weekend?

Sorry it is only a short post, but not much too see and do at the moment.

Catch up again soon folks!