At last a weekend at home........

It's the first weekend in November 2011 and at last I've taken a breath, workload is reducing slightly and I'm taken stock, feel the embryonic energies of blogging coming back to the fold. When I began this blog 4 years or so ago, I had a completely different lifestyle, different job, different places to visit and well looking back it seems like a long time ago, especially as back in those days I seemed to have to a lot more time to go out and watch wildlife. But then again I now get paid to go out and watch wildlife, can't be bad, so I hear you say, "he doth protest too much"

So, now the mood has taken me, let me take you back to last weekend. It began with that dreadful crash on the M5 on Friday, not that far from where I live. I do a lot of driving now for my work, too much really, and what happened then really makes one stop and think of the fragility, the veneer our cosy modern life provides. What happened at Taunton really made me reassess.

So it was with a relish we woke on Saturday for a pre-planned visit to friends in Thornbury, in South Gloucestershire. The weather was fine, so we pootled off for a wonderful 3 hour walk/talk/amble along the Gloucester Canal at Purton (home of the original Bill Oddie programme on starling displays, more on that later).

Not long into our walk, we spied a rambling ivy across a stone wall. Bearing in mind this was November 5th it was covered in insects feeding on the nectar of these late season ivy flowers. A year or so back I made a Living World programme on the importance of Ivy in the winter and ever since then have been fascinated by how important this plant is to insects later in the year.

So important in fact I think a campaign should be started, "leave ivy alone" - keep it bushy, keep it messy, until April at least.

Onwards we strolled to take in the sights and sounds of the canal

Where soon we came across the undisputed highlight of the walk....

I do like gnomes. Maybe not as many as there are here, but every garden should have one. We're all much too sensible these days, and actually the original gnomes were there to bring good luck to the garden.

I'd never been this way before but had heard of the Purton Graveyard. A century or so back the Severn was a shipping highway but by the 1960's this shipping was in decline. As boats became obsolete they were rammed into the river bank to help stop river erosion from the huge tides the Severn experiences. Until recently these hulks were slowly rotting into the silt, but now these fascinating remnants of an industrial past are being preserved, with regular guided walks and information boards on each boat, when it was rammed into the riverbank and so on. Industrial archeology used to bore me rigid, but now, I love it. A sign of getting older I guess.

Not everything is about the boats though, as on the riverbank between a pair of boats this chickory was in flower, with quite a bit of it growing around this area.

This tower gives the names of all the boats lying here...

A concrete lighter

A plaque commemorating the destruction of the Wye Severn bridge when a barge hit a pillar and the whole lot came a-tumbling down.

Not the actual barge, but you get the idea

Amazing so much activity took place in what is now such a peaceful place.

Soon it was journeys end, the entrance to the Gloucester Canal, now blocked off at Sharpness with a lovely waterfall

And an interesting building, which is under threat apparently

It had been a fascinating 'bees knees' of a stroll out to the end of the canal, but now it was time to return.

Which brought about the wildlife spectacle of the day, not one but three peregrines flying about the canal. Two birds were pseudo-food passing so presumably pairing up for next year. Amazing to see,especially thinking back that only a few decades ago, seeing a peregrine was a rarity and usually in very remote places. Good to see them making such a good comeback.

Nearly home now........ but it wasn't far from here we also saw a kingfisher.

That was Saturday, rounded off with a fantastic meal back at my friends and then home to see the fireworks.

Sunday dawned bright and fare. Which was good as it was destined to be make the Christmas cake day, as can be seen by the chef hard at work...... oh dear look at the state of that kitchen!!

It was all too much so we had to escape while the cake was in the oven. And escape we did, to the Somerset Levels, Canada Farm Lake to be exact, just a short drive from me.

Such a glorious late afternoon to be walking up the lane to the bird hide

And so we made ourselves comfortable in the hide and waited to see what happened.... such a wonderful and peaceful place.

We weren't expecting these but all of a sudden thousands of starlings emerged and flew right over our heads to Westhay a few miles away. This is the first winter starling flock I've seen this year and it was such a pleasure to witness it on our own, made more so by the surprise of their passing overhead. It's still early in the season for the big flocks of 1 million + birds , but a sure sign winter is on its way.

And while we waited for more to pass,we could just admire the view.

Again, again and again....

But all too soon it was getting too dark to see any more starlings so off we walked back to the car, observing this moon and sixpence view on the way back. Magical.

Lets leave the last word to the starlings though........

Cheddar Gorge

The weather forecast says this evening snow will hit the UK. Certainly today more birds have come into the garden than for many weeks. I was chatting on the phone yesterday to a friend and between us he and I had about 20 species in both our gardens (He's in Gloucestershire) during out 20 minute chat. Song Thrush, Goldfinch, Blackcap to name three. Do these birds know cold weather is on the way?

I spent this afternoon at friends in Cheddar, home of cheese and the famous Gorge. They'd moved from a house set in 13 very steep acres on the edge of the Gorge to a bigger house but in a smaller garden in the village. What they have lost with 13 acres they've gained in a flat garden. A lot of work to do but their house had a lovely feel, almost Mediterranean with the courtyard and outbuildings. It used to be the bakery in Victorian times and they'd been given a fabulous photograph of their property in the 1880's complete with men and women in dark clothing.

While sipping tea, a Wellingtonia tree which can be viewed from the kitchen provided a few bird species, and apparently 40+ Jackdaw roost in here at night.

But after visiting my friends, I made my leave and drove home via the Gorge (above), spying a few of the Jacobs Sheep which were introduced a few years ago to help control invasive species on this absolutely fabulous limestone feature.

While watching these sheep, one of the resident Peregrine Falcons flew down the Gorge. A couple of years ago I sat one summer's day and watched the antics of these glorious birds of prey up and down the Gorge. Always a treat to see.

As it was about 4.30pm, I realised the days are lenghtening rapidly now. Depending on what calendar one uses today or tomorrow is the Pagan Festival of Imbolc, or the first day of spring. It always gladdens the heart to see the evenings lengthen rapidly at this time of year.

However although the days may lengthening, the weather tonight was distinctly cold. As can be seen by the above photo, taken at the top of Cheddar Gorge at 4.58pm it was minus 1 degrees. Further up the Mendips on the way home, it dropped to minus 3. And with the strong wind, it was absolutely freezing. It may be the first day of Spring, but we have a long way to go before feeling warmth on the skin.

Mind you this cold weather can bring the most stunning sunsets, such as this taken from Charterhouse on the Mendips, looking towards Wales at 5.05pm today.

The final piece of wildlife watching today was a Little Owl on a telegraph pole near home. I always look out for these birds, but this is the first time I've ever seen one there. Happy Imbolc to those of you reading this and celebrating the first day of Spring.

Level best birding

By rights, I should be Christmas shopping but this last week has been a bit frantic. Last evening I was at the BBC Wildlife Photographer of the Year 08 preview, presented by Miranda Krestovnikoff, who I'm old enough to remember as a junior researcher in the NHU. I'm not sure I agree, and many a debate was under way, with the Winning photo, a Snow Leopard, which was caught by remote camera. My joint favourites were a truly spectacular shot of a Black Grouse backlit, and just a hint of steam from it's mouth by Bence Máté and Snow Swans by Yongkang Zhu. But all the photos were stunning (unlike that which follows in this posting), so if you wish to have a peek, click here.

Anyway this morning I thought, steady on Border Reiver my old son, you need some fresh air. Blow the cobwebs off, so even though it was wet and dull, on with the galoshes and away to the Somerset Levels......

This was my first stop at Mark Moor. If you notice there is a footpath sign pointing to the rhyne, I'm not sure I'd wish to walk that way. The birding began on the journey down, Little Egret, Kestrel, Black Headed and Herring Gull by the motorway, plus a lot of Starling activity.

The opposite rhyne was being patrolled by a Grey Heron and a couple of Mute Swans with Glastonbury Tor in the distance. This was quite a good spot, Robin, Wren, Song Thrush, Blackbird, Blue, Great and Long-Tailed Tit, plus Stonechat were constantly about. A little further off 38 Swans were in a field, some Mallard, and 3 Meadow Pipit.

My original intention today was to go to Catcott Reserve, but I seemed destined to stay here. While driving along a drove road, this male Stonechat flew in front of the car and resulted in this poor photo. However while trying to photo this bird from the car, a Goldcrest landed on a branch inches from my wing mirror... sadly it was off before a photo was possible, though I did see it again 3 or 4 more times.

And so on to Tealham Moor, which is actually wet grassland.

This Carrion Crow was setting up it's cheek to the swan but both finally accepted their presence and they parted friends. While I was watching this performance, a familiar call alerted me to a passing Raven. I'm a happy bunny now I've got my Raven in the log for the day. Some Wigeon and Mallard were in the main Drain, more Grey Heron (7 in total today), couplet of Moorhen, and Meadow Pipit, more assorted gulls made me realise I'd walked a long way. So it was a long way back to the car.

At the far end of the Moor, I noticed a huge flock of Lapwing from the car. Luckily here, unlike some other parts of the UK, Lapwing numbers are holding up. I stopped to get the scope out, as sometimes Golden Plover are mixed in the flock, not today though.

I was just getting the scope out when the whole flock rose together, which can mean only one thing, Bird of Prey, and more likely a Peregrine. But where was it? I was in a quandary, the Lapwing were doing spectacular flocking maneuvers, but I needed to look elsewhere, so a few record shots of the flocking birds, then a 360 scan with the bins. There it was, 100 feet away behind me, coming in low like the clappers in front of the car, more like a Merlin hit and run chase, but then it rose up, the flock split, pandemonium followed, but my witnessing a kill wasn't to be.

So the Perry landed on a tree to watch and wait, the Lapwings left. What was unusual was this Perry was calling continuously, a very strange cackling call they sometimes do.

Keeping quiet and out of the way were a pair of Buzzards, wondering what the fuss was all about. It was while watching the Peregrine that the mobile went off, Stephen Moss inviting me for coffee, as he lives just a few miles away. While chatting to him a woman on a bicycle came into view and stopped for a chat. It turned out this was Alison Everett, a fellow member of the Somerset Ornithological Society, known as the SOS. We'd never met before, but we both knew of each other from the wonderfully names SOS Message Board!! It's a funny old world birding. Middle of nowhere and you meet someone you know, even if just by name.

Anyway just because I like it, this is an arty photo of the tree the Peregrine was in, the Lapwings were to the left. I think that field needs draining !! While talking to Alison Everett, I spied in a very distant tree a weird "black shape", which is in the tree, middle of the below picture at the end of the rhyne going bottom left to horizon.

This turned out to be a Buzzard, but weirdly it was perched with it's wings outstretched, much as a Cormorant does to theromregulate. Very odd given the cool temperature. What was also odd was it stayed like this for at least half an hour. Testing my zoom lens on the camera, especially as it was being hand held, to the limit, the following 2 photos show what I mean.

I've never seen anything like this before and when I popped in for that coffee at Stephen's, he wasn't sure either what was happening, but agreed it was odd behaviour for a Buzzard. Mind you we didn't have much time to talk, Stephen had been left babysitting for a few days while Mrs Stephen enjoyed herself with friends. 3 children under 5 can destroy a house when their mother is away overnight, Stephen was doing his best to control the melee, but I know who was winning. I never knew scrambled egg could stick to a forehead before!! Great fun though.

But time to go, and the drive back also produced a few nice moments.

These Mute Swans with the Mendips in the background were a pleasant discovery, while these Starlings being lifted by yet another Buzzard, provided a very atmospheric view.

And finally a view of Brent Knoll. For 3 and a half years I lived at the foot of this volcanic outlier next the the M5. From there are stunning views across the whole area, plus it's a great place for wildlife. I still miss not living there. But a great morning, and now, back to the Christmas toil....

the antics of a Peregrine Falcon

This is just a bit of Friday fun really.

For those of you who don't know "the Onion" is is a spoof newspaper and has some cracking wildlife stories in there from time to time. Always good for a giggle on a Friday

Peregrine Falcon in the Onion

And while I'm on about links, Radio 4's World on the Move is coming to the end of it's year soon, if you haven't had a chance to listen yet, go on be a devil, Tuesday Mornings, or of course listen again via the web.

World on the Move

Beltain Birds

May Day, Beltain, Ascension Day, whatever you call it, I hope you have a wonderful day. And right on cue the Hawthorn (May) blossom is coming out down here.

Beltain, one of the Cross Quarter days in the Pagan Calendar is a favourite festival of mine. As such a candle burned all night and I was up with the dawn this morning. No I wasn't dancing about some sacred site, but at Sand Bay by 5.30 for a spot of birding and solitude. The whole Bay was deserted, so while waiting for the birds to pop along, composed a poem for the day (don't worry I'll get the the wildlife soon)

Glisten sunlight on still wet rocks
Evaporating before others will view
Watching billowing clouds, light passes
I'm running with the Hares

Which brings me to Tuesday night. Spot of birding on way home at Chew Valley and this Hare was out in the open, with another behind. Picture isn't great but they were at the end of a field, so a digiscope shot for the record.

Back to the birds. Yesterday was a painting and birding day off. In the morning after a trip to Weston super Mud, a half hour at Sand Bay kicked off 5 Whimbrel (133), 5 Wheatear, a Little Egret and a cracking Kestrel which spent most of the time I was there hovering nearby.

In the evening after "doing" a painting (see Art blog), spent a bit of time down there with the scope. This time 17 Whimbrel, 3 Little Egret and that was about it other than a probable 40+ Dulin out on the mud, but at such a distance could have been something else as not that common here in April/May. The Whimbrell were very active though and gave some good clear views through the scope. Sadly though the Curlew have now left so no chance of comparing size etc.

Then this morning's early visit to Bay before all the dog walkers emerged provides some useful numbers of; Carrion Crow (35), Starling (40+), Shelduck (3 pairs), Male House Sparrows (13), Herring Gull (23), Whimbrel (11), Lesser BB Gull (5), Linnet (5), Little Egret (1), Skylark (7). And 2 very obliging Meadow Pippits, one of which was using a bit of drift wood to launch himself off into song and back again a number of times. Very nice piece of behaviour to herald May Day.

..... but the star of the day has to be the Peregrine. I was watching the Mippit doing it's stuff through the binoculars and on the skyline over the Point, "thought what's that"?. Ignoring the Mippit's for a moment, great views of it climbing and then attacking Woodpigeons which live around the point. My guess by the size it was a female, and three or 4 times it had a go at a kill. Although unsuccessful each time, watching the change of speed between flap flap searching and gaining height and then hell-for-leather chase was breathtaking. A Beltin' bird for a Beltain Day...ha ha ha

And finally what about this cracking piece of habitat management? The reed beds at Sand Bay are tiny, so my guess is the reed stems have been tied together to provide suitable nesting sites for Reed Buntings. By whom is unknown. But any thoughts or comments welcome.

+++++

And a postscript. Earlier today sent this article about "Birds can tell if you're watching them". thought it was interesting enough to add as a amended entry for today.

http://www.bris.ac.uk/news/2008/212017945290.html