Fun in the forest

With light winds and cloudy conditions forecast, it promised to be ideal conditions to try to catch some Tree Pipits in Thetford Forest.  Well the weather may have played ball, but the birds weren't so cooperative, with one bird singing and showing well but staying well away from the mist net.  In the same clearing were a family of Woodlarks which showed well, with one of the adults sporting colour rings, and also a Cuckoo calling nearby.

As I got the 'scope out to try to get a better look at the pipit and other adult Woodlark to see if they too were also colour ringed, I noticed a raptor being mobbed by crows over the back, so first had a quick look at that expecting it just to be a Buzzard, so was quite surprised when I got on to it and realised it was a Honey Buzzard instead.  I always find they are one of those birds that every time you see a Common Buzzard, you double check it's not a Honey Buzzard even though structurally it looks like a buzzard, but the second you see a proper Honey Buzzard, they stand out like a sore thumb being a distinctly different shape and jizz.  It showed well for a few minutes before drifting south, but despite getting the news out immediately, it couldn't be relocated.

Slow start to the day

With spring now upon us and the glorious weather continuing, I headed down the Nunnery Lakes reserve for a morning walk, hopeful of some migrants.  As it turned out, other than the first Willow Warbler of the year and several Chiffchaffs around the reserve, it was pretty quiet birdwise, so I turned my attention elsewhere.  On one of the banks round the lakes, there are three sheets of corrugated metal which have been left out and act as shelters for reptiles, especially first thing before the air has warmed up, and more importantly for photography, before the reptiles have warmed up.  Turning over the first two sheets produced nothing but a few ants and spiders but the third did produce a smart Slow Worm, which although looks like a snake is actually a lizard, albeit one without legs.  It was now I missed my Sigma 70-300 mm macro lens which I managed to break last year, the Nikon 70-300mm lens I replaced it with, although better optically, doesn't have the macro facility that the old Sigma had, and the closest it will focus is 1.5 metres which isn't anywhere near as good for photographing butterflies, dragonflies or as it happens reptiles at close range.

Deer, oh deer

Deer of all species are notoriously wary, usually requiring quite a bit of fieldcraft to get close to.  Thankfully, there are often the exceptions to the rule, and a female Muntjac on the Nunnery Lakes reserve is one such animal.  She is still a bit wary but instead of running the second she gets wind of you, over the last few weeks (usually at lunchtime when I don't have my camera with me) I've seen her quite a few times and possibly she now recognises me and realises I don't pose a threat can be fairly confiding, today even allowing me to approach a bit closer and kneel down to photograph her.

Snowball fight

When not trying to photograph birds, much of my time is spent ringing them.  One local site we visit is a garden which gets phenomenal numbers of birds with daily catches in excess of 300 birds not unusual, usually finches like Brambling and Siskin but this winter seems to be the winter of the Lesser Redpoll.  Even in my garden where redpolls are rare, this winter they are outnumbering the Siskins and this morning out of the 180 birds caught before the heavens opened, well over half were probably Lesser Redpoll.  With so many birds, it's not surprising that occasionally something slightly different appears with them and whilst extracting birds from the net, one redpoll looked particularly grey and immediately alarm bells rang.  Back in the ringing hut, its true identity was confirmed as an Arctic Redpoll.  As ever there was discussion as to who would get to ring this bird which was settled with a toss of the coin and I was fortunate enough to get the honour (sorry Nick!).

In the hand it was aged as a 1st winter male and the finer details of this cracking bird could be seen including the unmarked undertail coverts and white rump but the perhaps most striking feature was the stubby bill, most unlike any of the Lesser Redpoll we were catching.  I hadn't taken my camera with me so had to use the camera on my phone for these shots, but they are still quite good quality.

Bird Spotching

Serious birders calling it birding, the media call it twitching, magazines call it bird watching and ignoramuses (or is it ignorami?) call it bird spotting, but possibly the best name, well that according to my gorgeous 4 year old niece, is bird spotching! 

I spent today at Pensthorpe Nature Reserve near Fakenham in Norfolk with my sister, brother-in-law (who was sacrificing the North London Derby to be there!) and two nieces for a spot of bird spotching.  For those who have not visited, it is a fantastic place for families to visit, lots of captive ducks in the enclosures coming for food, but unlike the similar Wildfowl and Wetland Trust sites, Pensthorpe has much more than just ducks, the enclosures have several species of Cranes, Storks, waders and even free-flying Bearded Tits and Turtle Doves!  With such an abundance of tame birds, it is no surprise to see many photographers visiting, with the photographic opportunities endless and although I wouldn't attempt to pass off any of photographs of these birds as wild (as I know some do), it doesn't stop me taking some photos anyway.

Smew

Black Stork

Avocet

But it's not just the birds that keeps the kids entertained...

All that glitters...

I don't remember asking the cat for a 7am alarm call, but clearly he thought I should be doing something more constructive than trying to catch up on some sleep.  Once the caffeine from the morning cup of tea had kicked in and I had woken up, I had the option of opening the mist net in the garden and try to catch some Goldfinch and Redpoll that were having their breakfast on the nyger feeder or go out and try to photograph something.  I decided to leave the birds to their breakfast and head out to try to find some Golden Pheasants, a species which is difficult enough to see let alone photograph but knowing the BTO Atlas 2007-11 are still on the look out for photographs of such species for the final book, I thought I'd try my luck at a site a few miles from the house.  Ten minutes later I arrived at the site and immediately realised I had left my bins in the office, not good when going birding, but as it turned out they weren't necessary as I had walked less than 20 yards from the car when I glanced to my right and there was a male Golden Pheasant in all its finery.  It saw me and wandered into a stand of Box so, finding a fallen tree to hide behind, I sat down and waited.  A few minutes later, a bit of movement and there he was, walking across the clearing in front of me, but the light was terrible, even on 1000ISO the best shutter speed I could manage was 1/50th of a second.  I chanced my arm and rattled a series of shots off as it walked across, scurrying a bit faster as it heard the shutter.  It disappeared into a smaller patch of Box near where I was sitting then emerged again allowing another back on but largely obscured, shot before flying across the path and out of view. The resulting photographs weren't as good as I would like, most shots got binned with movement blur but with the forecast of better light at the weekend I may be back...

White Nun at the Nunnery

Got into the office this morning to be greeted to the news that Nick had found a pair of Smew down the Nunnery Lakes, but despite dashing down there straight away, there was no sign of the birds on what little unfrozen water was left.  I spent lunchtime at my desk whilst a group went down the Lakes from the office and relocated the birds on the river but as with the morning were very skittish and flighty so I decided to chance my arm again and took a late lunch.  Again there was no sign of the birds on the either Bob Clarke or E Lakes but as I walked around the bottom end of D Lake, I scanned the river ahead of me and there was the drake, though best part of 100 yards away, but no sign of the redhead.  Knowing how flighty they had been earlier and with temperature still low I didn't try to get any closer and left the bird undisturbed, hopefully they will stay around and there might be a chance of a photo another day...