Red Alert

Calling all units, there has been a wildlife overload. That, to say the least was what happened on Wednesday whilst plans were being made for the next day.  A wildlife overload.  Now I knew we were going to Richmond Park for the Deer Rut, but little did I know of the other plan, and I'm sure little do you know of that plan also.  So it is that I must keep you in suspense until it will be revealed.  Which will naturally be after I have written a, small bit on the Deer. They did after all come first.

We left out at  6 O'clock -nearly on the dot, but not quite.  For the time of morning there was a rather surprising amount of traffic. Considerably more than I would have expected. Am I being naive to think that it was too early for your average worker to be on their way?
 By the time we arrived the sun was coming up, but was concealed behind cloud.  So the red mist of dawn was a no go.  However the early morning light is a treat.  I haven't really been out photographing that early before, well at least not with a subject to stand in it.  And I would say I had a fairly willing subject....

Unless my (somewhat small) skills of observation have failed, I will tell you with all sincerity that the above and below Deer at one point while we were there, rutted.  I will also allow you the knowledge that neither won the fight.  It was as far as a human could tell a draw. Both stood their ground. The same could not be said for the spectators of this fight -I among them.  The stags were pacing full of testosterone at fairly close range. We beat a hasty retreat.  I say spectators, for that we were, but that doesn't mean that there was a large group surrounding them. No. Just five photographers.

To make up for he lack of mist I tried some back-lit shots to show up the breath, better than nothing, and kind of mist.  This stag didn't seem to do anything but roar, so he wasn't bothered by me taking a couple of pictures of him.

The title of this blog was not just in relation to me having a wildlife overload.  There's more to it than that.  Another hours drive and now it is time to reveal what else I was up to.

Oh yes.  Just look at that.  A real sight to take the edge off the cold of an open hillside.  It was still freezing though.  Rather than more words how would you like more pictures?

OK that's only one more, but that's about all I got which I still kept.  The weather you see was not preferable. For the most part the sun was hidden away, so colours were quite muted.  Oh well.

 So now do you see the connection with the title?  If not I will give one more reason.  Just one.  Today I saw my first Redwing of the season, and there were lots.  So you see? Red alert?  Red Deer, Red Kite, Redwing.  Simple.

 Hah, looking at how much I have so far written this looks to be on track for the longest post in a good few months.  So I hope you have actually read it all, or you may not have seen the connection, Code Red.

Ruttin' Weather...

...My Deer Fallow.

 I'm sure that here an apology is needed for that somewhat desperate title. But all in good humour, and more than slightly true.  You see the weather was not the kind which one would hope for, especially when you're not wearing a coat.  I was not. Neither did I have the cover for my lens (see here) and this was far from preferable. But in the name of photography I was out there.
  Ah,  seem to have forgotten to mention where I was, thus you would be excused for being unaware of the location meant when saying 'there'.  To resolve this I will simply answer, Richmond Park.  My reason for being there like so many at this time of year was for the rut.
 I imagine earlier in the morning would certainly be better, but it was a slightly spontaneous trip, decided half-an-hour before we left out. So half an hour had passed since the clocks chimed ten before we arrived.

The clouds were already covering the sky by now, and were even then looking ominous.  Twenty minutes later the rain started. The rutting didn't start though.  Well not for the Red Deer, the Fallow's however were at it. By no means do I want to be considered an anti-Fallowist, but they just don't seem as wild as Red Deer to me, sorry my Fallows.
 Red Deer, they just seem to have something wild about them....

As far as the Red Deer went the closest thing to rutting was some youngsters practicing for the years to come.

The lighting was far from pleasing, but still I managed my best deer shots, so that at least was pleasing.  Plans for another visit this year are in the making, so hopefully before too long I may have some better images to post.

They may be Humble...

... But Their Population's taking a Tumble.
 House Sparrows are in decline.  Serious decline.  Since the 1970's more than 7 million have gone from the UK alone.  As I'm sure you can imagine this isn't good news.  However, according to BTO studies the decline has just slightly levelled off.  That on the other hand is good news.  But will it last?  The decline has largely been down to a lack of insects for the chicks when they are in the nest.  Primarily a lack of Aphids, a key food source for their nestlings.  Aphids too are having a hard time of it, what with the introduction of pesticides since the 2nd World War.  And, if you think of it, in the long run the House Sparrows decline is also down to these harmful chemicals.  So if you do use them in your garden, I would strongly advise that you stop, or get a more eco friendly one.

 When my grandparents (on my fathers side) moved into their house twenty years ago the garden held a population of House Sparrows.  It did so for a few years after but then they were gone.  Vanished.  I know that there is a small population just a few minutes drive away, but in the close vicinity none.  So it came to a great surprise to all of us when last week we saw a male House Sparrow on the garden feeders.  The first Sparrow here in fifteen years.  Quite something.  The question then popped up though, will it stay?  If it does stay will it find a mate and breed next year?  These questions have yet to be resolved.  Hopefully the answer to both will be yes, but we will wait and see.

OK well the habitat is not perfect, the grass somewhat too short to hold a large enough supply of insects, but there are a lot of hedges for nesting and several gardens around there do feed birds throughout winter.  So there could still be hope for the Sparrows return to this neighbourhood.

Back to the Patch.

Last week you may remember me mentioning that I have, to some degree neglected my patch of late. If you can class the last six weeks under 'of late'.  Today however I decided that it had gone on for too long.  I set foot once again in the park.  It was by no means a bad patch day either.  Valentines Park, being comprised by tarmac paths, man-made lakes and well manicured grass is not exactly the most wildlife friendly of parks.  As such, it makes finding a bird you perhaps would elsewhere have dismissed something to get excited about.
 Today was a rather lucky day.  For only the second time -I think- both Green and Great-Spotted Woodpeckers were seen!  And if that wasn't enough there were two Greens.
 Now I'm sure on many people's patch this is not big deal.  Something to expect even.  But on mine it's a pretty momentous occasion.

A total of 26 species was recorded, which, considering my best patch day list is 37 is not to poor a count.  I find winter to be by far the best time for getting the higher patch lists. Hopefully it won't be long now....

Skellig Islands

I warn you now that this will with most probability be the longest post I have done....Ever.  It just wouldn't do justice to the trip if it wasn't hugely long.
 We had an early start, around 6:30 and left shortly after 8:00.  I was at first worried about getting sea-sick on the 7 mile journey out to sea, but my worries were soon packed away when I saw how calm the water was.

When we got on the boat the driver asked if Caleb and I wanted to sit at the front for a better view, we must have looked like photographers.  Don't think my 500mm would be a give away would it?  Must get a bigger lens.  I really appreciated him doing this as I would probably have pulled a back muscle otherwise straining to see behind me.  It was, we decided, like first class at the front - you could sit with your legs stretched out and your back up with a view of the whole sea ahead.....luxury....and two hours there and two hours back.
 First off I finally got Gannet on my year-list.  Then, about twenty minutes later a pair of Manx Shearwater came by, my first lifer of the day.  Typically there had to be one species which wouldn't pose, the Manx would just come by and go straight out of camera range again.  Of all the shots I did get they are either badly exposed -shooting into the sun- or off focus.  Nice birds though, just a shame they live so far out to sea.
 It wasn't long before we had our first auk, a probable Guillemot, then the first Puffin of the day, another lifer.  This was followed up by a Razorbill my third lifer of the day.
 There were four dogs on the boat and one, who had a bad paw, liked to sit at the front of the boat.  As we were travelling we caught several glimpses of a marine animal, and every time the boat would slow the dog would rush to the front of the boat, but whatever was in the water didn't resurface -typically  camera-shy animal number two.  Finally however it did surface and I got off a burst of four shots.  It's a three FPS -frames per second- camera so it was up for a short while.  It was a Pilot Whale.  My second species of Whale this year.  It popped up on the other side and I managed a more atmospheric shot.  Well I think so.
 Another interesting thing in the water was a Sunfish.  All we really saw was a fin waving in the water, but if you strained your eyes a shape could just be made out underneath the surface.  The pictures of the Sunfish weren't very interesting, just a fin, so no point posting them.  The whale was more interesting.

Well after 2 hours we were approaching land and the amount of Guillemots doubled, there were small flotillas of about 20-30 birds.  Nice to see these birds close up as before they had been way out to sea.  Shame there weren't any close views on lands, only a small congregation on one of the rock faces.

Well when I tried to stand up after reaching the island I had trouble - my legs had gone stiff from sitting for so long.  So you can imagine I was over joyed to find out we then had to climb a long way up some very steep steps in the sweltering sun.  But it was worth it to see the Puffins - fantastic birds...But they just don't seem real.
I might as well get this over with now, the Sun.  Well....the sun was high.  This was not preferable.  Getting a good exposure was near impossible, especially as the white on the Puffins breast was so reflective of the sun.  So I resolved to finding a Puffin in the shade to photograph.  For  once I was actually happy with an image.  I know, rare.

The harsh light did make this shot possible though, so I shouldn't complain.  Another shot I am relatively pleased with, no real editing either.  Just a crop.

Something I noticed was that the sun was so hot that a lot of the birds on nests were panting as they can't sweat. This is something you see with Thrushes too, when Blackbirds or Robins sunbathe they open their wings and beak.  But they actually want the sun.  I don't imagine the same can be said for the sea-birds.

Next was on to Little Skellig where you get a couple of Gannets.  Just to give you an idea of how many this is a shot of the non-busy side.

About 25,000 pairs nest here, a fair few.  On the other side of the island there were so many I would be surprised if any of the rock they were sitting on was visible!
 Surprisingly I didn't see any Gannets diving, at first I thought this was unusual.  But thinking about it Gannets can go hundreds of miles to get food, so as we were just a few hundred metres away seeing them dive would be unlikely.
 Around this Island were even more Guillemots and Razorbills, and much closer than before.  Sometimes only diving when the boat almost ran them over.

Now here's an interesting fact I learnt recently.  The pigment that makes the wing-tips of a Gannet black strengthens the wing.  I wonder if the same applies with Greater-black backed Gulls?  I know that most gulls have black-tipped wings, except white-wingers of course.

The trip back on the boat was just as fun as the trip there.  With even closer views of Manx Shearwater -still no good shots- we had some nice views of Gannets and I managed to burn my ears.
 Did I do the trip justice?  11 images must be a record for me so yeah I think I did.  Definitely the longest blog I've done yet, the only rival could be Dungeness which has 10 images.  I made sure this had 11.  On the subject of blogs, I was devastated to find out I had missed the anniversary to my blog.  Oh well.   My blog is now 1 year and eight days old.  Not bad.