Sharing the Urban Jungle

Human beings are without a doubt the most destructive of earth's many million species. We pride ourselves on our opportunism, our intellect and our ability to succeed over any other species. The progress of human 'civilisation' has relied on it. Yet hidden among these traits is one which has caused us to inflict great damage upon the world we live in - through the destruction of habitat and the extinction of large quantities of the natural world - negligence. Human venture and comfort comes first, with hardly an afterthought for what affect it may leave upon the environment.  As a species, we've thrived, and our cavalier behaviour must take at least some credit for it. But it is  traits like these that we (we the human race, not necessarily you, me or the guy over there) seem to find deplorable when illustrated in far less damaging ways by any other life form. It was estimated in 2005 that the current rate of deforestation was a slowly decreasing 13 million hectares per year. I imagine an animal or two may be displaced (not to mention displeased) by that, it's not like we offer much of a re-homing scheme. And still, were a fox to so much as sniff a bin bag in certain areas London, it would find itself on the front cover of the Daily Mail, where, after much hyperbole and hysteria at the nuisance caused, an exterminator would find themselves slightly heavier of pocket.

Having lived my life in towns and cities I have seen first hand the behavioural adaptations species have had to make to survive in this, the 'urban jungle'. Through the destruction of natural habitat as we make way for the ever-expanding human population, we have left some animals with nowhere to turn except to our megalopoli.  Yet so detached have we become from the natural world that many seem intolerant of these species. Those that, like us, are chancers, opportunists that take advantage of the possibilities in front of them. What to us may be trash, to some species is a livelihood. They thrive off the laziness and waste of humans, making a utopia of this seemingly barren habitat.  In doing so, they may cause minor disruptions in our lives: a torn bin, a stolen chip... but surely that's a small price to pay when one considers what we have taken from them.

National statistics for the UK, as far as they can be trusted, estimate that the Herring Gull population has declined 50% since the nineties. However, in urban seaside areas, among the heaving herds of tourists, the species thrives. Ice-creams, chips, coffee cups... the diet available to them is vast and never in short supply.  I have lived part-time in Brighton for seven years, and so Herring Gull are part of everyday life for me. Their boldness is incredible, but it has caused them to be seen in the eyes of many, as pests. I've heard rumour that the ruckus they raise is also quite unbearable.

One evening earlier this year, I photographed a group of three gulls who were midway through a game of tug-of-war with a bundle of bin bags. Unsurprisingly, thin, cheap plastic gave way to the gulls' sharp beaks and the wonderful bounty of wrappers and spoilt food spilt forth. From it the gulls retrieved such rewards as an entire pitta bread, leftover salad and, alas some golden foil. To us, this was trash, but to the gulls it was dinner.  Our wasteful behaviour has created a niche, an abundant food supply, and nature isn't about to let that go to waste. This opportunistic behaviour, to take what's needed and leave a mess behind is moderately reminiscent of another species.... and yet, it caused names such as 'vermin' to be thrown their way by passers-by.

Referring once again to statistics of doubtful validity (well they're not from the Daily Mail so they can't be that bad) it is estimated that per annum 7.3million tonnes of household food is thrown away in the UK alone. A staggering, disturbing figure for such a small country. To have rubbish strewn across the street is in no way pleasant, but I think burdening the blame upon gulls, foxes and whoever else may go through your trash, is a way of avoiding responsibility.  It's not your broken phones and newspapers they're after, it's that 7.3million tonnes of food. These 'vermin' have discovered a niche caused by us and are exploiting it.... and can you blame them? The phrase, 'Waste not, want not' comes to mind.

Personally, I find it quite unfortunate that these species eat trash. For the most part it's a better outcome than the food going to waste, but the amount of non biodegradable material I've seen Herring Gulls eat is quite horrifying. Eliminating food waste completely is undoubtedly impossible - we're not going to become impervious to mould overnight - but there are most certainly steps which could be taken to significantly reduce the figures. I think we'd all like cleaner streets and slightly less plastic-filled gulls.

Like a stubborn toddler, it seems most metropolitans aren't keen to share their dirty delightful streets with anything more than humans and smartphones. With the population becoming more and more disconnected with nature, it is saddening to think that for some, their only remaining connection is their love to complain about it and the oh so huge nuisance it is for them.  Having wiped out as much of the natural world as we have, should we not strive to live harmoniously with those that have adapted to this new habitat we've created, not shun them away?

Wildlife Watching Supplies Neoprene Lens Cover Set

If you've invested in a lens it's important to protect it. The last thing you want to do is knock it and end up with a chip or a scratch.  Neoprene covers are a great way to prevent this, they provide a soft padded covering for your lens. Wildlife Watching Supplies' cover is made from sections of shock-absorbing 4mm thick water-proof neoprene. Your lens is effectively safe from knocks and scratches. It also offers fairly effective weatherproofing, but not complete -  there are small gaps between the neoprene sections. For full weather proofing I suggest their bag cover.
 You can choose from a range of different patterns/colours for your cover, mine is in Advantage Timber camouflage, and is reversible to be Olive Green.

 In the field, I find it makes it far more comfortable when holding your lens, the soft neoprene is certainly nicer than the metal! And it'll help prevent it overheating or even getting too cold if you're shooting in extreme environments.  My only qualm is that it can make operating switches on your lens slightly awkward.  By pulling back the section covering them it will make it a lot easier to use.
With lenses that zoom, or have retractable lens hoods, the set will contain a neoprene section with Velcro, so it can be strapped on when the lens is zoomed in or the hood extended, it can then be quickly and easily removed when you are finished.

 Whether or not you will definitely benefit from one of these can depend on what sort of photographer you are, if you're going to be out in all terrains and in all weather, then make sure you have one. Even if you aren't though, I would personally advise owning a cover for your lens, just for the peace of mind, and to keep it in top condition!

Wildlife Watching Supplies Bean Bag Review.

For me the Wildlife Watching Supplies  Double Bean Bag is a vital piece of kit for any photographer.  I rarely go out photographing without it.  I find I use it much more than my tripod - not only is it lighter and more easily transported but it can be used in a greater array of situations. The Bean Bag provides a solid support for telephoto lenses, but is also useful for macro and wide-angle work. It's adaptable, and that's the reason I love this product so much. You can rest it on the ground, on car windows, fence-posts, the branches of trees (the list goes on) and it will provide you with a stable base from which to shoot, allowing you to get sharper images even in low light conditions. I've found myself shooting at as low as 1/80 of a second shutter speed and still retaining sharp images.

                                                       Male Blackbird taken at 1/80th

The Double Bean Bag comes in Advantage Timber camouflage and is made of a durable material. It has two liner bags which you fill with grain or seed (personally I use rice), it also comes with a padded shoulder strap, so it's comfortable to carry when you're out for a day of photography. Although if it does start to drag down on your shoulder (it weighs about 2-3kg) you can always take out one of the two liner bags, halving the weight, and it will still provide you with a great support.

                                             Resting on a wall to provide a solid support

Ground level work is where it really comes into its own, it allows you to shoot at eye-level with ground feeding birds and water birds and even mammals, in a much more comfortable fashion than if you were hand-holding your camera. The lack of shake from your hands will also help you compose images better as well as keeping them sharper.
 Over the past year I've been working on a project photographing Grey Wagtails at my local park.  The Bean Bag has helped me a lot in this project, enabling me to get eye-level images as they feed along the edge of a small canal.

                                                              Grey Wagtail feeding

I hope now you agree with me, this is a must-buy for any wildlife photographer. It's versatile, sturdy and easily transportable, you'll find yourself getting shots that may otherwise not have been possible.
 Downsides?  There aren't really any, if the weight is a problem for you, removing one of the liner bags is an easy solution.
 If you don't already own the Wildlife Watching Supplies Double Bean Bag, what are you waiting for?  You won't regret it.
You can find it here

Slightly Late Storm Damage

My patch is closed.  It has been for seven days now, one whole week.  Can you guess why?  Well remember that storm eleven days ago? That's who's to blame.  Strangely, I visited the park about twice after the storm before the park closed.  So I have no idea why they waited so long.  While I was there I did see a couple of fallen trees, and there was a lot of branches everywhere.  But why keep it open a couple of days before closing it if there was any danger? Personally, I would have thought the park should have been checked out the day after the storm.  That would be more logical.  Right?  Oh well there is nothing I can do but wait.
 Recently I've been working on photographing Grey Wagtails. surprisingly  they seem to be tolerant of my presence (at last), so it doesn't go too well with me to be away from photographing them for so long.    It's just so nice to spend time with a particular species.
I may have taken a few shots of them so far.  One day I did take about 400 images of one bird.  So I do need more, and I do have more. But for now this is all  you can have of my collection.  Once I've got more shots I will do a full write up, but until then that's it.  Just to keep you in suspense, they do come close...

So I am hoping they get their gear together over in the parks department, the park has been closed way too long.  Surely it won't take any longer to clear up?  Only time will tell.  But I live in hope...

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.

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.