Dipper Country

One of my targets for this year was to get some shots of dippers in better light. To date, all shots had been taken in the gloomiest of conditions, under the shadow of overhanging trees and foliage, with the birds usually keeping a fair distance from me. And with either tall, steep banks or very muddy ones, getting to the right angle to get anything decent has been nigh on impossible.

Derbyshire had been suggested to me on numerous occasions by those in the know, and a couple of emails later (thanks Dave & Robert), I was sure of the spot to aim for, at a location called Lathkill Dale. A fair distance away, but the forecast for Saturday looked very promising, so another early start was in order, and by 8:30am, I was walking down the steep road to the riverside.

Following the directions suggested to me, I had a very pleasant wander alongside the river, with the first birds of note for the day being a pair of mandarin ducks, which didn't like the look of me and flew off before I could get close enough for a shot. Shame, such vibrantly coloured birds.

Various tits and finches were zipping and bobbing amongst the trees, and the hearty calls of wrens filled the air with their song. As with all such beauty spots, there were the inevitable dog walkers, but not that many at the time of the morning, fortunately. It is also one of those places where having eyes like a chameleon would help. Keep one eye on the river for birds, and the other on the path, so you don't stumble over. I tried to keep my eyes on the river as much as possible and soon spotted the first dipper.

Calling out, a blur of dark brown and white rocketed past, a few feet above the water. And it wasn't long before I could see another, stood on the opposite bank, its white bib reflecting in the mirror-like water. Bobbing, it gave me one or two looks before belting off downstream. Continuing my walk, I encountered a pair of grey wagtails, floating across the water, in their own distinctive style, landing on a scree, to potter about in search of small grubs.

At the waterfall though, I had better luck. There was a pair of dippers and they kept leaving and returning, allowing the folks there to get some decent shots of them. I initially followed them upstream, which led to the similar conditions as I'm used to, though these birds weren't shy, and I was at one point less than 15 feet from them, in full view too. They just bobbed, dipped and went about their business. Great birds to observe.

Returning to the falls, I decided to wait and see if they'd come for a show. The light was starting to go (the high, wooded valley sides don't help!) so it had to be soon. They didn't disappoint, with one landing right on the edge of the falls, to mooch about in the moss and weeds. They must have terrific grip and balance not to be washed away, given the currents and their size, but they take it all in their stride.

With the shade from the trees and the increasingly cold breeze blowing up, I opted to call it a day, and stroll back to the car. The camera hanging from my neck got the usual attention from other folks, one telling me about a slow-worm he'd just been observing. What an inappropriate name. They move like lightning and aren't worms. Wish I'd seen one - not seen any for donkey's years. What I did see though, were more dippers, one sat only a few feet from a couple enjoying a picnic on the riverside.

If only the ones in Somerset were so bold! Still, a great day out in beautiful scenery, and another mission accomplished.

Garden Birding

Birding was somewhat limited over the weekend due to a gathering of friends from all over the UK, for much amusement, a touch of beer and a great gig. So I kept my birding very local on both days.

Saturday I found myself sat in a deckchair on my parents' patio, with their cat as company, hoping to see the blackcap that Dad has managed to get several shots of. With the March sunshine on my face, in the suntrap there, it was pleasantly warm, which made up for the lack of the star! A no show, but I did get to see long tailed, blue and great tits, dunnocks, robins, starlings, wood pigeons, magpies (building a huge nest), goldfinches and a fair few house sparrows. Also over, was a passing male kestrel and a very distant buzzard.

Sunday started in a balti house and after a short sleep, I ventured into my own garden, firstly sprinkling seed out before clambering into the hide. Nothing. Not sure why I bother sometimes... So I got out, and bizarrely a pair of blackbirds arrived. Setting up a deckchair next to my hide, I sat out for a few mins, and a few more visitors arrived, though not coming too close. Then I caught sight of a bright pink bird... the male bullfinch. Excellent!

Climbing back into the hide, I crossed my fingers and hoped. It paid off. Down he came, along with his mate, and they sat in the cut back shrubs whilst alternating to and from the sunflower seed feeder. They are such beautiful birds and make me wonder why I go out sometimes when I know they're around.

Aside from these jewels, I also watched a pair of starlings, acrobatically assaulting the feeders and suet blocks. In the sunshine, their colours are stunning - such striking looking birds.

And the local robins came out to play, ending up on my camera as usual. Who can resist a posing robin? Gallery is being updated now, and I'll add more pics to this blog later this week. Was supposed to be getting an early night tonight. D'oh!

Hunting Bittern

Sunday started with a hangover - a rare lads' night out at the Peacock, and a skinful of Davenports IPA. By about 10am, the sunshine had gone and it was raining, and I found myself sat in the lounge, boots on but not laced up, looking out at the weather, and wondering if it was worth the bother of going out. Why not? Nothing better to do, other than Spring Cleaning. Upton Warren was the target, after reading that one of the bitterns had still been seen there on Saturday.

Looking chilled to the bone, Pam, Emma and the gang were just getting ready to move elsewhere, and they also confirmed the bittern had been seen, but not by them. The hide looked full, but I wandered in anyway. Within minutes of me entering, 2 of the chaps left (must change my aftershave!) but that left me with a mate, and the search for the bittern.

Took a while, but when we did see it, it was worth it. Initially we caught glimpses of it fishing in one of the channels, and it is very interesting to see how they hunt.

Herons hunt by stalking their prey, standing over the water, almost motionless, suddenly striking violently to catch it. Little egrets walk around in the water, swishing the bed with their feet, disturbing small fish etc which they then pick out, much like the herons.

Bitterns are quite different. When fishing, they seem to put their beak half into the water, almost as though they're drinking (what I previously thought), and wait patiently for a fish to get swim close enough to strike. They also eat frogs and toads, much to the dismay of the breeding ones, in front of the hide. I had got some pics of them, but it was fantastic to watch the bittern approach.

Firstly it got within range, and then stood still, but lifted its head up. Then, with its head still, it made its neck move in a wave-like manner, presumably immitating the reeds, Doing this, it then moved in for the kill, and in the blink of an eye, nailed one of the toads. But not without a fight! It had to flip it and get a better grip, with the toad's leg flailing desperately against the bittern's head and eye. Disappearing into the reeds again, we missed it consume the poor toad, but we did see the bittern wander off, back to the reeds again, to its favoured fishing spot.

So I was very glad I bothered to go out, as I witnessed yet another wonderful birding moment.

Whitacre & Kingsbury

After Friday's Spring-like sunshine, Saturday was supposed to be gloomy, so it was a pleasant surprise to awaken to sunshine. Reading about siskin and redpoll being seen over at Whitacre Heath tempted me over that way, but not this time into the woods. No, the birds had been seen at the car park feeders, so I could be sat in comfort for once.

Parking alongside the feeders, there were a few birds already around, including blue and great tits, chaffinches, robins, dunnocks and a few reed buntings. It's a good spot for photos actually, as the sun is behind you, and lights up the branches of the tree and the ground. Whilst waiting for something "good" to arrive, I decided it'd be rude not to photo the reed buntings, as they're such well marked birds.

Alas it wasn't to be my day for the target birds, as I saw neither siskin nor redpoll. However, I did get to see several greenfinches, which despite being present in my garden, have managed to avoid the aim of my lens to date.



A couple of hours sat in the car were enough to move on, and over to Kingsbury Water Park. I've not been there for a while, and wanted to have a nose at the Middleton Hall RSPB reserve too, as well as Richard's Meadow. The latter is apparently good for hen harriers and short-eared owls, though only sheep were present when I was wandering through it.

In fact the whole area seemed pretty quiet on the bird front. There were a few gulls on the lakes at the RSPB bomb site - that's what it looks like! And along the canal were a few long-tailed tits, and a great spotted woodpecker, but all at a distance.


What wasn't at a distance, and disturbingly close to the new reserve, were American Mink. Caught sight of one swimming along the edge of the canal, causing the water to froth as the fish leapt out of its way. It surfaced with a huge fish in its mouth, and, as I followed along the other side, made its way along the water's edge to somewhere it could eat in peace. Undeniably cute in their appearance, I hope the RSPB have some traps ready, because they're a real pain the **** for conservation.

Bramblings & Black Redstart

Saturday was set aside for another day over at Worcester Warriors, where they hosted London Wasps. We expected Wasps to wipe the floor with Worcester, with their squad of top players, including some current and ex England stars, but the Warrior's defence was superb. Scoring the only try of the game, Worcester then stole the show and the points with a brilliant drop goal seconds before the end.

Sunday would be the birding day, and the sun shining through the curtains managed to encourage me out of bed, despite having a hangover from the day before, and out on to the road. Targets for the day were bramblings and perhaps if I had time, the firecrest and black redstart.

Several bramblings have been seen at the feeders at Belvide, so that's where I headed, dodging the potholes down the country lanes, and eventually finding the car park. Mooching through the woods, I bumped into a couple of 'togs, stationed by the woodland feeders, hoping for a shot of the nuthatch, though the gloom and spots of rain weren't helping! It took me about 5 seconds to guess that one of them was Martyn, one of the chaps I "chat" to on the forums, and after some introductions, I left them to it, and headed down to the waterside.

Along the path were a few lesser redpolls, though they wouldn't allow me near, and soon flew even further away when another birder came along. Nice to see though. In the hide, there was just enough room for me to squeeze in, but no-one had seen the bramblings.

Plenty of other stuff around though, such as tree sparrows, dunnocks, robins, pheasants, blue, great and long tailed tits, nuthatches, chaffinches and several noisy greenfinches. Out on the lake were numerous tufted ducks and a few goldeneyes. The clouds had also parted, and the sun was providing a bit of early spring warmth.

Just as the hide emptied, the first bramblings appeared. Straight into the caged feeder though, and when they left, it was via a dense bush. Someone needs to prune that a bit, I reckon! Over the next couple of hours, the bramblings came and went, frustrating us each time by their reluctance to pose for a shot. The only saviour was a male, who chose to feed off the grass beneath the feeder for a few moments, though the light had just deteriorated to vex us further.

After one more visit, the slight breeze had started to chill my cockles, and I decided it was time to head back to Warks, to aim for the other birds.

Stopping first at Hams Hall, I was disappointed not to see the firecrest, though a calling chiffchaff cheered me up, and I had a pretty close encounter with a goldcrest. Long tailed, blue and great tits were seemingly everywhere, and down on the river side, a pair of grey wagtails bounced off the bank to catch flies.

So over to Coleshill, for the black redstart. And a bit of luck. The gates were open, and there were two 'togs already inside, so locating the bird was easy. what followed was me creeping ever closer to the bird, which bobbed on various perches, occasionally flying off, though it did allow me very close at times. A delightful bird, lit up beautifully in the sunshine and a very good end to a day's shooting.

SEOs, Firecrest & Black Redstart

Choices. Saturday was supposed to be sunny, so I had the choice of either going to find the 2 local birds of interest, the black redstart and the firecrest(s), or meet up with the lads down at Milton Keynes for the short-eared (and barn) owls. Took me about 10 seconds to decide that the others could wait, as I find watching and photographing owls a magical experience.

As with the last time, I awoke early through excitement, and was soon enroute, though this week the lack of black ice allowed me to pick up the pace somewhat. Parking in the same place, I was soon plodding through the field, and in need of a tinkle. The trees at the bottom looked like a good spot - they smelled of fox wee anyway, as I found out last time, when lying down. Mmm - lovely. Looking around, as you do when peeing, I spotted something up at the top of the field. A short-eared owl... already quartering the fields... before 9am!!

What followed consisted of me trying to sneek alongside the fields, or under trees to get as close to the birds as possible, though they kept at a decent distance, mostly. I did have some joy with the paler one, that chose to sit in one of the trees, and I also witnessed at close quarters, one hunting over the field next to me - getting some decent shots as it flew towards me, through the trees. Stunning birds - breathtaking.

By about 10am though they had decided to take a late sleep, and dunked down into the fields. This was when Ian, Joe, and then later Richard and Ben arrived. Ken was out on deliveries, and I know he's gutted not to have made it. The owls then didn't really show very much - rather disappointing. I managed to get one in a tree again, though two birders spooked it from its perch after a couple of minutes. They (the owls, not the birders) just kept dropping down into the grass, and with their camouflage, virtually disappeared doing so.

The barn owls stayed well away, so I again missed the chance of a decent shot of them, though a little birdie has told me where to aim for next time I'm in Norfolk (cheers Richard!).

Sunday started with processing the SEO shots, and I would have been content to stay sat in front of my PC, nursing a headache from the Davenports IPA the night before, but the sunshine on the window tempted me out, and over to Coleshill to see the black redstart. By then though the clouds had rolled in, and it even started to rain. Spirits were lifted though, by the arrival of Kay and Max, and also Jo (lovely to meet you!), all three wrapped up against the "mild" conditions.

The black redstart then made a very brief appearance, looking as happy with the weather as us, before disappearing into thin air, not to be seen (by me) again. Ah well, it encouraged me to head over to Hams Hall for the firecrests.

What a little oasis of wildlife! Wrens, goldcrests, long-tailed tits, chiffchaffs, robins, blue and great tits, and a distant buzzard, all spotted within 10 mins of being there. The star though, was the firecrest, and despite its "dodgy leg", it still performed acrobatics, and after a few rubbish chances, came down low enough for some pics. It was dull though, and I was glad that ISO 1000 on the camera still allows me to get "keepers"!

BMC Guide

Just a quick note to say that the BMC (British Mountaineering Council) have published the Green Guide To The Uplands, as a PDF from their website.

See: http://www.thebmc.co.uk/Download.aspx?id=350


This free publication features a couple of images I took; a Raven from Gigrin and also a Sparrowhawk from my garden.

I'm credited for the shots on page 30, with a mention of my gallery too.