Back to the Island... Brownsea

It's been a couple of years since my last visit, so with the promise of good weather another visit was made to Brownsea Island a fortnight ago.

Facebook had been showing me lots of Brownsea 'on this day' shots, so with a sunny day predicted I headed back down there on Monday 03 October. Target - Red Squirrels. 

Arriving an hour early for the ferry, I left at 'Newbury time' not Andover, living closer does make a difference! A bacon roll was in order from the cafe by the Ferry. Perfect. The sunny day I left in Andover was yet to catch up with me, the wind was so strong! Waves lapping up the side of the sandbanks ferry, cormorants  diving right next to the ferry kiosk. Even they didn't want to venture out in to the channel.

 A choppy ferry ride and on the Island by 10:10 a.m. Perfect.

A bit of a speed walk to the hides on the lagoon, don't know why I still do that? I figure I always try to get there early before the crowds build up - It ain't Blashford Ivy Hide, so don't know why.
Seems I need not have rushed. The strong wind means everything is far away, sheltering behind the sea wall. 

A white flash goes by, grab a quick snap and it turns out to be a spoonbill, dropping in to a group of around a dozen little egret.In hindsight, that was probably the biggest number of little egret I've ever seen, but they aren't Spoonbill so I casually dismiss it.
Looking back at the picture I spot a Peregrine perched up on one of the bushes on that island. Lucky, happy, far away, but happy enough with that. According to the Dorset Wildlife Trust, FORTY NINE Spoonbill were on the lagoon at the weekend, but then they buggered off to RSPB Arne.  Maybe this is why I dismiss the big Egret gathering.

A few more pics of Godwits and the Oyks and it's off for a walk around the Villa and woodland hide. All very quiet! I only spot one red squirrel on that part of the island. A great spotted woodpecker is busy feeding on the Villa feeders and a Raven overhead, but nothing else, that I could see in that wind.

Quite a few Oystercatcher! Most I've ever seen!

A quick look around the churchyard on the island, I do like churchyards - and I see a circle of photographers around a load of fallen trees. Always worth a look.. And there they are, Red Squirrels enjoying the hazelnuts one of the photographers are putting down, Is it cheating? Baiting? It's not like putting a stickleback in a fish tank and goading kingfisher, so I don't feel guilty. Click click click.

 The squirrels are getting braver - one camera bag has nuts in and the battle is on!

Standing around taking pictures is quite tiring, so I sit down at an elevated position and before I know it, a squirrel is jumping on my back and looking in my hood! I don't recommend it - lots of warnings of 'squirrel leprosy' on the island, but so far I'm still in tact.  Quick check, yep, still got me nuts.

A quick snap of the Avocet, as I wait for the ferry. The closest I got to them this time.

A good day.. Again.

Thanks for reading. 

Chris

Pennington - 23 September 2016 (pics)

That long awaited day out with the camera!

A White Rumped Sandpiper was listed for most of the week, of course that meant that it didn't show on the day I went down, but was nice to be back down there again.. The usual suspects on show. Grebe, Wigeon, a few pintail and lots of curlew sandpiper. A very showy ruff, a couple of not so showy dartfords and a little stint - a new bird for me, so came home pleased.

Not much more to say, just a few pics of the day. click to enlarge. thanks for stopping by,

 black tailed godwit.

 Ruff

young buzzard, which i hoped might have been an osprey, briefly

 Lymington - Yarmouth ferry.

 Little egret

 preening godwits

 Snipe (in the middle)

 Little stint

 small copper butterfly

 curlew sandpiper

 Ringed plover and dunlin

 who were spooked by something

 Curlew sandpiper

 Stonechat

 coooow.

 Spinnaker tower, way off in the distance.

Did I mention we might have hedgehogs??

Ok, If you have read the last blog piece or follow me on social media ( thanks by the way) you will know we have a couple of hedgehogs visiting. Enough to make me buy a trailcam and film FOUR in one video! We knew we occasionally had three in the garden, or maybe just once we saw three, I forget, but the beauty of the trailcam is that whilst we were celebrating three in the garden, the trailcam caught another at the top of the screen. FOUR! Not a family group of youngsters, fully grown! Who has seen that many in a garden before? (on an estate, where the in and out hole is next to a road)!

We are lucky.. Gotta keep remembering that as I buy more mealworm and hedgehog food.
I've thought about opening a Hedgehog Wine Bar, where people bring wine to watch our hedgehogs, or sponsor some food to get their own private hog clips... Although I'm busier than ever, I'm not earning at the moment, is it ok to cash in on hodgepigs?

So how did we get so lucky?

Ive noticed a bit of hedgehog poo in the garden for a while. Small single bits over the course of the Spring, then one day, when sat in the conservatory we noticed a bum disappear in to the bushes. The next night - the same... And that started the feeding. I didnt want to put cat food down, or event specialist hedgehog food down, as we get enough cats in the garden anyways. So opted for meal worm.
Cats wont eat them, but according to the t'interweb, hedgehogs love them.
And so they do!!

They wouldnt eat the specialist, (expensive) hedgehog food for a while so mixed it with even more meal worm, but they eventually came around to the idea. I still put meal worm in, but that's more to stop any cats. Does it work? I don't know.

Borrowing an old photo of the garden, (it's dark as I write this) I have marked our key hedgehog areas.

So what has the trailcam been capturing??

First clip, Four hedgehogs!!

There is one we call Scratchy. A female who itches a lot!

Sometimes I wonder if they can really see in the dark, lots of random stumbling in the dark.

And just when you find some food, someone sits in the food bowl and hogs it all!

Could go on all night posting videos, the trailcam batteries arent lasting long! Each morning there is around 40 clips to go through - but, I consider that to be a good problem to have :-)

Off to the South Coast tomorrow to see the white knuckled sandpiper, or whatever it is... Bet I just see Dunlin...

August came and went...

Whoosh! Where is this year going? From a very draggy Winter and Spring due to the whole redundancy thing, this Summer has flown by. Due to training three days a week, having the kids two days a week, life, and trying to watch the money a little bit (whilst I'm not earning) I am seriously missing an adventure to the coast or somewhere.
The last day out with the camera was on my birthday (In May) to Titchfield Haven, I think.

It's not all doom and gloom, we had a fab holiday down in Cornwall, staying next to St. Michael's Mount. I have missed Cornwall so it was very nice to be back.

So now that migration is in full swing again, I hope to get out and about with the camera again very soon.

The few times I have been down the lakes I have been lucky enough to snap the Kingfisher again. There are still two youngsters flying around, the beaks are changing and I believe we have a male and a female. I guess at some point one at least will fly off somewhere new to find a mate and raise a family, hopefully not for a while though.

The stew ponds are still the place to snap them. They can perch high up in the trees and are very easy to miss, but every now and then they return to a perch half way up the pond and in good view of the camera.

Randomly mid month a family of common tern appeared on the main lake. Don't know where they came from but they seemed happy eating a few pike before they moved on somewhere else.

The cygnets are now four months old, lots of wing stretching and feathers getting whiter each day it seems. It is still a few months before they will be flying, hopefully I will get to see that, as it's quite amusing to watch.

At home we have managed to grow a couple of decent sunflowers, the wild flowers have also come up trumps as they keep producing new flowers for the insects and bees. Definitely a good move planting those.

Whilst doing the garden (ok, its rare, but it does happen occasionally) we bump into one or two frogs who live in or under the bushes. I really want to add a very subtle water element in the garden, a sneaky one that the landlord wont even notice.

                          

The big news from the garden is that we have hedgehogs. Ok, we knew we did, seen the poo and noticed the gaps under the hedge, but recently we have had a few sightings which led us to put out meal worms. We can view them from the conservatory, its been nice sitting up, watching them arrive each evening. Two are definitely living in the garden, a third appeared the other day, which led to me buying a trailcam. What was I saying about watching the expenditure??  Oh well.
Only after viewing the footage on the first night did we know we had FOUR hedgehogs visiting!!

On the job front my time with BBOWT is sadly coming to an end. I have learned so much from my three days a week with such nice and knowledgeable people. I'm sad to wind down my time there but the reality is I need to be earning again. Today I had a £700 car bill, again.

Until I gain full time employment I hope to continue with the BBOWT Volunteer Work Parties on Wednesdays. It's good to still be doing constructive things and keeping in touch with people who have quickly become friends. It just gives me the freedom to job hunt (which seems to be a full time task).
I remain very grateful for the chance to be a Conservation Trainee. Who knows what the future holds. Just last Thursday another unexpected door may have opened.

Tales of the riverbank - July

Time is going so quickly at the moment! Seriously, how are we over halfway through 2016?
Been back on the lakes for half a year and try to get down each Monday and Friday mornings on my days off. I don't visit too much at the weekends as I prefer to walk around when it's quiet. You see more and can chat more with the few other people that are there.

The cygnets number four, from the six that hatched, and they are now two months old. Wings are developing fast as they become a much more recognisable smaller edition of their parents.

The real plus for me this month has been the return of the king fisher. After an absence of four months I finally saw that blue flash a fortnight ago. Since then I have been trying to snap them. Have wanted to use my new (longer) zoom lens on a kingfisher since I bought it, so was delighted to see them back.

The blue flash

It appears we have at least two juveniles, looking at their beaks. I have seen three at once.
The youngsters perch high up in the trees, meaning they are harder to spot initially, but watching the stew ponds you don't have to wait too long before they drop into the water and back to the trees, enabling us to keep an easier eye on them.

I've been practicing, trying to get a water shot, either of them diving in or out. work in progress but got a few I'm pleased with.

Ratty is harder to spot at the moment. They are still in good numbers but with the river banks so overgrown, its harder to see them. Often its only as they swim across the river or eat one of the river plants. Managed to snap one doing just that.

Tried to snap the dragonflies as they bomb around the lakes, that's not easy either!

My first wader at the lakes, a Common Sandpiper flew about for a little while on Friday.