Goshawk, Hawfinch Spectacular...plus a small review of the last few weeks

Being my birthday week I decided that I should do something special. I received a special invite to spend a week in the Masai Mara, unfortunately due to date clashes I wasn't able to head out. Joys of a full time job ;)

So what to do???? As the time drew nearer Scotland was calling me back for Black Grouse in the snow but hearing of a new Goshawk hide in Spain it seemed like an opportunity not to be missed. So almost at the last minute and with thanks to my good friend Felix dates were made available for me and on Wednesday morning I headed out of Gatwick, destination Madrid. The 150 mile drive to the village was spent dreaming of a possible Goshawk showing and observing the migrating raptors, white stocks etc. Love watching hundreds of mixed raptor groups consisting of black kites, booted, short-toed eagles along with various smaller species including Lesser Kestrels.

Arriving early afternoon I was taken to  hide for a couple of hours. Great opportunity to get my bearings and thinking of what shots to get. Always recommend that you spend some time observing your surroundings and thinking of the shots you want rather than shooting everything that's around.

What a couple of hours.....flocks of Hawfinch descend to the feeders with numbers reaching 38 at one time. What a sight and pointing the lens was a bit of a challenge as I didn't want to miss any of the action. Fights, displaying, signing but no copulation...possibly too early. 

Hawfinch - Female

Hawfinch - Male

Back to my earlier point....good to have a few shots in mind, as situations like this fill you with excitement and confusion.

Hawfinch - Fight

Hawfinch - Male

Other species included much loved Crested Tits, Great tit, Long-tailed Tits, Siskin, Chaffinch, Greenfinch, Great Crested Woodpecker, a stunning Short-toed Treecreeper and a couple of Cute Red Squirrels.

Short-toed Treecreeper

Goldfinch

Greenfinch

Red Squirrel

Red Squirrel

After a couple of hours I headed back to my room as now I had been awake for over 20 hours and was knackered but happy. Start times where finalised as news hit me the Gos visited 15 minutes after I left.......I better not repeat the word that left my mouth!!! So an early start  would be best, as it didn't make a kill.....phew!!!

At the crack of dawn we met up with Felix and hopes were high that we would have a silent assassin turn up early in the day.

After set up and almost straight away the Hawfinch arrived. After about a hour and out of nowhere and as silent as a feather dropping a huge raptor maneuvered through the trees and bang.....One dead pigeon....shouldn't fall asleep in the open....or is that should!!!!

Goshawk

Now...... 'PPPPLLEASE stay'......'eat it and don't take it away' was going through my head as we composed ourselves at the sight of this stunning juvenile male Goshawk with an almost black face. (Later I would find out it's possibly a new bird not seen before)

Goshawk - Pluck the feathers before eating

Interestingly he removed the spine and neck first

He stayed for about two hours eating its prey.....bones and all!!!! During this time a common buzzard was calling from behind us but the Gos didn't give a hoot.

The stare is so evil I wanted to enhance it by increasing the shutter speeds

Full frame portrait - sometimes not so evil

However what is that circling just above the tree tops.....now it is nervous and starts to mantle.....could it be?????

Goshawk - Mantling

Yes a sub adult male having a look but deciding to perch in the distance for a short while. Hopes of a fight was being whispered by us both....not to be as we know this male was injured at the weekend....possibly by this large new male or one of the adults a short distance away.

After the distant Gos left our new companion relaxed and continued to have its breakfast. Only a partial head on mantle as the buzzard flew past obviously deciding there would be no scraps. What was surprising to me was how vocal he was throughout his meal. 

Goshawk - Partial Mantle 

When all that was left was the ribcage off he went straight over the hide taking it with him for afters. 

All that was left after two hours

We spent the rest of the afternoon photographing the various small stuff and also had a quick visit from one of the squirrels this time for a quick drink as the heat was building up.

Great-spotted Woodpecker

Hawfinch - Do you think we should nest here???

Hawfinch - Looks Good To Me!!!

Crested Tit

Hawfinch

Late in the afternoon and again out of nowhere a juvenile female Goshawk made an appearance but no pigeons to be had..... the Hawfinch were a little too quick or more likely too many as she was spotted......alarms calls went out as everything fled in all directions.

She decided to hide in the bushes. Due to the alarm calls being heard every couple of minutes this wasn't fooling anyone.

She then decided to have her photo taken and perched towards the back of the clearing before heading off not to return.

Goshawk - Juvenile Female

The day came to an end and possibly one of my most memorable birthdays to date. For years Goshawk have been on my wish list and up to now not been able to photograph them. I was heading back to my room happy and looking forward to beer or three.

Happy Birthday to me....couldn't get any better I thought......or could it???

'Fancy seeing eagle owls?' Came from my host........'What?' I know he was checking two nest sites but didn't want to ask too much. 'Fancy seeing eagle owls?' Was repeated and double taking Felix, simultaneously looking at each other 'YES!!!!!'

On route we were being told a couple had hatched at another site, which I hope to visit in the coming weeks. On arrival at this nest and in the twilight were three stunning 1 week old chicks. A quick record shot from distance is all I could manage in my excitement of seeing my first nest. The adults are huge and one day I will get some photos of them.

Eagle Owls - Chicks 

On our way there and back we could see why this is a good place for the Owls. Hundreds of rabbits everywhere and when I say hundreds I mean hundreds!!! Also a stunning Short-toed Eagle was perching in a nearby pine. Too dark for photos though.

Thank you to Felix and my host for a great couple of days. I will be back with guests for sure!!!!

I have been asked what I have been up to for past couple of months. So a quick recap.

I am currently scoping the local area for the rare Wiltshire Wild Red Deer. Unfortunately only seen a dead doe but have it on good authority where they are and hope to catch up with the small numbers soon.

While in the area I have seen a possible Rough-legged Buzzard. The jury is out but a couple of good raptor chaps think it is. Just wish I hadn't deleted the photo of the white un-barred tail as this would help in identifying.

Rough-legged Buzzard

I have also been lucky on the Owl front. All 5 UK species sighted within 10 minutes of my house. New Little Owl pair, Long-eared, Short-eared, Barn and Tawny all seen hunting. Just can't locate the Long-eared roost but more than happy to see my first Swindon sighting.

Little Owl

Short-eared Owl

Also had a quick visit to the Borders of Scotland for a fantastic session in Alan's Kingfisher hide. Unfortunately in extremely bad weather but still came back with some nice shots. Will be back in May for another go.

Kingfisher - Male

Mull trip episode 4 - otter hunting

We're having a nice, relaxed time here on Mull; the sun's been shining, the sky is blue - and there is always the chance of spotting some amazing wildlife around any corner. We've spent the last two or three days ambling around a few of our favourite spots - and checking out one or two new ones. 

Otters have been one of my target species this week, so we've spent quite a bit of time checking out some of the most likely spots, with some success. We've seen the local large dog Otter several times, including getting a good view of him grooming himself on a rock, before resuming working the kelp beds for butterfish. We also saw another huge male briefly on Loch Spelve, from the track to Croggan, but it vanished very quickly. We've yet to see a female or youngsters this year, but hopefully before the end of the trip!

Dog Otter at sunset

Also at Croggan, I spent a little while under the lush green shade of the beautiful, twisted boughs of the Sessile Oak woodland, photographing the antics of a pair of Wood Warblers as they brought food to the nest.

Wood Warbler

Along the track from Croggan, I also had a close encounter with this rather engaging little Sandpiper, a beautifully coloured Fieldfare (which sadly was not at all willing to pose for me!) and a family of Lapwings with a very cute, tiny speckled chick. Despite the parents' warning calls, it was too distracted by a tasty-looking bug to do a very good job of pretending to be a stone! Lots of Greylag Geese with goslings of various sizes dozing on the Loch edge, too.

Sandpiper

Lapwing Chick

Driving on from Croggan towards Lochbuie, I was very pleased to come across two stunning Fallow deer does grazing in a meadow on the edge of a stand of ancient mixed woodland. These ladies were looking absolutely gorgeous in their dappled summer coats, especially with the sunlight streaming down on them! 

Fallow Deer

A visit to the beautiful bay at Ardalanish is always a wonderful way to spend a few hours. As well as the spectacular views across to Jura, the wildflower-laden streambed & orchid-studded dunes attract a good variety of birds and butterflies. I had fun photographing a gregarious family of Wheatears of varying ages.

Wheatear - Female

Wheatear - Juvenile

Wheatear - fledgling

 I also had a pair of Sedge Warbler in the reed beds by the stream. 

Sedge Warbler

There are lots of moths and butterflies, such as this lovely Small Tortoiseshell and High-brown Frittilary.

As well as the ubiquitous Hooded Crows!

An unexpected added bonus was a trio of Red-throated Divers in the bay. Not too close in, but wonderful to see these lovely birds in full breeding plumage.

I was also back for another look at the Mountain Hares yesterday evening, and was rewarded by a very obliging beast, right out on the shorter grass. We saw at least 5 individuals in the course of the evening, so they seem to be doing well.

In the same area, I also got some really good views of the resident pair of Hen Harriers - both the male & female this time. Both birds were seen quartering, with the female coming close at times. I even witnessed a couple of distant food-passes, which were fantastic to see.

Visiting a smallish, freshwater lochan added a few more species to our list. We spotted a fledging Cuckoo, still being fed by it's tiny adoptive warbler parents. There were also two Black-throated Divers, 4 Red-throated Divers, Little Grebe, as well as Turfted Duck, Herons and more Geese. I was particularily interested to note a pair of Whooper Swans, which flew in to the head of the loch just at sunset. 

Round Loch Scridain, we've mainly seen smaller birds, although we've seen both of the pair of White-tailed Eagles which nest across the loch flying past several times. Curlews standing sentinel above their chicks have been nice to see, as well as juvenile Goldfinch, Rock Pippits, Meadow Pippits, Sky Lark and Sanderling

Meadow Pippit

Curlew & Chicks

On the mammal front, we'd been commenting that we haven't seen too many Red Deer down by the loch this year, compared to previous visits. Apparently, this is down to the very high numbers of midges about after the rains, as the deer hate these airbourne pests & tend to keep to the hills when they are particularily bad. However yesterday evening, the stiff  breeze must have lured them down, as we had several groups of young bucks and more mature stags grazing in the meadows along the road, all with their antlers still re-growing & covered in velvet.  

We also clocked up another mammal species in the form of feral goats, with a small flock grazing along on of the rock crags above the moorland. Usually they stick to the more inaccessible coastal cliffs, so it was great to see a few in relative comfort! 

Goat - Nanny

Just to round things off, I've just been watching a Tawny Owl hunting in the courtyard of our farmhouse. It even landed just below my bedroom window. Too dark for photography, but always a buzz to see!