Deerie me -WARNING Contains Spaiders

Hello strangers! Many apologies for the long silence; work has been absolutely crazy the last few weeks, with 12 hours days the norm & days off a bit of a rarity. Compounding that, it's been a bit of a funny time of year for wildlife in the local area; the summer migrants are by & large departing, but winter arrivals haven't put in an appearance just yet. Vegetation is still very high in most sites, so the few occasions I've managed to get out for an hour or two, there hasn't been a huge amount to see!

On the plus side, I have recently upgraded my main lens to the spanking new Canon 500mm f/4 IS II, so I've been itching to give it a proper test-drive! Thankfully, the last week or so, I've managed to get out and about a little bit & I'm pleased to say it's performing very well!

I spent a few hours one afternoon on one of the local private lakes, watching a pair of Little Grebes fishing. I really enjoy working with these entertaining little birds. The female seems to have a particular penchant for eating newts  - while the male tends to stick to minnows & sticklebacks.' 

Little Grebes

Sadly 'Lonesome George' - a male Great Crested Grebe I've been watching for the last few years, is once again an eligible batchelor. I'd hoped that, after he paired up with a female this spring, he'd succeed in raising a brood. Unfortunately, after two failed clutches, his mate seems to have disappeared & poor George is all alone again. Hopefully, better luck next year.

Lonesome George

I was also pleased to be able to spend a couple of hours watching the resident pair of Hobbies catching dragonflies over the lake at Coate Water - although the site was otherwise very quiet for this time of year.

Hobby

Common Darter (Lunch)

Last weekend, Lou & I spent a few hours in a hide in the Midlands. It's a site where I've previously had good luck with Muntjac Deer, but no joy this time around. For the first 90 minutes or so, a Buzzard was perched close to the hide, which meant that very little was stirring, apart from a few rather handsome pheasants. Once it left, the bird life picked up a little, with a pair of Great Spotted Woodpeckers and one of their juveniles spending some time on the feeders. Although we didn't see any Muntjac, we were rewarded with a pair of Fallow does and their fawns, which were very nice to see.

Fallow Deer - Fawn

Now that some of the hay fields have been cut, it's starting to get easier to see hares again. I managed to get fairly close to one more or less at eye-level through the stubble. They seem to have had a good year - we saw over a dozen in one field, albeit rather distantly. 

Brown Hare

One of my local pair of Little Owls have also had a successful season; I was delighted to spot two owlets out and about on my last visit to their territory.

Little Owlet

This morning, we made the decision to get up mega-early and head down to the lovely RSPB reserve at Arne, on the edge of Poole Harbour. We especially like to visit during the autumn, when the Sika deer are rutting. It's still a little bit too early for that yet, although we did hear a few of their squeaky bellows this morning. We arrived just before sunrise, and spent several hours wandering around the heathland and mixed woodland. An unexpected bonus on the way in was coming across a Nightjar sitting on the entrance road; I'd thought that they would have all made their way across the channel by now. We also spotted a Little Owl flying off a fence by the side of the road. 

Little Owl - Not from Arne

The Sika deer were out in force. We saw around 50 over the course of the morning; although mainly does and fawns/ juveniles. Unusually, we only came across a couple of stags. They seem to be mainly congregating under the chestnut trees, and appreciating the windfall nut mast - as were the multitude of Grey Squirrels! 

Sika Deer - Doe

Sika Deer - Fawn

Green Woodpeckers are also abundant at Arne - although tricky to get close enough for a decent shot. However one did pose quite obligingly for a few minutes on a dead tree limb in the sun's first rays. We also spotted a Wryneck flying through the glade, but couldn't quite see where it had landed. 

Green Woodpecker

It was a good day for raptors, with distant Ospreys out in the channel, Sparrowhawk, Kestrel and Buzzards. On the Salt marshes, we also saw 9 Spoonbill, Cormorants, Little Egret, Shell Duck, Greenshanks, Herons, Curlew and various gulls.

Small birds were also out in force; highlights were the resident Dartford Warblers, but we also saw Treecreepers, a female Stonechat, Long-tailed Tit, Great-Tit, Coal-Tit, Gold Crest, Gold Finch, Chaffinch, Swallows, Housemartins and  Wheatears (in flight).

Stonechat

For me, the invert life was a particular highlight; we found a nest of hornets, which were quite something to watch, as they carted caterpillars and other insects into the chambers at a great rate. I also saw my first Raft Spiders today - a big tick, after several years of looking for them. We saw at least 10 spiderlings (which are still big enough to make most people feel rather uncomfortable!), but no adults today.

Hornets - Trying to be a bit arty

Hornet Nest

Raft Spider

Think that's probably enough for now - I promise not to leave it so long between posts in future! 

Back from the brink?

Despite a very busy day at work, the beautiful sunny evening yesterday tempted me out for a quick scoot round some of the back roads to see what was around. The hedgerows are all in full bloom, lots of bluebells & wild garlic flowering in copses, and plenty of bird-life zipping around. We took a bit of a different route (well, OK - we got mildly lost!) and ended up in the lanes around Lambourne, where we came across a herd of around 25 Fallow Deer, including several bucks who are just re-growing their antlers. They are still shedding out their shaggy winter coats, so are looking a bit scruffy at present, but always nice to see - especially a couple of melanistic youngsters. We also got some nice eye-level views of a trio of Red-Legged Partridges, foraging on a small village green. 

Fallow Deer

Red-legged Partridge

As usual in this area, plenty of Buzzards, Red Kites and Kestrels to be seen on the way. We made our way home via Aldbourne to see if we could pick up a hare or two. We did get some cracking views, but they were wide awake & very active, so zipped off at high-speed. We also found a small group of the local Fallows, browsing along the edge of a copse - including one of the leucistic individuals. We were also privileged  to get a glimpse of a Tawney Owl hunting in the twilight. It glided back into a copse with it's prey; presumably to chicks? Lou also spotted a Stoat dashing into the undergrowth.

Today, we decided to put the WWT membership to good use & popped over to Slimbridge for a pleasant few hours; mainly as Lou was keen to see some of the wild Common Cranes which have been hanging around the reserve lately. They're one of her rather long list of favourite birds! We'd heard that there was even a pair nesting on the site, but weren't expecting to get more than a distant view through the bins. How wrong we were!

Common Crane

We were surprised and delighted to find that one pair have decided to nest directly in front of one of the hides, so we were able to get some great views of the female sticking her head out of the reeds, as she waited not-so-patiently for her mate to relieve her. We were lucky enough to witness a changeover between the pair, wit the male flying in & cautiously wading across the marsh to the nest. His mate seemed very pleased to get a chance to stretch her wings ; not really surprising - the volunteer observer on duty said she'd been on the eggs for the last 7 hours! They are such graceful birds, it's wonderful to see them getting a toehold back after centuries of persecution and habitat loss. It would be wonderful if they succeed in raising a chick this year; it would be the first known in England for about 400 years!

Crane Pair - at the nest

Crane - on the nest

An added bonus, on the same pool, was a beautiful Spoonbill, in full breeding plumage. We see these birds a lot on our trips to Spain, but this was our closest view of one in England. Also present were a Mute Swan, Mallards, Shellducks, Canada Geese and Greylag Geese. I also saw a watervole swimming across the channel,

Spoonbill

Spoonbill - displaying

There were lots of young waterbirds appearing already all over the reserve - particularly Coots & Moorhens. We saw several real hatchlings, plus some surprisingly well-grown juveniles - all very cute! We also got a good (though not very close) view of the male of one of Slimbridge's pairs of Kingfishers, taking fish into the nest hole for his mate. From the same hide, we also enjoyed watching the antics of a pair of Reed Warblers, and Lou had a great view of a Reed Bunting; shame she didn't bother pointing it out to me! 

Coots - Adult & Chick

Distant Kingfisher

Polchard

Later this afternoon, we decided to check out a new site for us; a local beech & hazel copse, which seemed promising. We saw a lot of Bank Voles, presumably foraging for hazel nuts, so I've got a few ideas for working with these in the coming weeks. Another highlight was a large - and rather noisy - rookery, obviously with lots of young chicks, to judge from the noise!