A Heron of a Day

While there is another topic that I may be making a posting here about in the future regarding yesterdays personal events, I want to concentrate on what happened in the latter part of the day here.

I wanted to get out and view some wildlife as no matter how difficult the day has been, watching wildlife always help lift my spirits. So I headed off to one of the public hides that I have access to.

It was getting late, early evening, and I took the bus to the hide. I always get off at the wrong stop, and have to walk further than I need to. But as I was walking along the road from the wrong stop to the turning I needed to access the observing site, I startled a Squirrel who was racing along the fence that skirts the site. I was less than three feet from the squirrel. It is not the first time that something like this has happened, but it is always a delightful surprise when it does happen.

As I had packed the camera in my backpack and was was lugging the tripod with binoculars around my neck I looked like a typical Birder. As I turned the corner to make my way to the hide, I was met by a stranger who told me that if I was looking for Red Kites I should go to a nearby village. As the Red Kites were there and low in the sky. As the grass on the playing fields that is allowed to grow as meadows at this time of year, had just been cut, this did not surprise me as it would have uncovered many small mammals and frogs, raptor food basically. But I wanted to head else where, but I thanked the person for the information.

It is one of the aspects of wildlife watching that really helps give faith in the human race is the willingness of many to share observations. I headed down to the hide, I planned on setting up the equipment on the path leading up to the hide so that if there was anything there when I arrived I could be ready to film straight away. As I was approaching the hide I spotted a raptor, a Sparrow hawk flying off into the trees. So to avoid missing anything like that again, I set up the camera assembly. It has taken time to get the correct combination of equipment right but even assembled, it is a portable set up.

So when I arrived at the hide and spotted a Water Rail I would have filmed it through the glass of the flaps in the hides portals but the sun was directly on the glass and it would have been the reflection I filmed and not the bird. But opening the portal does create sound and the bird moved deeper into the reeds and out of view. So often a fleeting glimpse is all you get and while this is all part of the watching experience it is rubbish for filming. Even taking stills is possible with a brief view, filming a moving image requires a sustained viewing.

Therefore I contented myself with filming a Moorhen. While it is not a rare bird, I still like to film and observe them as occasionally you can pick up aspects of behaviour that aids understanding of the bird.

I had been alone when I arrived but as I was watching the Moorhen, a couple arrived. It is a public hide and anyone that has permission to come in are welcome. While I have had difficulties with chatter boxes in the past, there was no problem here. In fact they were clearly trying to be extra quiet. I explained that only if I am trying to record a song or call can chat be a problem. Again we were able to exchange information, and share the experience of watching a pair of Grey Heron that appeared to fish.

What made this couple remarkable was that she was the photographer. So often it is the male that is the photographer while the woman acts as his spotter. Therefore it was great to see that in this case the roles were reversed. I got about ten minutes good footage of the Herons. I stopped filming as I wanted to see what else would turn up. I missed getting a sequence of a Reed Bunting that flew to the base of the reeds. But it disappeared from view before I could focus.

As on Tuesday I had been a meal for half a million sanguinatarians, midges, it was pleasant not to be feeding all these blood feeders. The Hide offers a degree of protection from this, and I was able to while away a about half an hour watching not much with this couple. They decided to leave, I have that effect on people. I suggested to the woman that she keep her camera out as she left as there was a good chance of seeing a male Pheasant who I have seen there on the last three occasions I have been there, I don't know if she saw the bird, but it was worth her being ready.

I had the hide to myself for a while and the Grey Heron returned. Perched on a stake in the middle of the pond, it sat and groomed itself. I was able to watch and film for a good long while. Other people came and went, but I stayed and continued to watch and film the Heron. It is an infrequent opportunity to be able to watch and film any animal or bird in such a sustained manner.

At a distance I saw a Sparrow Hawk, at the third of mile distance I mistook it for a Red Kite at first, and one of the other Birders said that it was a Sparrow Hawk. Well we all make mistakes. When this chap left another that had overheard his tone of correction, said that at that distance he would have thought it was a Kite too. I added that we are lucky to live in a place where we can see more than one rare bird and get confused.

I was there for three hours and when I left the Heron was still there. I will be returning soon to, as when I left I saw a Tawny Owl fly over with a mouse or a vole in its talons. While as a reserve it is there to enhance habitat and biodiversity, for me this is a real gem that I will get to know better. As long as I can remember the right bus stop to get off at.

Talking of bus stops as I was going home, tired, thirsty and hungry but happy, I approached the stop and there was a young woman there playing with her cellphone, as young people do. As my tread was as quite as I try to have when approaching wildlife, she jumped when she realised I was at the stop. We joked about it and I said perhaps I need to wear a bell or something to warn normal folks of my approach.

While she was obviously going out clubbing or doing whatever young people do these days, she too had an interest in wildlife too. But she admitted that if she went Birding or such like she would be ridiculed by her peers. I told her that she should do what she felt was right and friends who ridicule her interests, if done in a nasty way, don't sound like real friends to me. I think she wanted to talk more, but her bus arrived. I hope that she finds the confidence to do what she wants and not just follow the cynical crowd