On and In the River

Yesterday, I was out again with the camera down by the river. While the Otters are not active on this stretch of river during the summer months, I do try and keep a careful watch for them or signs that they are there, but there was no sign. I was not expecting there to be any as from my observations over the last couple of years, I know that they move away from the places where there is human activity. They will still be about and may well have switched their activity to the night, but as so many of my sightings have been more luck than judgement, I live in hope.

However, as on the Monday I had seen some interesting things, like sparrows that are using vole holes as nest sites and a dipper that I think is nesting close by, I wanted to explore. Almost the moment I arrived there, I spotted the splash of a trout rising near the road bridge. So I set up and filmed the fish from above. Now I know that I have at least two fisher folks who read my nonsense, so for them I am explaining the obvious. But Trout find a spot in the stream and will use the rocks to shelter from the fastest parts of the current and allow the insects they feed on to be washed to them. This was the behaviour I witnesses and hopefully filmed. I have not reviewed the footage yet.

As it started to cloud over a bit while I was down there, the sparrows were not as active or in the numbers that they had been the previous day. However it was clear that they were indeed utilising the River Voles holes. As some did die, River Voles, when there was the flooding last September, it looks as though the sparrows have made use of the vacant tunnels. While I was watching the sparrows, I thought I heard the splash of a Vole on the water, but I just could not see it.

The main bird I wanted to see was the Dipper. I scoured the bank for a likely site for the nest and found two possibles. As I could only watch one at a time, I settled down to observe. While I had the camera ready, I settled down further from the possible nest site than I would if I were trying to film. As simply I wanted to ensure I was not disturbing the nest or the birds feeding chicks. While it took well over an hour, I finally traced the birds back to the nest site. The Nest is well hidden but I think I will be able to film the birds coming and going at a latter date.

Then on the way back home and after the sun had set, I saw where the Kestrel went to, another nest discovered. While I would like to film there, if I do so it will alert many other people to the location and possible disturbance, so the Kestrel family will probably be left in peace.