Film of a red Kite sitting in her nest on Eggs

While not the best film I have ever shot, nor is there much happening, but you can see the yellow wing tag, otherwise the Red Kite would be very well camouflaged. The film was shot at some distance, so that this protected bird was not disturbed. If I can return and watch over the bird again I hope to film the chicks when they hatch too.

The Bees Knees

As today is the last day of winter, here is a a Bee resting on a flower to remind us of the summer to come.

Common Toad

A couple of weeks ago I mentioned that I had seen and filmed a frog in my yard. Well I seem to be having a brain storm as what I meant to say was that it was a Toad. Does that mean I am living in Toad Hall?

Anyway, brain storm over here he is in close up.

Shoveler Duck in Eclipse Plumage

Here is an interesting bit of film of a Shoveler Duck in his Eclipse plumage. When I shot the footage I could see that it was a Shoveler from the shape of its bill but it was the plumage that had me fooled until I was able to look it up in my field guide. This I had left at home as when I first ventured out it looked as though it was going to pour with rain. But it was one of those days when the right things just seem to happen at the right times. Thus when I arrived at the location the clouds had parted and I was blessed with bright sun and even when the clouds did obscure the sun it was a nice diffuse light.

I am hoping to return to this location in the next few days as with winter here now, I just never know what to expect there.

Frog by Night

A few weeks ago I mentioned spotting a Common Frog in my back yard, well it was the Owl that drew my attention to it first. Well I film her and I have finally got the film sorted out and here it is.

A female Common Frog Rana temporaria, at night and hopping away.

Dancing Crane Fly

At the end of July I spotted a crane fly on the kitchen celling vibrating as if she were dancing. It brought to mind a song from the eighties called “Dancing on the Celling”. I did want to film that but there was no way I could get up there to film her.

It is one of those aspects of behaviour that can be misinterpreted. As if it were outside, most people would assume it was just the wind or air movements that was causing the vibrations. When in fact she does this to waft her pheromones out to attract a male and mate.

Well about a week later I had just come back from the supermarket when I noticed a crane fly out side doing the same. It may be the same one, but I just don't know. Anyway, I got the camera out and filmed her. Once I had got some footage I went back and unpacked my shopping and put it away. As she was still there I was able to get some really good close up shots of her.
As I always lean something new from watching wildlife, this time I got to see just how beautiful she was. I also leant that I needed to clean my kitchen windows.

Well here's the film of this female crane fly Anisopus fenestralis

Stinkhorn

One of the advantages of my current situation is that I have had some more time to get on with dealing with my video back log. And here is a film of another of the fungi from my local woods, Stinkhorn, Phallus impudicus.

The Stinkhorn is quite unmistakable with its thick white stalk and black honeycombed cap, covered with a sticky foul smelling jelly. You will often smell the rotting flesh odour first. The jelly contains the spores and it uses flies to disperse the spores. The stalk rises from a jelly filled papery egg shaped sack. Quite common in deciduous woods in late summer and early autumn, quite inedible.

While on the subject of video, I understand that a couple of my videos on You Tube have gone Viral. When I heard that I thought it meant that the files were corrupted, but apparently it means that people are emailing them around. Work must be boring. Actually it just came to mind that if the bankers had spent more time on You Tube...

My new video camera is delighting me the more I get to use it. One of the problems with many is that the auto focus struggles to cope with obtaining a sharp focus on a flying bird. The manual focus normally being operated by pressing buttons is just not fast enough and often requires the videographer to move attention from the subject to the camera. However my pre owned Sony has a ring on the lens that makes it much better for wildlife photography. Another aspect that has pleased me is that the batteries that power the camera also fit the IR light. As these often are brand and model specific, it can cost an arm and a leg to buy the batteries. As well as adding weight to the equipment I have to lug around.

The other function that I am pleased to discover is that the camera can use a wired remote controller. This is something I have seen on top end professional cameras, and well out of my reach, but the controllers are obtainable. Again for wildlife filming this makes the camera ideal. While I did do some research before hand, even I could not have guessed that this really would be so suited to my needs.

Spider spinning her web

Yesterday I spoke about my pet spider, or am I the pet human? A couple of months ago she appeared in the kitchen and as well as building her orb web in the corn of one of the windows, by the frame she spun a cocoon where she laid eggs. Well I could not bring myself to evict this single parent, and her only rent was to catch the odd fly that ventured in. While she would come out on to the web when it was dark, mostly she stayed quite and still for hours on end. Occasionally while doing the washing up or filling the kettle (I save energy by only boiling the water I need), she would rush out to grab a tiny fly that would stumble into her trap. As she is only half an inch long, that's about 12mm, it was not until I trained the camera on her did I realise that she was herself in a little woven shelter too.

I have filmed her a couple of times over the months, and yesterday I filmed the hatched spiderlings. Only the day before they were in their cocoon Today when I looked she was gone. There are still a few of the young spiders there, but it is all over for this nest. At last I can clean the window now.

I had wanted to get the film on to the computer, but I already have over thirty gigabytes of video that I have uploaded out of order, its the pedantic filing system that I have got. Also when I checked I just had no room on the hard drive, so that bit of film will have to wait for now.

However I have another film of a Spider, Lepthyhantes leprosus spinning her web all in glorious close up that I shot a couple of months ago. While on the topic of spiders, following my post about loving the unlovely, a comment was made about getting bitten by spiders. Well in Britain our spiders don't bite nor are they venomous, so while I do encourage folks to respect the diversity of critters, if you do live in a place where creatures can injure you it is best to respect them from a distance.

On the topic of videos, I had an email from You Tube as Friends of the earth had posted another Video and I try to watch there stuff. But in looking around I discovered that I have had my stuff watched nearly four thousand times. Well that's a lot of people I must have bored.

Loving the Unlovely

While it can be relatively easy to get people excited about all the cute, cuddly and obviously beautiful wildlife, it is more difficult when we are talking about creatures that are seen as ugly or that generate loathing.

I well remember as child visiting the Sun trap Centre in Epping Forest, on a school trip and seeing a Kestrel for the first time. I pointed it out to the teacher and that thrilled everyone. I then, to the obvious horror of the teacher and most of the other pupils, took a large Beetle to the teacher to show her. But the tutor, probably an education officer, at the Sun Trap centre was thrilled as it was a male lesser Stag Beetle. It was a quickly learned lesson that the majority of people don't like many of the creatures we share the planet with. Also as several of the boys and a couple of girls, tried to grab the beetle as they wanted to stamp on it. This incident lead to me having a fight at school a few days latter, well not a fight but where I was beaten up by a girl as I refused to fight. I had always been told never to hit girls.

So while I had been praised for spotting the Kestrel, I became a figure of ridicule for like and protecting a beetle. Add to that I had been beaten up by a girl. It has never been easy being Green. Kermit and I are soul mates.

As I have grown up and older, I have discovered just how selective people are about what creatures they love. I have know people who love their pets, yet in their gardens they wage war on every insect that walks and flies. When it comes to slugs its genocide. Even with a beast as magnificent as an Eagle or a Harrier they suffer because of what they are perceived to do, at the hands of some.

So while I value each and every aspect of the Flora and Fauna we share our globe with, I don't particularly want to share my home with beasts like flies, midges or beetles. Just as I do not want a fox coming into my house. They are better in their habitat and me in mine. Nor do I use insecticides to kill flies in the house, not least because I don't want to breath in these chemicals myself. That's partly why I tolerate a spider or two in my home. Another creature that seems to generate loathing and hatred in some. My Ex who never wanted to harm anything would run screaming from the Bathroom if one that had fallen into the bath. I earned my hero status many times with women by rescuing many spiders from a watery grave. On a similar note recently on a bus I rescued a wasp that get trapped on the bus. While it didn't cause any screaming, everyone moved from one side of the bus to the other as the wasp flew around trying to get out of the windows. As I had one of my test tubes in my pocket that I use for collecting insects or other environmental samples, I was able to catch the wasp and release it at the next stop. The Bus driver told me that I should have just killed it.

Even my window cleaner thinks that I should clean up my yard, although he never told that to me, it a village and these things get back to me sooner or later. But if I had a neat and tidy yard it would also be sterile and I doubt that I would have a newt and a frog in my yard. Nor would my resident Robin find the insect food that keeps him there and feed.

Well here is a film clip of a House fly Musca domestica feeding on the nectar of Hawk weed. I think it is a beautiful critter, in its place.

However, to placate the folks that don't share my definition of beauty, here is something I am pleased to share too. From a podcast that I listen to Birds and Nature from a Pittsburgh radio station, I heard of this Blog by a woman called Monarch Chaser who is currently down in Mexico with the monarchs where they overwinter.

Bibionidae Fly

One of the joys of watching wildlife it that I can lose myself in the moment. Sometimes my mind is working overtime, trying to work out the details that will help me latter identify a species, or by observing the subtleties of behaviour discover what this particular animal or bird is doing. But most of all, I can find myself my inner humanity.

There are many times when I do worry about the state of the planet, and there is a lot to worry about, but getting out and seeing the wonders of our world both excites and calms me. It reinforces my reason for fighting for the environment, in a small way, I have no delusions that I can or will do more than apply a sticking plaster to the wounds we inflict upon our planet. However, getting out and seeing what we share the planet with makes life worth living.

While I have covered some serious topics in my posts of late, for a while I want to just concentrate upon what is so special about wildlife. Not least because I am researching some much more serious topics for latter postings. Thus I need to have something positive to balance the negative of the acts of environmental vandalism that is going on.

So as a start, here is a film of a Bibiondae Fly, I think the species is Dilophus febrilis feeding on the nectar of a cow parsley.

Grove Snail

Here is a film of the White lipped Grove Snail. The Grove Snail, while a common mollusc has a great deal of variability in the banding on the shell so it can be difficult to determine the species. It is a scientifically important species, as it is one of the species that proves Evolution and natural selection.

The banding provides camouflage from thrushes, it main predator. The greater the variation in the banding the better hidden the mollusc is in the grass. Thus more likely to breed and hence the snails evolve to avoid predation. As agricultural practices have changed over the past century so the variation has kept pace with these changes, thus providing an example of evolution in action.

Cattle in Conservation

Because the landscape in the UK countryside is shaped by the activity of man, using domestic animals to manage nature reserves is vitally important. In the past traditional farming and agricultural methods created habitat that wildlife was able to utilise.

At Seaton Snook, a nature reserve near Tees Mouth, cattle are used as they eat the long grass. This in turn encourages new fresh growth of new grass and of other herbage that in turn provides habitat and food for the invertebrates that are the start of the food chain.

As Tees Mouth is an important National Nature Reserve, this provides food for the birds in spring and summer, while the fresh growth vegetation encouraged by the cattle grazing in turn provides grazing for migrant geese and swans in the winter.

The Flight of the Red Kite

I hope that my reader will forgive me for this ego massaging posting. Earlier I tried and failed to film a Red Kite, I went back to my cataloguing of my footage. This was a clip that I shoot a little while ago.

There is an analogy with shooting film or taking photographs with the way that a field biologist works on collecting trip. The scientist will collect specimens over a few weeks yet it will then require months of work as a result of that expedition. In effect that is what I am doing with my video film. As I catalogue the film so that I can find them again, I am also listing clips that will eventually get put together into films. Also I frequently discover that if I film other establishing shots or linking footage I can then do something justice. Even if it is rough justice.

However this clip of the gracefully flight of the Red Kite stands on its own.

I am fully aware that while my filming is not yet up to the standard of the pros, I can see where I am getting better the more I film. The trouble is that with wildlife I cant say cut and ask the bird or mammal to do that again. Their union don't allow it and its in their contract.

One of the things that has surprised me was when I looked at the number of people that have viewed my junk on you tube, I have clocked up over a thousand views. As my stuff doesn't involve gratuitous violence nor crass and juvenile behaviour, I am surprised that anyone has viewed them at all.

Well that's my ego massaged, I had better get on with some work.

Badgers and Orchids

Because of a couple of long very busy days, by five in the afternoon I found myself falling asleep. So I decided to go to bed. Getting back up at ten, once I had eaten I decided to use this time productively. Therefore I went off to check out the two new badger setts. While there is nothing significant to report with them, I am curious why these have appeared at this time.

In the normal course of events, less dominant female badgers will move to other setts and this helps prevent in breeding. Also males will be driven out from a family group again preventing these males from mating with sisters and other closely related group members. Additionally, while the family group maintains a large central home sett, that group will have smaller satellite setts where different members of the family can go off to cool off or get away from tensions. Much like the way that humans can and will avoid other members of the family to maintain harmony.

Therefore, while having one new sett starting within an existing territory is rare, it does happen. However, having this happen twice appears outside what happens normally. It could just be that it has not been recorded before, so at the moment I am working on the hypothesis that something has happened that has disturbed or disturbed another sett elsewhere.

I may never find out what has caused this to happen, and the two new setts are settling down quite well, thus while this may be a curiosity it could also be that this is quite normal. What also has me wondering is why the dominant male has allowed this? As the old Brock became a road kill in February and a younger male took over it could be that this is the special circumstance that is at the root of this. In some ways it shows just how little we know about even common animals.

This relates to other work I have been doing. I have been busy preparing a report for a site looking at what species are there, what species are missing and what improvements can be made to increase biodiversity. While much of the work is looking at what foods are there for a particular species, then overlaying these matrix networks, it is possible to work out where there are gaps in food plants or insects on a site. Therefore, it then becomes relatively easy to see where habitat restoration work is needed.

However, sometimes it is not that easy, as you can provide the right foods, the right conditions and a species that you would expect to be there just is not present. It is often what we don't know or yet understand that is the important factor.

Equally, a species may be present yet because we don't have any knowledge of behaviour or lifestyle and behaviour, to know what is needed to encourage this species. On this site there is, apparently, a rare orchid but I cant find any substantive information regarding its needs to be able to offer any real help as to what needs to be done not only to ensure its survival or how to improve the habitat to encourage its numbers. This also means that not knowing what the needs of this plant are, any other work that improves conditions for other species could inadvertently harm this orchid.

I have not yet visited the site in Yorkshire, I can not and will not reveal more than that about the location, but I hope that by seeing the site will provide some clues as to what work if any could and more importantly should be done.

While I don't claim to be an expert, there are holes in what we know about natural history that means we can not assume we have all the answers. That is why watching and studying wildlife is so exciting and fascinating.

Badgers, Butterflies and a Muck Heap

Following my sighting of Badgers mating I went to an elderly man who lives in the village who has been watching Badgers for years. I knew that he too had seen this years ago. I know the reaction that he had when he told others, as I have had the same reaction that of not being believed. Myself and this gentleman share that experience but also the experience of seeing remarkable behaviour.

One of the interesting things I have discovered is that this man is nearly eighty. He has never revealed his age before, but as he is beginning to really feel his age, he is starting to think that he no longer has to try and protect the Badgers single handed. Something he has been doing for years.

While there are fewer people with the understanding of the natural world that are prepared to endure the difficulties and inclement weather to keep these badgers protected, there are enough to feel that the local population is not at serious risk. That said, the North East of England always tops the league when it comes to act of animal cruelty. Further, there are still plenty of failed laboratory experiments that feel that activities like Badger baiting is still worth carrying out. Even though it is illegal, people (these failed laboratory experiments) are still a serious threat to the Badgers. That is why I am careful about not revealing to much about locations.

That was why I was worried that the sett had been disturbed. But as I found, it was in fact that two badgers were setting up home. The Brock appears to be an outsider. Males will get driven out of the sett by the dominant male, the Old Brock who has the mating rights. So it is a logical assumption that he has been travelling looking for a new territory. Also young females like this Sow, who is about two years old, I have seen her grow up from a cub, has become attracted to this new male. This movement of males and pairing with young females is one of the ways that ensures that close relatives don't breed. While it does happen, that normally only happens when there is small isolated populations.

One of the evolutionary aspects that have enabled Badgers to be as resilient and successful as they are, is that the female can and will delay the implanting of the fertilised egg(s). The gestation is normally about four months, but badgers always give birth at the end of February beginning of March. They give birth as the food supply starts to increase, if they gave birth in the grip of winter they would have problems digging for the earthworms that form ninety percent of their diet from the frozen soil.

I will be watching the sett carefully over the coming weeks and months as it is likely that other young females could well join the group.

As well as this checking that I did today, I went out trying to film butterflies. I did get some interesting footage and one that I personally have not seen before, I will have to check my books before trying to name it, but I doubt that he is called Fred. The location where I saw the butterflies is new for me. I had asked permission to venture on to the land for something else, but it took time to get that permission so the original reason has passed. However, the land owner told me that the pasture was also rich in wild flowers and insects. Therefore I took some time today to see what was there. Within ten minutes I had seen eight different species of butterflies as well a numerous insects. Indeed the place is as rich as promised. The only problem that I had was that the sun was high, full and hot that meant the butterflies were very lively. That makes it impossible to film. Well for me. I will return and see what else may be lurking there.

Latter in the day as I was thinking of home, I went via a footpath that goes through a farm that keeps horses. Because of this and the fact that they have a nice muck heap, its a great place for insect eating birds. Indeed the sky was full of Martins. I did stop to see if I could film them in flight but I need to work out a plan to do that as they are to fast to do that ad hock. But I did stop to see if I could film the Pied Wagtails. This required me stopping right at the muck heap. As one of the people at the farm said; “that's no bed of roses” Oh the joy of filming wildlife.

Sex Kites and Videotape

Yesterday I had all those mundane things to do. Not very exciting but they had to be done and you cant buy a slave at Tesco. Therefore, I was not expecting that much exciting to happen today. Also when I had finished doing my chores, I had to go to the Metro Centre (a big out of town shopping centre), never my favourite place to visit.

However the weather was sunny and I thought I would enjoy watching the wildlife along the route. While the bus was trundling along a red kite came into sight. Not that unusual and as my regular reader will know any day that I see the them makes it “A Red Kite Day”. Much better than a red letter day. What made this sighting worthy of comment is the bird was flying on a parallel course to the bus. It stayed that way for nearly two minutes and it came within fifteen yards of the omnibus too. It was one of those moments when I wished I had carried a camera. Great to see though, and had the bus not had to pull up to a stop the sighting would have lasted longer.

There were three main reasons why I wanted and needed to go to the shopping centre, the first was that I needed some more video tapes for the IR camera. While I have some on order via mail order, when I did my observations of the Deer recently I used what I had. So I had to get some more. While I have plenty for the other camera, this one uses a different format. Therefore I had to spend over five pounds each on three more. Also I wanted to check on the times of some of the buses as I am planing on doing some wandering. You will need to keep reading here as if I can get the access I have something special I want to go and see and film. I also wanted to get some of the regional bus tickets that will allow me to get out and explore some of the great places there are in the North East of England.

The last thing that I needed to obtain was a new colander, that's a straining device for food. I though I had better add that as I know that I have gotten myself into difficulties with my American readers who have different meanings for words that us Brits take for granted. My old colander that I have had for over twenty five years started to split. My Exs, both thought that I was a skin flint for not replacing it years ago, but it worked well and why get rid of something that is working well.

While I was looking at the kitchen utensils, I also looked at the kitchen knives. As my British reader will know in the news there has been a lot of debate about knives and knife crime. While I don't want to see people carrying knives as a weapon or potential weapon, there are times when a knife is no more than a tool. I love cooking and I do have a couple of decent kitchen knives. However the paring knife I have is a cheep one and the handle is becoming loose. So I wanted to replace this for a good quality one. I did find a Sabatier one, not cheap but it will last my lifetime. However what made this purchase worthy of comment was just how little attention the shop paid to the need to need to carry this home in a safe and non public manner. I had to ask for something to wrap the knife in. The woman even acknowledged that she hadn't thought about that when I asked how I was supposed to carry it home.

Also while on this topic, there are times when I do have the need to carry a knife. I am sensible and do not carry it openly in public spaces, but some conservation work does require using bladed tools like a knife. There have been calls in the press for knives to be banned and the carrying of them to result in a mandatory prison sentence. I can see nothing but problems, as people who have a legitimate reason for carrying a knife, a fisherman is one that springs to mind, could end up being sent to prison for going about their lawful business. The problem is the people who are carrying a knife as a weapon Further, apparently there are some young people who think that there are safe places where you can stab someone in a fight... All nonsense and it seems to me that the real difficulty is one of education.

Coming back home, I found myself on a crowded bus. The service to the village, while it could be better, more frequent, it is not that bad. While during the day the buses are not full, they are well used. It is when I find myself travelling at peek times that the importance of these services become highlighted. Because of the number of people on the bus I nearly missed seeing a couple of Badgers that were traversing around the fields of one of the farms close to the village.

As it was only six in the evening I wanted to discover what was going on. As it is the school summer holidays it did cross my mind that it was possible that the kids had disturbed the Badgers, as it is not usual for badgers to be out at this time. While I know that some kids can be a bit of a nuisance at times, the vast majority are just thoughtless rather than bad I did not think that this was likely to be the reason why the badgers were roaming at this time of day.

Therefore, I did not even stop for a cup of tea, I was gasping, and grabbed my camera and went out to see if I could find out what was occurring. While I could have waited for the bus again, I also knew that I was just as likely to get there as fast on foot.

As I got near to the satellite sett where the badgers were likely to have come from, I encountered one of the know poachers. He has a Lurcher and Terrier, classic poaching dogs. I said hello and he seemed quite nonchalant and friendly. So I was bold, and asked him if he had seen anything that could have disturbed the Badgers. He was quite open about the fact that he is a poacher but he would not do anything to harm the badgers. But he had not seen anything that could have disturbed them.

I went off felling reassured to see if I could find the tracks of the Badgers and to see if I could find any disturbance. There was non except for some fresh digging by the badgers. I could see two sets of tracks one from a sow the other from a Brock. I followed them and they did lead to the farmers field and there was indications that they were feeding and gathering bedding. As I don't have permission to go onto that farm, I could only watch from the boundary.

This was at least an hour after having first spotted them from the bus, but the badgers were still there. Further I worked out what had disturbed them, it was hormones. While I could not see clearly, I could see they were mating. I tried to track their movements but in the long grass I lost sight of them but I was able to follow the paw prints back to the sett. I am not sure but I think the male is new to the area he looks quite young but the female is about two years old and they appear to have set up a little love nest. I will have to keep my eyes open and see if I can work out what is going on. But seeing Badgers active in daylight is very rare indeed, seeing Badgers mating is almost unknown.

Bats and Beetles

As anyone who has tried to photograph or film anything in flight can tell you the hardest part is getting and holding focus. Tonight. I discovered that for myself again. I was sitting having a cup of tea following my dinner this evening, while I had the television on, the programme was drivel. So I looked out of the window, it was past dusk and I saw something fly past the street light. While it had been to fast to tell what it was, I guessed that either a bird or a bat was feeding on the insects and moths that buzz around the lights. So tea forgotten I was straight out with the camera. This was going to be a good test of the IR video. Indeed it was a nocturnes bat, and I could see it taking moths, or at least the moth that I could see disappeared as the bat flew past. So I set the camera rolling and tried to film the bat. I got two chances but both times I missed it.

As bats are corpuscular, feeding at dawn and dusk, I will try again but I will expect to have many long waits though.

Although today I was pleased as I went out with the aim of filming butterflies and or insects and I got some great footage of Cardinal Beetles mating. I also got some other nice bits of film too. Watch this space. Interestingly, while I was out I met a chap who gave me some useful information regarding the Deer in the woods. As there has been some thinning work going on this has changed the movements of the Deer, and what I was told matched with my own observations of Deer tacks along one of the tracks. But more importantly he also told me that Badgers have started to be sighted at a particular spot near the village. While not surprising, I had often wondered why they were not seen there before. As we were talking a buzzard flew over. I just wasn't fast enough, as the camera takes a minute to switch on and from our vantage point the trees quickly obscured the bird.

Part of the reason I had gone out was to look at a specific location were I am hoping to film the Deer. So the additional information was quite timely, and I did see fresh tracks. However, where the trees have been thinned it now leaves me with less cover to film them. I am sure that I will find the right spot though, and if I do get them on film you will get to see it here.

While the impact of the thinning has been noticeable, the overall effect will be beneficial to the larger mammals. And while the ruts left my the heavy machinery has damaged some of the places where the rare orchids flower, this year there are less of them, as the ruts have filled with water they are providing some interesting micro habitats. I suspect that next year we will have more frogs, toads and newts breading here.

It was very hot and even in the shade of the wood I was dripping with sweat, and I was sure that I must have been releasing lots of odour to alert the wildlife. Therefore as I was busy filming a rather interesting fungi I was surprised to see a vixen and two cubs. I was quickly trying to get the camera set up but before I could a shout from a child made them run off. That unfortunately is one of the problems with the long summer school holidays.

Voted Official Scarecrow

In yesterdays posting I told you of a community group that were looking to take on a derelict piece of land. Following a successful meeting with their local authority they have been provided a lease for the land and will be creating thirty allotments, although they have followed my advice and will now make them all half size plots, so sixty allotments, as well as cleaning up the rest to provide a wildlife haven.

Well over the weekend they were there clearing the rubbish and cutting back the undergrowth. While there were twenty odd that were part of the original group that started on Saturday, by the end of the Sunday they had over sixty people working as volunteers there. They got far more done than they ever expected. All the Allotment plots are now marked out, as are the main path ways.

They have a pile of rubbish to remove though, they tell me its about three skips full. It could have been more but they have kept the different types of items separate and what can be recycled will be. Further, they found items like copper pipe dumped there, and this they have already sold to provide funds for the project.

However, the best news was that they found a fox with cubs in part of the area that will be kept for wildlife, as well as an adder colony. The snakes did cause the only disagreement of the weekend, as one or two of the volunteers wanted to get rid of them, but fortunately sense prevailed and they will be carrying out work to improve the habitat for them. It is unfortunately one of the problems of community projects that different people will not always see the value of the wildlife. Fortunately as they are protected even those that are a feared of snakes will have to lean to coexist.

At this point, I have to say that this I was informed of last night in a phone call, then just as I was writing this (I know that this is really just typing and not writing), got another call. Even more good news. Firstly one of the volunteers who turned out is also one of the parent governors of one of the local schools, and the school would like to get involved in the project. However the best news was that another volunteer has connections with the owners of the adjacent land. They are going to allow the community garden to run a water connection from a metered tap so that they will have access to water. This only came about because there had been a discussion about if they could or should burn some of the rubbish. As one of the conditions for the use of this land from their council is no fires because of the lack of access to water this volunteer offered to ask the owner of the land about access to the wet stuff. They got an immediate yes.

There are other items that may be donated too. There may be some scrap wood for a couple of sheds, and even more interesting someone knows of or has, I was not totally clear on that, a large greenhouse that if it can be dismantled and taken away the project can have.

I know that a great deal of work over the past three years has gone into the preparation for this day, but even the people involved have been amazed by the strength of community that has made this happen. But for me the best aspect of all was that one of the women I was helping last week and had been in tears of despair over the whole project, was now genuinely overjoyed at the colourful display of Wellington boots that turned up. What's more they have voted me to be the official Scarecrow, at last a real role for me!

Filming Wildlife at Night

As I have posted about some rather serious issues in the past few days I thought I would let you know some good news. As I mentioned previously, a couple of weeks ago I ordered and paid for an Infra Red lighting system, well it arrived today. I had been having kittens (worrying about it) as I had received a letter from the Royal Mail informing me that a parcel that either I was sending or receiving was damaged in some way. Thus I needed to identify what could have been in the parcel. As there was only one thing that I had sent, I told them what that item was, and they agreed that an item similar was among the items they were trying to repatriate to the owners. But as I also have a couple of books due, I will soon have more books than the local library, I was worried about what had been damaged. Anyway, within minutes of the IR lighting arriving I get a call from the person dealing with the damaged parcel and it turns out that the item is in fact fine.

What had happened was that something, probably a printer cartridge had broken or leaked. This had meant that to save the content of a number of packages they had been opened. However, that had lead to the content becoming miss matched to the labels. It turns out it was the item I was posting out. There will be someone thinking that I have not sent it. Well as soon as I get it back I will resend it.

So it looks as though I need not have worried, oh the fun of relying on others. It is good to get the IR lights and I hope that I will soon be putting them to good use. I can not do so yet as the camera has yet to arrive.

While there are many video cameras that can film in infra red, the real difficulty is the light, or lack of it. Most are not suitable for filming wildlife, as the range of the light is far to shallow. Thus, by following the good advice I was given, I searched for the lights first, they are pre owned, then sought a camera that can operate with the lights. Again by going for something pre cared for, I get greater optical quality than I would be able to afford by buying new.

It will be interesting to use this equipment as I wonder what I have been missing that has passed close to me that I have not been aware of and if my attempts to identify wildlife by sound and dark shape has been accurate. For all I know it could be that some of what I have been seeing are the fairies wandering around with cardboard cut outs of animals.

However the real test will now be if I can actually film any of the wildlife. Knowing my luck they will all go on strike and demand union rates. At least I think the badgers will work for Peanuts.

Eaten Alive by Midges

One of the reasons that I have no friends is, I very rarely get bitten by midges. When I am out with other people, it always seems that they are the eaten alive while I normally come out unscathed.

Well on Monday, after having been out in someone else's wood, I wanted to see what the Badgers were doing. While I am still waiting on the re granting of permission to access the main sett I have been watching, there are still other smaller setts I can watch. I was on my way to one of these when I saw a chap from the village, he was walking his dog, and he asked me where I was off to, I told him that I was going to see if I could observe the Badgers. He asked if he could come too.

I persuaded him not to try and bring the dog, and I waited for him at a crossroads n the track. As I waited I got a couple of bites. When he came back I took him to a point where I knew we stood a good chance of seeing the Badgers as it was close to a favoured feeding spot. Its very damp and there are a lot of earthworms as well as midges. I even scattered a few peanuts around to ensure they would stop in a place that made observation easier.

While we settled down I told him that he had to remain quiet. I know from experience that he can talk the hind legs off a donkey. After about twenty five minutes, he was getting restless. He kept on shifting about, but even so about ten minutes latter I heard the badgers coming. When I saw them, I reached across touched his arm and pointed. It was still light enough to see them clearly. In a voice far to loud he exclaimed “Badger”

He repeated it adding an expletive, that was untrue as the badger was feeding and not sexually active. The Sow, with her two cubs looked and scampered. I was more amused than anything else, as he was excited but embarrassed that he had scared them off. I told him that it was likely that they or others could return. So we waited for another hour or so. While we waited I was getting eaten alive, therefore I was worried about my companion. While the light had faded significantly, we were rewarded by three sows and five or six cubs, with all the rough and tumble they play it is some times difficult to get a tally on them.

Then after three minutes my companion stands up and says well I have seen them now, I am going to the pub. As you can imagine the badgers fled at this sudden movement. I asked if it was because of the midges? But he told me that he never gets bitten.

I waited another hour but when there was no further sign of the Badgers, I decided I would head back home too. I had suffered that night from the midge bites.

Then last night I wanted to check on the Badgers. While I love that other people are interested in seeing them, experience keeps on showing me that some people don't always have the best interest of the wildlife at heart. I did find the paw prints of dog down in the badger feeding ground. As this location is not near a path, its clear that I made a mistake showing my fellow villager the location. It may be some time before the Badgers return as the scent of dog will deter them.

This was confirmed as I waited a long while to see if the badgers showed up. When the rain started, I stayed for a good half hour, the rain can deaden the smell of dog a little, but it was clear there would be no show, so I wended my weary way home and to bed.