Feeding the Birds

As well as feeding the birds, I also put out some cat food as I regularly have a hedgehog that visits my yard. I was aware that some of the birds that visit are also feeding on this. Yesterday morning getting up early, I noted that the food had not been taken by the hedgehog.

However, I left it there as I knew that birds like the Magpie and Jackdaw would take the food. Failing that, there are cats from the neighbourhood who would garner a free feed.

As I sat writing my notes from another night of Badger watching, I was treated to a veritable parade of birds coming to feed in the yard. I think that it was the magpie that got the lions share. But what made the situation remarkable, was at one point I heard the vocalizations of Jackdaws, looking up I saw them mobbing a Red Kite that was just circling over my roof.

I sat back and watched in amazement as the Kite attempted a decent into my yard. It was only the presence of my solar powered clothes dryer (Washing Line), that prevented the Kite landing.
To be so close to such a bird was incredible, but it does make me wonder if the kite would have been able to eat the cat food. I just don't know.

Anyway, the picture is one that I took the other day, just to remind me that spring is here.

Barn Swallows

As on Tuesday, I saw for the first time this spring, a Swallow, I was preparing to make a posting about this. However as I had discovered, some of my readers of based in the good old USA, they have confuse matters by giving the same birds or species are completely different names. This applies if to the Swallow or air as the Americans call it the Barn Swallow. While this is the the same species, Hirundo rustica, it does mean that I have to be careful to ensure that I don't confuse any of my loyal readers even though is is only two cats and a human. Further, I have discovered that some in the US just don't understand simple words like Jumper.

However while thinking about what I needed to say and what I wanted to say, I was thinking about the way that there is a degree of speciation between the two populations. This speciation occurs when two populations are isolated. It was this the trait that Charles Darwin discovered on his trip in the Beagle and led to the discovery of evolution, the origin of species.

Any way, I was just looking to see what else was going on in news, when I discovered this article on human population. it appears as though a the human population really became two species before we left Africa.

In this case of the barn swallows they are the differences between the two populations in the US and in Europe, where the US population are a different shade and have longer streamers. However they are still both the same species.

They are that instances of where the Americans have given birds they complete the different name even when we have an existing name for the species. This is where the Latin name for a species become so important. In the dim and distant past even in the UK there were many different names for the same plant for instance. This is in no way a dig at the Americans for renaming our plants birds or animals, you do that well enough yourselves by electing a Bush to be your president and simultaneously disproving evolutionary theory.

There are some occasions when the American name is more appropriate, take the example of the loon, to us in Europe the bird will always been known as the great northern diver but any observation of its behaviour will show just how appropriate the American Names is.

Anyway it was great to see the first swallow of Spring arrive, no matter what its non de plume is.

The Article on human populations

Sand Martins

Yesterday following a phone call, I changed my plans. As I have been so busy with the arrival of spring getting out and looking for the wildlife, I had planed to get some house work done, as well as spend some time cataloguing my images and footage. Also as I have spent so much time out in the cold, a persistent cold was making me feel under the weather.

However, this phone call alerted me to something I wanted to see. About a week ago, I had been out filming the waders and water birds on a local nature reserve, a former quarry. When at a distance I thought I saw a Sand Martin. I could not be sure of my identification, but when another birder came along I told him what I thought I had seen and after a while he said that yes he had spotted it too.

Now as is the way with us wildlife watchers, we are a sharing bunch and we swapped telephone numbers. Anyway, yesterday I got a call from this chap who told me that the Sand Martins were back. So I got myself organised and went down to see if I could see them myself. I arrived just as he was leaving, but he told me where they were flying and in less than two minutes I had located them.

I was at to greater distance to film them, and as they can fly so fast, getting a picture was impossible, I set about working out were they were likely to be nesting. After much searching I have discovered to probable location, but I will need permission to access the land to get close enough to film them, but it is a very clear sign that Spring is here.

Otters and Water Voles

Today I wanted to go down to the river to see if I could see and hopefully film the Otters. I would have preferred to have gone down at first light, but other aspects of a normal life intruded and I had to wait until a caller visited in the morning. So I went in to my office to check my email, as I was waiting for the system to boot up, I looked at the sky and there at quite an altitude at least 750 feet was a Red Kite being mobbed by a cloud of crows. The contrast and the altitude showed the wingspan of the Kite off to full advantage. The grace and the effortless flight was a real treat to start the day with.

Once the man from the gas company had carried out the safety inspection of the meter, I was free to get out into the wood. I knew exactly where I wanted to go, and headed straight for the spot. As the rainfall has been so low so far this year, I could head for a location that is normally inaccessible. Even so the footing is not that good and I needed to step carefully. As I was approaching my chosen vantage point I saw an otter swimming up the river towards me.
I quickly set up but the otter had disappeared on the far bank. I was not in the perfect position but I had the camera ready all I needed to do was wait. I knew that it was possible that the otter had seen me, but at least the wind was blowing in the right direction. As I waited I was presented with a dilemma. I knew the otter was hidden in the undergrowth, I could just make out her tail, but I could also see a Water Vole swimming upstream towards me. If I moved the camera to film the water vole, I would lose the otter. So I kept my nerve and the camera stayed on the spot where the otter was hiding. I could see she was moving along behind the bush, reeds and grass.

It is at times like these that I learn just why these otters are so difficult to see. She knew I was there and was carefully keeping the vegetation between herself and me. All the time I could see the Water Vole swimming up the river. Partly by listening and partly from seeing the otters tail I kept my eyes on where the otter was. Then suddenly there was a plop as another Water Vole entered the water, this gave the otter the opportunity to do the same and she dived and was gone. Realising that my chance had gone, I swung the camera towards the voles only to see them disappear on the other side of the river. I waited a while but there was no sign of them appearing. So I moved to the location I had been heading for.

I settled down and waited and waited, I stayed for over four hours but no sign of either the otters or the voles. I did try being a arty and filmed the river, but I did not get a single frame of them. As there is heavy rain and high winds forecast, when the rain became more steady than a drizzle, I decided I had better move. Heavy rain could cause me to become cut off. This is why this location can be so good for seeing wildlife as it is genuinely undisturbed. However, while I do venture forth into difficult locations, I am also sensible about not taking risks.

Therefore I started extricating myself from that location. I wanted to have a look at a couple of other places where it is likely that other wildlife will be active. It was disappointing to see a large volume of rubbish in one part of the wood, had I not been carrying all the equipment I would have collected some of it but that will have to await another day. What lifted my spirits was seeing some real signs of spring Lesser Celandine and Hawks beard both in flower. I could see that there is the possibility for the next few months finding me very busy as new life springs forth.

The picture is of the cliffs known as the Crags it doesn't take a lot of imagination to realise how difficult the access was to my location today.