The car's the star

We both woke up feeling poorly today, with a coldy, fluey thing, and missed aikido accordingly. Later on I persuaded Rob to drive to Elmley - not to walk about but just to take photos from the car along the access track. For those who don't know, this track traverses about two miles of grazing marsh and often gives really close views of whatever birds happen to be around.

This is about 10% of a very big Curlew flock, sadly they didn't come any closer than this. But it was encouraging to see a bit of birdlife from the off.

As usual, there were many Lapwings pottering about in the fields, some very near the track. This one is showing us that it was really quite a windy day.

Some of the Lapwings were doing their territorial tumbling displays. This photo is notable because I took it while the car was still moving - who needs VR?

A Kestrel wheeled about and hovered near the car. Sadly the light was against us and all I got were silhouettes - a bit of digital contrast adjustment was needed to reveal its pretty face.

While we were watching the Kestrel, this Grey Heron came lumbering over. It was one of about six seen during the drive.

Check all the gateposts for resting raptors if you ever come here. I did so, and found a very distant Buzzard. Less exciting, but slightly more attainable distance-wise, was this Stock Dove.

There are very few bushes along the track. I was really delighted to hear a familar key-jangling song coming from two of them. This was the closer of the two Corn Buntings. It was surprising to see the two singing males so close together. This species always (as far as I know) sings from elevated perches - could this actually be a limiting factor on population density.

When we reached the reserve car park, I went for a short stroll around while Rob sorted out his camera stuff. I found this female House Sparrow resting atop a nice-looking nestbox, apparently paralysed with indecision about which entrance hole to use.

And overhead - my first Swallow, and indeed first hirundine, of 2011. Lovely. Though to see Swallow before Sand Martin in any given year surely suggests I'm a lazy birder. Especially as Sandies breed on my local patch. Never mind, it was wonderful to see a Swallow, and astounding to get an almost in-focus flight shot of it as well.

We'd just begun the return trip when I spotted something pointy and dark among the long grass. A bit of car-shuffling later and we were enjoying quite close views of two lovely Brown Hares. Where were you last autumn when I needed a hare photo for my latest book, eh? Never mind. We hoped to see some shenanigans between them but they were more interested in munching grass.

The other hare was a richer, foxier red-brown than the first. It was also more restless, and after a while scampered off down the slope.

While we were hare-watching, this Shelduck pair flew by. Not a great shot but it does show nicely the differences between the sexes. Note the male (bringing up the rear) has a broader chestband, and (for want of a more elegant term) a big red knob. On his bill.

A bit further on, a stunning male Marsh Harrier flew across the track. We'd seen several others, but all impossibly distant. This one was way ahead of us, but we drove to the point he'd crossed and waited in case he came back. Much to our surprise, he did, and crossed back at close quarters. He seemed to have a tiny something in his talons, and was calling constantly. When he was some way away we saw there was a female following him.

Amid this excitement, an adult Mediterranean Gull flew by, faster than my reflexes could cope with. I hope it's IDable from this shot, anyway.

A couple more waders to end with. There were plenty of Redshanks around, but none were very close. I also saw two Ruffs, which were both distant and quick to scarper.

Oystercatchers, doing their piping thing. A lovely sound, even though they look completely ridiculous while they do it.

Just a couple more hare pics, just because :)

Hey, TC!

Last week my new 1.4x teleconverter arrived. Having had two different Kenko ones with the same fault, I've paid the extra dosh for a Nikon. This morning's forecast was good (well, sunny, but also windy) so after a vain attempt to coax Rob out of bed I set off alone to SWR.

A new species for the blog! This Rook was flying over Lambarde Road. Not sure where our nearest rookery is, and that's the kind of thing I really ought to know.

Passing Bradbourne Lakes, I noticed this female Mallard, sporting a green speculum. While a drake Mallard's head changes colour with the light, I haven't ever noticed a Mallard speculum looking green like this before. Her all-dark bill is puzzling too, there's normally at least a little orange. Aberrant, hybrid or a touch of the barnyard?

I paused a while in Greenfinch Zone, hoping to have another chance for some flight shots, but no males were doing their display flights (though plenty were around). By way of a change from last time, here's a female.

In the Wildlife Garden I saw this Robin carrying food - first evidence of a passerine with chicks that I've seen this year.

Lots of Primroses out. These ones were in the wildlife garden.

I decided to go to the Tyler hide first, and admired a fine show of daffodils lining the shady trail.

This year I've made an intense but so far fruitless search for Lesser Spotted Woodpecker every time I've gone to the reserve. One of the upsides of this is that I've seen a lot more Treecreepers than usual. A Blue Tit kept chasing this one away just as I was about to photograph it.

There are now several Little Ringed Plovers on the reserve. Getting photos from Tyler hide is, as ever, a challenge.

While I was photographing the LRP, a Lapwing came sprinting past, and jumped on the back of another Lapwing to share a passionate moment, right in front of a rather startled Moorhen.

I went up towards Willow Hide after that, and found a showy (though very high up) Chiffchaff - one of at least a dozen singing males on the reserve.

I counted four singing Blackcaps too, though this was the only one I actually saw. Very nice to hear that lovely song again. It doesn't make up for the fact that we seem to have lost Cetti's Warbler from the reserve, probably because of the harsh winter - hopefully they will return sometime.

A Goldfinch, risking horrible puncture wounds as it feeds from a Teasel. This could be the same bird I watched singing from the nearby densely ivy-clad tree the other day, or its mate.

Heading back, I received a stern telling-off from this Great Tit. Presumably I was close to its nest.

I went back via the small lake and noticed that the Grey Herons are again nesting on the island (which isn't really an island, just a row of trees growing out of the shallow water). I also just managed a couple of shots of this male Sparrowhawk before he wheeled out of view behind the trees.

Back in the wildlife garden, I was packing away my things when it dawned on me that the small bare tree in front of me was a different shape than usual. The strange protrusion on the trunk was in fact a Green Woodpecker, which posed and yaffled for a minute before bounding away.

On the walk home I saw a male Brimstone, only my second butterfly of the year (the first being a Peacock in Pembury last Wednesday). 

Big fun at Barnes

Yesterday I went to Barnes (London Wetland Centre, WWT London, the duck place of many names) to meet Graham C and Shan from the RSPB forums. It started off sunny, then turned gloomy, then sunny again (and very warm) and finally a bit cloudy to finish. Took the first off-peak train, which got me to the centre at almost 11am. Soon I spotted Shan and Graham weaving through the throngs of school party children, and we set off to look in the hides on the east side of the reserve. The trees that lined the trail were alive with birdsong.

Tell me if you are getting bored with Long-tailed Tit photos. This one just kept bobbing closer and closer, obviously wanting to check out our optics.

A lovely male Greenfinch, fresh from a bath in the nearby lake. Also in evidence were Chiffchaffs and Goldfinches.

Wild duck numbers are pretty low now. Maybe the Shovelers will stick around to breed, I'm not sure. There were a couple of dozen Teals about too, and a similar number of Wigeons on the grazing marsh.

Lapwings were whooping and wheeling about over the main lake, though none were really close enough for decent photos. This one is helpfully pointing out one of the five or so Redshanks that were also about.

In the World Wetlands centre we witnessed this mother Mallard leading her 14 babies across the path to water, perhaps on their very first day of life. Ahhh.

If the bird's too close for the lens, it's portrait time. Here's a splendid drake Mallard who was sitting on the bridge handrail next to the Eiders' enclosure.

And here are some of the captive Eiders, going nuts for a handful of ducky kibble.

A very tame but full-winged so apparently wild Egyptian Goose. Got to love that thoughtful amber eye.

 I'd hoped for better pics of this yellow-billed Moorhen, an intriguing example of pigmentation weirdness. Still, without Graham there to show me where she lived, I might not have seen her at all.

What else did we see? Not that much, to be honest. There've been recent sightings of Bittern and Water Pipit but we had no joy, nor did we see the Brambling supposedly frequenting the feeding station. I got desperately bad photos of a small bird which proved, on maximum cropping, to be a Lesser Redpoll, and also a Stock Dove going overhead. There were Ring-necked Parakeets around, as ever, and before I arrived Shan and Graham had good views of Green Woodpecker, and also saw a Cetti's (I heard a few but not a sniff of a sighting). But never mind the birds, the company was great, the light was photo-friendly and the day as a whole was excellent.

An audience with wolves

Today, I went to the Wolf Conservation Trust near Reading with Michele, Carol and Steve. M is a member and gets to bring guests along to 'wolf walks', wherein we walk with a wolf, learn all about her and even get to give her a stroke. The trust uses these socialised 'ambassador wolves' to spread the word that wolves are great, and to raise funds for wolf conservation projects in Europe and further afield.

On the walk itself, I left the camera in the car as the safety instructions hinted that the wolf may think 'ooh, shiny dangly thing' and try to pinch it. So I can just tell you about that bit. We walked first with a 13-year-old called Duma. I forget where she came from, but she was a light-coloured, slim and not very fluffy wolf, very sweet-natured, happy to stand around while a bunch of strangers took turns to stroke her tum. Then Duma went away and was replaced with Mai, a younger and somewhat friskier wolf with a black-and-silver colour scheme. The wolves led the way and dictated the pace. Both stopped often to scent-mark, and Mai had a bit of a howl - seeing and hearing that at close range was incredible.

After the walk, we visited all seven wolves in their enclosures. The only one I could get decent photos of was Motomo, Mai's mate, as he is not socialised and so didn't come right up to the wires to say hello.

What a handsome boy. He was yawning, a good excuse to show off that mouthful of impressive gnashers.

Nothing has a stare quite as full-on as a wolf.

Naturally, I had one eye on the sky for interesting birdlife, especially as we were in Red Kite country.

The handlers told me that the kites sometimes drop down into the wolves' enclosures and swipe their food. Two species coexisting as nature intented (sort of).

We saw some kites at very close range, and some in beautiful light. Unfortunately we didn't see both of those things at the same time. You can see what a massively bulging crop this one has, though.

Not every soaring raptor around was a kite. This one, for example, was a Kestrel. There were also plenty of Buzzards around.

A surprise to end with - this stonking male Yellowhammer was weighing up whether to visit the European wolves Lunca and Latea in their enclosure.

To find out more about the UK Wolf Conservation Trust, go here.

Early signs of spring

This weekend has been gorgeous, and for once I've been out in it, making t'most of it etc etc. Up 5.30am on Saturday, I headed for Sevenoaks Wildlife Reserve. It had been a cold night, and there was frost all over everything on my walk down, which I'd timed a bit too early for good light on the birdlife of Lambarde Road.

This female Mallard was having a sit-down on the pavement, while her mate pillaged a nearby garden. I presume they had wandered there from Bradbourne Lakes, which has a sizeable population of streetwise Mallards. Much more approachable than the ones on the nearby reserve - do the populations really stay apart, or does the same bird behave like a pukka wild bird on a nature reserve, only to turn into a Hovis-scoffing, tame-as-you-like parkland ducky when it moves to the lakes?

Dunnock on a frosty Forsythia (I think) hedge, like many others he was singing his heart out, though stopped when I got too close and flew to a higher perch.

 At the top of the drive down to the reserve, I found myself suddenly surrounded by Greenfinches, which is a pleasant experience if you haven't been scarred for life by Hitchcockian imagery. There must have been five different males all singing in the same small area, either from their twirly little songflight or a perch at the top of one of the Lleylandii trees.

Here it is - your promised sign of spring. It might be a pretty bad photo of a Chiffchaff but you can make out that he's singing. There were at least five different ones singing on the reserve, all very restless and keeping to the higher bits of the trees. It took a long wait to get even this poor shot.

Presumably, those geese which are going to breed this year are already in the paired-up stage at least, which makes me suspect this trio won't be joining in (or if they are, they're doing it in an interesting new way).

Early spring or late winter? This was one of two Redwings I saw - the other was singing high in a tree, and caused me some confusion because I haven't heard one singing for ages. The song is a bit shrill and musically lacking compared to other thrushes, but it's always nice to hear something different.

 By Willow hide, I found this male Reed Bunting, sitting high in a small tree and tirelessly delivering his extremely boring song. Luckily he's not at all boring to look at, and is coming into full breeding plumage with just a bit of hind-crown still not completely black.

Wrens seemed to be everywhere. This one broke all the rules by actually hopping towards me and into better light as I stood there taking its photo.

I sat by Long Lake for a while (as I'd remembered to use my rucksack-that's-also-a-folding-chair) and got a few shots of passing Stock Doves, commuting between various large trees. Perhaps they are nesting in one of them. Unlike its big sister the Woodpigeon, the Stock Dove is a hole-nester, so has to duke it out with Jackdaws, Little Owls and so on for the best rotten trees.

While I was there, two Mallard drakes zoomed past in hot pursuit of a female. This is one of them. How could she refuse, when he looks this good? (Actually, we know that with female Mallards, refusal is often not an option anyway...)

Nice male Great Spot. I am scouring the treetops for Lesser Spots all the time but not had a sniff of one, but I did get the other two woodie species today by way of compensation.

I'll end with this lovely Song Thrush, who was singing with great verve and panache by the main trail. All in all, didn't see anything that exciting (best bird was probably a distant Shelduck from Tyler hide) but the weather and general springiness made it a highly enjoyable visit.

In the afternoon I went to Michele's mum's (M is living there for now, as she is in between houses). I spent the last half-hour of sunshine watching passing birds overhead, including a Buzzard winging its way west very purposefully, a couple of 'skeins' of Cormorants, and lots of Starlings including this one, organising a nest despite still being very much winter-plumaged.