Hurry up and wait.

Hurry up and wait was a term we used to use in the army all the time. It invariably meant a period of intense activity followed by a long wait.
Well this last few weeks have been a bit like that, I've been wishing for Spring to hurry up and arrive, and it is, I have a Blackbirds nest in my garden and the Blue tits seem to be in and out of my nest box quite a bit. But I'm not able to do anything with it as I've had to wait for bits of kit to be repaired.
I've had both my 600mm lens and my 5D mk 3 in for work.

I was having problems with the 600 lens, the tripod leg collar would not rotate around the lens 360 degrees. Apparently the bearings were shot and there was grit in the collar. That was fixed and the lens returned to me on Tues this week (24th).  The camera, has been an issue since I bought it. I was never truly happy with it, I did not think that the auto focus was as good as it should be and I believed there was too much noise/graining at low ISO's. It has worked intermittently, clearly, or else I would not have any shots to put on here or on the Smugmug galleries. I visited Clifton Cameras in Dursley after a visit to Slimbridge with Mike and Chris, The chap there could not see any issues but I asked him if it could be sent off anyways for a check. He suggested it would be a good idea just to give me peace of mind. If there was nothing wrong it would prove it unquestionably. There are issues with it and hopefully I should have it back next week. However for both lots of work I'm now over £400 lighter in the pocket.

The day at Slimbridge that I referred to with Chris and Mike was a bit of a let down. The weather was not great and most of the migrants have left. However it was a day out so that's not all bad. I have also spent a day with Chris and Mike this week at the Photography show at the NEC in Birmingham. Wow, if only I was a lottery winner or had a rich sugar mummy. There was some fabulous kit on show. I think Chris and Mike enjoyed it more than me though, they both have an interest in Studio type photography and a lot of the show is geared for just that, but there was enough to keep me interested. That said, I'm not sure there was enough to make me want to go again next year.

The only photos I have to show you are ones that I got on my last visit to the Forest.

I'm looking forward to getting everything back and getting out there and doing some summer migrants. Don't you just love Spring?

Rallying around the Crossbills

On no less than 4 occasions I've been down to the Forest to try and get shots of Crossbills. They have been much photo'd lately and I thought it only right that I give it a go.
Much easier said than done. On my first visit to the church at Parkend there were approximately 6 photographers in situ. and a quick chat revealed that the birds had been down on one or two occasions, but not within the previous 20 minutes or so. I don't like being amongst too many other people and was very doubtful that with so many people standing less than 10 metres away from the puddles the Crossbills would be too inclined to come down very often. So I didn't hang around. That afternoon I went back to find even more people so again I didn't stay too long, just long enough to meet a few of the people who's images I've seen on Birdguides. We were blessed with a view of 3 males and 2 females who came briefly to the puddles and surrounding branches, but I didn't have my stuff out so I missed out. It was reminiscent of a war film with camera shutters being fired off.

My second visit was about the same. Too many people and far too few views of the birds, again I didn't hang around. The third visit was the same. Finally I went down on Wednesday 18th and upon my arrival was pleased to see that there was only one photographer and that he was in his car. I quickly checked that there were no birds down and then drove into position behind him. He informed me that he had, had one sighting whilst he had been there but he believed that the Crossbills he had seen were Two Barred Crossbills, this got me a little excited as photos of them would be brilliant. Shortly after I arrived and with no further sightings, he waved me goodbye and drove off. I was hopeful that as I was the only one waiting and that despite a number of cars being parked it wasn't going to be too long before something came down. Unfortunately the best laid plans don't always come off and within 5 minutes I was joined by at least 6 other birders, all looking to see the birds.

I sat and waited for almost 2hrs without any joy, and was quite frankly amazed by how dull and inconsiderate some people can be. Dog walkers, graveyard visitors, and even other birders were walking around in front of where I had my camera pointing, and I'm sure some did it deliberately. At one point an elderly couple turned up with their bino's and a scope and preceded to walk towards my car, seemingly oblivious to the fact that I had my lens sticking out of the window, they didn't seem interested in walking around the other side of my car where they wouldn't obscure my view. At the exact moment that the old chap was going to walk in front of me a male Crossbill dropped like a stone to a puddle. after almost 2hrs of waiting I was beside myself and as loudly as I dared I hissed "Stand still" at him. I managed 5 frames before the bird flew off. He calmly said "Was that one of the Crossbills"? suffice to say I had to bite my tongue really hard, and indeed I then drove off. Fuming. I've put the one shot on Smugmug, but it will hopefully be replaced with better.

The Wyedean Forest Rally took place on Valentines day, my brother came down from Chester and we joined my son and family for a days spectating. I was pleased that the weather held up for most of the day as it gave my brother a chance to use the 50D I'd given him, for the first time doing stuff other than small birds in his garden. I think he enjoyed the day, I know I did. Here are some shots.

The second shot was the winning car driven and co-piloted by Paul Bird and Aled Davies. The last shot was of Graham Elsmore the winner of the first three Rallies in 75,76 and 77. He was competing to celebrate 40 years of the rally and was in a Mk 2 Escort supplied to him by the sponsors of the rally.

Whilst waiting for the cars at the afternoon stage we decided to watch I was amazed to stumble across some fabulous Fungi.

Scarlet Elfcup, Sarcoscypha austriaca. stunning things aren't they? Never seen them before so a real bonus. So much so that I returned yesterday to get them with the macro lens. I had a good mooch around but couldn't find any others.
 I did see a fallow buck through some trees and find a badger sett which is currently being used by a sow with cubs. How do I know? Well it is a fact that when the sow gives birth she is extremely reluctant to leave the sett for anything more than a few seconds until the cubs at least have their eyes open. The one reason she does leave is for toileting. Usually badgers will not do their business near the sett, if the weather is particularly harsh they will sometimes build toilet chambers inside the sett which are sealed off afterwards. When a sow has cubs she will usually leave the sett but find a toilet area very close to the sett which she re-uses time and again.

Here is an example of such behaviour, clearly evidence of more than one use, and located, in this instance about 8 feet from the sett entrance. It was a satellite sett of only one hole, with only one track too and from it. It may be worth a look in late April to see if the cubs are emerging. Its usually 11 weeks from birth that they start to emerge, and the sett had a potential viewing area only a short distance away. I have deliberately not shown the sett entrance, just in case there is a remote chance someone might recognise it. May be being paranoid but that's my choice.

Oh I did get a fabulous shot of a visitor to the puddles at Parkend whilst I was waiting for the Crossbills. I'm more than happy with it.

Thanks for looking and don't forget to check out the Smugmug link.

Waiting for the dog.

Happy New Year to you all. This week I had to take Roxy for her haircut in the Forest of Dean. I have to wait for approximately 3 hours so I decided to spend it at Cannop ponds feeder station.
It was very cold, -3 Celsius, and grey. The sun that my weather app promised did not materialise.
I was sitting in my car with coat, snood and gloves on and shooting out of the window. The usual suspects were all there, but in addition I got visits from 2 Marsh Tits, a Grey Wagtail, a Reed Bunting, a GSW and a Long Tailed Tit. I did not get shots of the latter but it was nice to see him.
I felt sorry for the ground feeding birds like the Dunnock as the ground was solid, so I brushed some of the feed onto the floor. The Dunnock were soon joined by a small group of Chaffinch, a couple of male Blackbirds,  and a pair of male Mallards.

Dunnock.

Blackbird,

 
 

The feeder table was extremely busy with birds flitting in and out every few seconds. Great Tit, Blue Tit, Marsh Tit and Coal Tit.

The Robins were extremely well behaved, there was the odd scurry between a couple but for most of the time there were 4 or 5 feeding alongside each other quite happily.

In fact the birds that were doing the most squabbling were the Nuthatches, they spent almost as much time chasing each other off as feeding.

The Grey Wagtail spent quite a lot of time under the feeder table, I felt sorry for him.

The Great Spotted Woodpecker did not come to the table but I witnessed him take bread off the floor. something I didn't know they did, eat bread. I managed a shot of him a little way off. I say him because although you cant see it in this shot he had the red patch on his neck.

all in all an interesting couple of hours.

Merry Xmas

Hi everyone, no pictures today, but there are a few new ones on the smugmug site.

I just wanted to wish you all a Merry Xmas and a snap happy prosperous New Year.

See you all in January

Down and Dirty

Hi all, as autumn moves into winter there's a bit of a lull for me usually. Herefordshire does not have so many birding opportunities as other counties, at least not photographically speaking, and at a time when the summer migrants have gone and the passing winter migrants just are not passing very often as yet I like to turn my attention to Fungi.

I have been mostly out and about for the last month or so trying to add shots to my catalogue of fungi. I've mentioned in the past that finding them and identifying them are two completely different things. Finding them has always been reasonably easy. Photographing them occasionally a bit harder. Identifying them can be darn impossible sometimes. This year I have been very lucky in having the help of Jo Weightman from Herefordshires fungi group. Jo has proved invaluable on a number of occasions, helping me with identifications and pointing me in the right direction for how those identifications can sometimes be made easier.

My efforts and Jo's help have pushed my list of identified fungi to over 40. You can see images of all of them on my Smugmug site (see new gallery in my links). However even with Jo's help sometimes I can only get it down to a family group.

This is one such example:

A tiny, tiny, little fungus. I looked and could not identify it, so I sent Jo a copy and bless her she came back to me and said that without a closer examination she too could not positively ID it. The best she could offer was that it was a Mycena.

Half the fun though is finding them in the first place, then getting as low as possible and obtaining a shot. Getting low often means belly to the ground something which is not easy when your over 20st and suffer with back problems. The getting down is often the easy bit it's the getting back up which causes concern. Lighting things that are at ground level isn't always easy either, shadows are sometimes impossible to avoid. but I am becoming better at it now, I think. Off camera flash work can help.

I have done other things. I spent a day in the Forest of Dean earlier this week during which I had a lengthy stint up Crabtree Hill looking for the Great Grey Shrike. It was there briefly, but distant. This is a huge crop shot. probably 10% or less of the original.

 

I also spent a little time at Cannop Pond feeder station.

But as I said this last month has mostly been about fungi. Please check out the Mycology section of the Smugmug site. Or at least the recent additions for better views of all the fungi I have at this time.