Boaring!!!

I took a trip down to the FOD yesterday, I wanted to see how far spring has sprung. A quick look in at New Fancy saw the car park full of cars, Goshawk spotting season of course. Stayed just long enough to get this shot of a beautiful Robin.

I then went to Cannop and was amazed by how much mess the Boar have made of the entrance and picnic area. This got me thinking about the Boar. The Mandarin Ducks seem to have paired off now, the males are looking very striking.

I called in at Beechenhurst and whilst there I spoke to a couple who used to live in the forest 10 years ago and were back for a visit. They told me a tale of how, whilst walking their dog yesterday (mon 7th), they had come across a Sow boar and 4 piglets. unfortunately their dog was off the lead and it ran towards the group barking and possibly intent on chasing the boar off. Not surprisingly the boar had attacked their dog, tossing it into the air and lunging at it. They described how, in their panic, they had dashed towards the boar screaming and gesticulating. Fortunately the sow saw them as too big a threat together and turned tail and trotted off, complete with piglets.
The dog was shaken but unhurt and they were very grateful for that.

I discussed with them the need to have their dog on a lead, they explained that they had not realised that the boar were in the forest, there had been none when they lived in the area. They had spotted the upturned verges in the forest but had not immediately realised what was responsible. They assured me that from that moment on the dog had remained on its lead, which they had lengthened to give it a bit more freedom. I was left thinking that the Forestry are not doing enough to educate visitors to the forest about the boar. The few signs they have dotted around the forest do not go far enough to inform the visitors of the dangers of having dogs off the lead. There are also not enough of them.

The couple had met the boar in the area around Mallards Pike/ Soudley as they described it "off the beaten track". With this in mind I set off to track them down, of course I realised there was every likelihood that the group would be long gone but I thought there might be others in the area. I saw lots of signs.

How much rubbing has this tree seen to completely take off the bark?

This wallow was not the best example I saw but it was in the best light, I saw a total of four in a very small area. Another tree had been well used too.

So lots of signs but no actual boar. I believe that they are trying to keep themselves to themselves but with the forest being so over used by cyclists and walkers alike they will obviously come into contact with humans on a daily basis. I have changed my opinion slightly, I do believe that there is a need for active culling by the Forestry Commision. I still maintian however that the forest is a better place for having the boar within it.
On a slightly different note I never saw a single deer either, which, considering how much ground I covered, I do find unusual.

I finished my day with a little time at the Arboretum, I bumped into the two Bobs, Bushell and Jones. They had spent the day together without much success, but they too had wound their day up getting shots of the little beauts who visit the feeding areas.

The chaffinch, starting to look good.

Then the Blue Tit.

A very nice day in glorious spring sunshine.

Nearly there.

No pics this time, but I wanted to let you all know that I am almost in a position to add a new gallery page to the blog. I have been looking at how without using picassa or flickr and I think, with Chris Grady's help, I have found the ideal means.

Of course my next dilemma is do I start the gallery a fresh putting only stuff that I get from this point onwards or do I dig into the archives and at least have one or two pics to put in there asap.

It's a challenging time for me and as I am not the most computer savvy soul I have had to turn to Chris to guide me through it. Thanks Chris, your help has been invaluable.

I will keep you appraised.

An Oasis in a desert of foul weather.

One bright day in ages, what to do? Thursday had promised some sunshine and did deliver. I met Chris Grady for our prearranged day together in the forest. We had planned to do frogs. Mr G donned his neoprene suit and dropped himself into the water to get those special close ups the like of which he produced last year.

Meanwhile the less well prepared and in all honesty less able of us, namely me, donned our knee protectors and did the best we could. The sun came out and I did get some shots, but the beauty of frogs, in my opinion, is that they take a good photo even in poor light.

This chap, came up and said hello.

Whilst elsewhere in the pond another group of frogs eyed up the females across the way.

"Hey lads, you seen the legs on that frogette over there, cor she's lovely"
"Yeah but she has let herself go a bit, could do with a bit of attention to those spots"
"One of us should go over and say, Hi."
"I heard her and her mate chatting, she was asking how many of us she'd have to kiss before she met her prince......"
"Charming"
"Yeah that was his name, oh yeah I get it....Charming"


This next pic sums up the difference between a sun shining pic and a behind the cloud pic, I was left thinking, if only!

I still like it though. The picture of the session for me though was this one.

It shows perfectly the difference in size between the male and the female. For those of you who aren't familiar with frogs the male is the one being carried and hanging on for grim life.

My friend Brian Williams alludes to the noise of the frogs in his Blog (check the links on here). I want to confirm what he says, the noise is amazing, it truly does sound like scrambler bikes racing in the distance. Truly a special occasion and one that I wouldnt miss every year. I think Chris and I were there for about 3 1/2 hrs and I enjoyed every minute and every strange glance that Chris got from people out walking.

A quick lunch and a well deserved drink at Beechenhurst and we were left scratching our heads for something to follow our morning. Obviously nothing was going to match that so we settled for a few small birds at the arboretum. Here are a nice pair of tits.

Great Tit and then Blue Tit.

The light dsappeared very quickly so forgive me the lack of quality in these pictures.

Looks like the next week is not going to be much better, I hope that this is not a taster for the summer to come.

Horrible weather.

The weather has been partuicularly bad since my last post. Grey, cold and occasional heavy rain have curtailed any attempts at photography. What it has allowed though is for me to spend more time watching the birds that are coming to the garden.

I have had a new garden visitor this week, three of them infact, Siskins. I was totally amazed when three of them decended on my feeders this morning. It was only a fleeting visit, but they have returned both in a group and singularly a few times. I hope they hang around.

I have also had the male Blackcap visiting regularly but no sign of his female and the Long tailed tits make occasional visits. This is of course in addition to all the other usual visitors, Great and Blue tits, Dunnocks, Blackbirds, Collared doves, Robins and House Sparrows.

Also whilst out walking Roxy in the wood nearby a couple of days ago I saw a Grey wagtail. There are also a pair of Buzzards displaying over the field near the wood regularly and I had the amazing sight of a Sparrowhawk flying about 3 feet off the ground some 15 feet infront of me the same day that I saw the Grey Wagtail.

I cannot wait for the weather to start improving. In the meantime these Long tails were taken at Cannop ponds the same day as the visit to Hignham.

They are a lovely bird.

Website Closure

Hi all, I have decided that I am going to close down my website. I think that I didnt acheive what I wanted with it. My original thoughts were that I would use it as a tool for showing only the best of the shots that I took, but in reality I feel that the pressure to constantly put something on there regularly, meant that I let the standards drop very quickly.

In addition to this I can't really justify the money to keep it to going. I have decided therefore to go back to the way that I originally had this blog set up. I have a Gallery page in my links, at the time that I started my blog it was just a way for me to put extra shots on here without all the narrative. I am going to go back to that set up, I just need to work out how I'm going to do it. I'm not sure that Picaso is the way that I want to go.

If any of you have any ideas then dont be shy in letting me know, I'm a bit of a numpty when it comes to technical stuff so I would appreciate the help.

In the meantime I will continue doing what I enjoy the most, posting on here and sharing the craic with you all.

A few shots I took at Highnam the other day for your perusal below. I was sitting watching for the Marsh tit on the one feeder post when I heard a kerfuffle to my left. I turned my head and saw a male Sparrowhawk on another post. before I had chance to lift my camera he was gone. A momentary glimpse but I loved it.

A punk rocker Blue tit, either that or he's got delusions of being a Crested tit.

Great tit.

A lovely Long tailed Tit.

and finally a Marsh tit.

or is it a willow? I'm going with Marsh.