The Winter Fox

 It is quite unusual in my locality to see a fox moving around the fields in daylight and, yet, here was one out and about in the early afternoon. He has a very distinctive tail and I will know him if we meet again.

Caen Hill - the longest line of locks (iced)

 

One of the longest continuous lines of locks in the UK. Twenty-nine of them in a row rising 237 feet in two miles; a major success of Georgian engineering, which completed the Kennet and Avon canal joining Bath to London.   

At the time, it was cheaper and quicker to move goods by canal than by road and the canals thrived until the railways out-competed them.

They are now protected for leisure (and for the many people who live in their boats on them) and for the wildlife they harbour – a few examples of which were in residence on this cold January visit when the canal was crazed with ice. 

Squirrels Island

 

Red squirrels are rare in England, but there is a colony on the Isle of Wight (where I was at the end of last year) and I renewed my long-standing attempt to get photographs of them. 

Having looked for them in woodlands and copses, fields and hedgerows, I finally found then in a small cliff-perched park om the edge of Shanklin. The day was dull and wet and so the light was poor and the squirrels are quick - but at last I have a few photos! 

The view from the park - Luccombe

Miracle of the Marshes at the Turning of the Year

As we prepare to move from 2021 into 2022, here are a few images of the amazing aerial dances of the starlings above the Somerset Levels - an extensive marsh-land in southwest England. These great whirling swarms of thousands of birds form above the reed beds at dawn, when they rise up and disperse, and are seen again at dusk when they return to coalesce and make these magical murmurations.  

My friends know that I am a big fan of starlings and welcome them into my garden. They are very social, great mimics and they typically arrive as a noisy gang of highly coordinated individuals making a wide variety of whistles and other calls. This tremendous coordination is nowhere better seen than in the great flocks that form in the winter in the UK, including individuals that come here from colder countries to over-winter.

When I was growing up, starlings were common. Probably one of our commonest birds but their numbers have declined markedly across much of the UK and elsewhere in northern Europe and, sadly, they are now on the UK red list as a bird of high conservation concern.  

This makes these great gatherings all the more remarkable and on the evening that I went to see them at the RSPB reserve at Ham Wall, dozens of people all showed up to watch It's better than a firework display and there was a tremendous sense of amazement and enjoyment!

***

As the light dwindles, smaller groups of starlings gather on trees, shrubs and telephone poles and wires, then they head in their flocks towards the roosting site. Once there they form these great weaving flocks of hundreds of individuals that dance across the skies. Finally, they fly low into the reed beds where they will spend the night and, in the dusk, you can just see waves of them undulating among the reed tops until they finally settle. 

In the video clip you can see some larger birds off to the left and this is a flock of lapwings somehow caught up in the commotion made by their noisy dancing neighbours. 

 

Starling juvenile

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

A tale of two deer!

 Coming along the same path one December day/night -

 

A roe deer doe and later that night the rather smaller muntjac stag. 

Badgers bustling on a warm December night

One badger is busy digging out the den, moving the soil out, whilst the other 'supervises'!

 

Finally there is some romping and, if I am not mistaken, some mating going on!

A Whale's life in the 21st Century

 In early December, the International Whaling Commission celebrated its 75th anniversary and working with several other conservation and welfare organisations, OceanCare hosted an on-line event to mark this occasion and launch a vision for the IWC in the years to come. I was asked to describe the threats to whales, dolphins and porpoises (cetaceans) in the modern world in a ten-minute slot. This was quite a challenge as there are more than ninety species of cetaceans, which divide up into many discrete populations and all these populations face their own challenges. So, I pondered how to do this for some time and then a photograph came my way that was so terrible and so arresting but also spoke so eloquently to the situation of modern whales in our busy seas, that I thought I could make it the focus of this short overview. I was also blessed with some other beautiful images of wild orcas to show that had recently been taken by a friend off North Norway and so worked these into the presentation too.

The 12 minute (!) talk is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7BoVgfBLTfY&t=56s

The full 75th event (a little over 1.5 hours) and which includes other speakers, comments from celebrities who support our vision for the IWC, including Dame Jane Goodall, and a lively panel discussion is available here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=db48O...

In the woods - the sweetcorn thief!

 This time of year the local sweetcorn crops are raided by an array of animals and the husks turn up far from the sweetcorn fields in the woods. The following video shows one of the culprits.

The camera trap also picked up these nice little videos of local roe deer - a mature roe buck and a youngster. 

Birthday Vision for the International Whaling Commission

 

The IWC is a remarkable 75 years old tomorrow. This link will take you to a recording of an event to celebrate this and also to launch a vision for its future. I am a speaker about 25 minute in.

Click on HERE to go to the recording. 

When they spot the camera!

I have had a few examples of animals over the months that have have become interested in the camera trap. This was an unexpected one: 

See also 'Badger up close' HERE - one of many examples of badgers coming to look at the camera. 

And some bonus bunnies! (Rabbits are surprisingly rare in my locality, so I was quite pleased to see these.)

Whale recovery threatens to stall!

When widespread commercial whaling stopped after the International Whaling Commission’s moratorium came into force in 1986, there was a reasonable expectation that some whale populations would recover. However, a red flag of concern has just been raised for one great whale species – a species that was rebounding after being heavily depleted by whaling. This is the southern right whale (Eubalaena australis), one of the true giants of the sea (growing up to 56 feet/17 metres long) and, up until now, a shining symbol of hope for ocean recovery.

Given our present focus on the climate emergency, it may not come as a surprise .....

The rest of my blog can be found HERE 

 

The badgers of Halloween 2021

 Night 1. Snacks hidden in pumpkin heads. Badger unphazed!

Night 2: badgers unphazed!

In the nighttime Autumn woods

 

Who is moving around these cold wet Autumn nights out of sight - the muntjack, the roe deer and the badger.

Unexpected in the woodland

Somewhat unexpected animals caught on my camera traps in recent months have included a tawny owl and a buzzard but here is a bird I had no idea at all was present in the little strip of local woodland - a woodcock. This is a beautifully camouflaged wading bird of the woods. It is also mainly nocturnal, which may explain why I have not seen one before. Another reason could be because they are relatively rare and on the UK's red list. 

Anyway, here is one!

When the Walrus Comes Knocking!

This summer a walrus wondered around Europe far from his Arctic home caused some chaos.

In this blog I consider his story and similar marine mammals found far from home.

Thanks to Dan Jarvis for the photo.

"What do you do if a walrus suddenly turns up in your ‘backyard’ far from its natural home? This is a dilemma that many people have been facing over the last few months as the world’s most famous walrus, Wally, made his grand tour of Europe. During his travels, he went as far south as Spain and also visited France, Wales, England and Ireland. Responses to his presence were varied...... " 

To tread the rest of the blog please click HERE.

 

Autumn 2021 - colours and textures.

 

Spindle tree berries

Ivy

Old man's beard and hawthorn berries.

Suddenly Switzerland!

So, after months of varying degrees of lockdown in the UK and going nowhere, suddenly a trip to Switzerland (thank you OceanCare). Here are a few images from around the edges of Lake Zurich.

Firstly, a view of the lake from the town of Thalwil

A sleepy great=crested grebe on the early morning lake.

And a grey heron enjoying his own private pier

Yacht school on the lake - looks like fun

An old boat house on the Thawl shore

A sign of the winter ahead - the ski-hire shop in Thalwil.

One of the local ferries crosses the lake 

And a restaurant boat lights up the night

And finally a view of downtown Zurich and the Limmat River.