Skomer, here we come ......... (I hope)

 

It`s time to book those tickets for the annual pilgrimage to Skomer Island in Pembrokeshire again. 

If you`ve never been to Skomer, it`s home to thousands of seabirds, including Puffin, Guillemots, Razorbills amongst others, plus the largest concentration of breeding Shearwaters. One of the main attractions of the island for me are the Short Eared Owls, although I was jinxed last year. 

Going to try and get a couple of visits arranged this year if I can. Possibly late May, in the hope that it might be a good SEO year, and maybe late June / early July for the Puffin bringing in the sand eels.

Calendar checks this weekend!

Is it too early to make my flask and sandwiches?

The elusive Willow Tit

I haven`t had much time to be out and about, but I managed to get some time at WWT Llanelli this week (dodging the muddy and noisy half-term activities). 

Walking along the Northern loop, it was good to come across a pair of Willow Tit, a species that has eluded me for years (although i`ve heard them).  I pretty sure there were three, but not 100%.

Although they can appear very similar to a Marsh Tit, it was good to finally get these chaps on camera. They are now a `Red List` bird, in decline, so the WWT are putting up a number of extra Willow Tit boxes to help encourage breeding.

While I was there, it was a shame to see some people walking over roped off paths into `Wildlife & Staff only ` areas, which helped to protect breeding areas. This includes paths in sight of the Kingfisher bank. This is a critical time of year, the weeks leading up to spring, and certain birds (including any possible Kingfisher) will be off elsewhere if disturbed or feel threatened by seeing someone standing in the open. This was the case in a previous year, the result being birds, including Kingfisher, failed to breed.

I hope the Willow Tit do breed this year, the chances of which would improve if people stay out of the areas for authorised staff and volunteers only. 

the visitor

 

An unexpected visitor turned up recently to terrorise the sparrows and blue tits. 

This male Sparrowhawk spent best part of an hour around our garden, although not always in the best position. I particularly like this one though, which kind of sums up it`s menacing nature.

local Kingfisher project

 

Once `draingate` (see below) and the remainder of my heavy cold are both out of the way, i`m going to be trying to work on the my local area for Kingfisher. This will be just one of many projects I plan to do, the list for this year seemingly endless.

Without offending any dog lovers and owners, these birds - amongst many others - have been disturbed in the past by loose dogs, who also seem to like `attacking` people working quietly and patiently doing photography. I mention this again as it happens throughout the year. (A few months ago I was talking to a couple of other photographers who did actually get attacked and bitten by a dog, with equipment damaged too, and the owner walking off as if nothing had happened.)

Kingfisher are protected birds, and it`s an offence to disturb them around any nest site or territory. I therefore always bear things like this in mind, and work away from the immediate area, using a camouflage hide, and putting in the time (when I have some) without disturbing any wildlife. 

This image came from a series of perches I put up in an area I thought was ideal and attractive for them, and I just happened to be fortunate on the first day.

But please folks try and control your dogs, as this will help wildlife, particularly during the breeding season.

a draining week

 

well not actually ..

I`ve spent nearly all this week following through what started off as an issue with blocked pipes, but ended up with the diagnosis of a collapsed drain! What`s this got to do with my photography? Well it took over from everything else, regularly chasing the insurance company, who were chasing the middle-man, etc. The result - a wasted week timewise, resulting in no photography, and very little time free to do much else.

Although still not feeling 100%, I was hoping for some time spare. There have been good sightings of the Otter and Kingfisher at WWT, where I was hoping to be back volunteering this week, so I have some catching up to do.

Unfortunately I also missed the best opportunities to catch the Comet passing through, as cloud obscured it during it`s best angle and brightness. High pressure coming in this weekend, so hoping that with a `craned neck` I might be able to catch it this evening before it fades too much and speeds away. 

So it`s mainly been a week dominated by `draingate`. This time next week everything should be rectified. You never know what`s around the corner do you?

Wishing you clear skies and calm weather.

Peregrine

 

It`s remained a quiet month photography wise for me. Being unable to track down the Bittern and Otters at WWT, but I did manage to have a flyby from this Peregrine on North Gower last Saturday while I was waiting, unsuccessfully, for Harrier to turn up. 

Generally though it`s all been quiet, with even my attempts to photograph the comet have been clouded out so far. With the flu-like cold still dragging on from December, I haven`t been out as much as I would have liked. Still, plans remain and I hope everything will pick up soon.

Nice to see more activity from our local foxes again. Hoping that they`ll have a successful new family this year, so added that to my list of things to regularly look out for. 

Jeff Beck

 

So sorry to hear that we have lost Jeff Beck over the last week.

Although I don`t know a lot of his work, he was a superb guitarist. One of my `top twenty of everything` tracks has to to be People get ready, which he did with Rod Stewart. 

Another one gone.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yC_j_dzkaVE