Martin's Bird Blog & Nature Photos

Category: Blog

  • 28th April 2023 – The Forest of Dean

    28th April 2023 – The Forest of Dean

    I had subscribed to a an afternoon birding walk in the Forest of Dean organised jointly by local retailer “Clifton Cameras” and “Zeiss Optics”. The walk was billed as an opportunity to view and experience Zeiss’s new SLF binoculars and Digital Thermal Imaging (DTI) cameras as well as other optics.

    The Forest of Dean is a 50 minute drive from my home in Bristol and, especially as I have had limited opportunities of late, I set off early to spend an hour or two on my own in this beautiful ancient forest.

    I headed for the RSPB reserve of Nagshead which I know quite well and where I hoped to see pied flycatchers. I had barely settled into the Lower Hide when a litter of boarlets passed in front of me near to the pool in front of the hide. I have seen wild boar in the forest before from the roadside, and often seen the large areas of uprooted and disturbed soil caused by their powerful necks and snout as they search for food, but I had never encountered them close up in the forest.

    Wild boar piglets or boarlets affectionately known as humbugs

    The piglets (or boarlets) are a lighter ginger-brown than the adult boars with stripes on their coat for camouflage and are affectionally known as ‘humbugs’. They disappeared in a flash, I presume, to their farrowing nest.

    Unfortunately I didn’t manage to see any pied flycatchers, although I was assured they had already built nests in the area but I did see a female and a male redstart (thanks mainly to the very friendly birders Don and Mike Smith from Corsham who I seem to bump into regularly at various birding sites around the south west”.

    Male redstart

    Redstart preening

    Great tit

    I then needed to set off for Speech House Woodland Car Park to meet up for the afternoon walk.

    Martin Drew (from Clifton Cameras) and Toby Carter (from Zeiss Optics) were there to greet us and were buzzing with excitement with what they had seen seen on their morning walk: close ups of goshawks and firecrests and redstarts in numbers.

    I thought this was a bad omen as it’s always the way when you meet a group of birders that they have just seen all sorts of birds that never re-appear.

    And so we didn’t even get a glimpse of the goshawks but only a few distant views of ravens and buzzards. On our walk we heard goldcrests (but not firecrests), woodpeckers, chiffchaffs, willow warblers and chaffinches and saw a number of stonechats, tree pipits, linnets, tree creepers and mistle thrushes.

    Mistle thrush

    Linnet

    Tree pipit

    Male stonechat

    Female stonechat

    Mistle thrush

    There were other opportunities on the walk – green tiger beetle

    However, we did get to see and use a whole range of very impressive Zeiss Optics in the field. It certainly made a change from testing optics by looking  at signs through a shop window. I would like to thank Martin and Toby who were great hosts on this walk and the four other birders on the trip who made it a very convivial afternoon.

    It was wonderful to get out and about again and I can’t wait to take my wife (who is recovering from a hip replacement operation) back to the same spots to soak in the joys of nature.

    From the Forest of Dean website:

    “This ancient forest has changed many times over the centuries. In medieval times it was a royal hunting forest, before becoming a source of timber for the navy’s Tudor warships. By Victorian times it was a major site of industry, with coal mining and tramways punctuating the landscape.

    In 1938 the Forest was designated the first National Forest Park and today the Forest of Dean is a popular destination for tourists.

    Today the forest is still a working forest, producing sustainable timber for the UK market.

    The Forest is also a stronghold for nature with larges areas of woodland and open space providing a mosaic of habitats for a wide variety of wildlife,

    It is a great place to explore. See if you can find the hidden remains of industry as you enjoy this wild and beautiful forest.”

  • 15th April 2023 – Home

    15th April 2023 – Home

    I seem to be missing the excitement of spring as I have had very limited opportunity to get out and about in recent weeks. So, it was quite comforting to see a few birds through the window from my lounge this morning, in particular two jays that were gathering nest making materials.

    Jay (from my lounge window) collecting nesting material

    I wish I had invested in better double-glazing (or was it my lack of skill to not capture this shot any sharper?)

    I’m glad I spotted this robin which I’ve been hearing both day and night

    Cheeky blue tit on the feeder

    Goldfinch

    Nice to see the greenfinches back in decent numbers

    Buzzard over my suburban garden

    Although it was not left in peace for long

    In addition from my window I’ve seen herring gulls, lesser black-backed gulls, house sparrows, dunnocks, coal tits, great tits, blackbirds, starlings, carrion crows, jackdaws, wood pigeons, collared doves, magpies and even a peregrine on the church spire.

    Hopefully, I shall soon be able to see the real joys of spring now that chiffchaffs, willow warblers, sand martins, swallows (and soon swifts) are all arriving at this exciting time of the year.

  • 24th March 2023 – Eastville Park, Bristol

    24th March 2023 – Eastville Park, Bristol

    A walk through my local park in the rain showers this afternoon was rewarded with a view of a tawny owl in an owl box on the island in the middle of the lake.

    Tawny owl

    A dynamic grey wagtail in the gloom of the brook

    Grey heron catching the brief rays of sunshine

    Great cormorant overlooking the lake

    Did these pike feel safe from the cormorants? There were plenty of them in the lake.

    The light was failing on the way home but a robin provided a ray of brightness

  • 14th March 2023 – Somerset Levels

    14th March 2023 – Somerset Levels

    The weather was kinder today and, although there was a fresh breeze throughout, it was sunny for most of the day. I visited 3 nature reserves on the Somerset Levels, about an hour and a half south from my home in Bristol.

    At RSPB Catcott Lows a couple of wardens had just disturbed most of the birds as they made their way out to a pumping station to lower the water levels. I didn’t hang around but made may way to RSPB Greylake instead, only a further 6 miles on.

    There was lots to see but most of the huge numbers of ducks were fairly inactive and not too bothered even by a couple of marsh harriers and a kestrel.

    RSPB Greylake

    A teal not taking a nap

    The most interesting activity was a close-up little grebe and a small flock of curlew flying over.

    Little grebe

    Curlew

    I moved on to RSPB Ham Wall, about half a dozen miles back towards home.

    It was relatively quiet here too. But its always a joy to be at Ham Wall (with booming bitterns and frequent sightings of marsh harriers) and eventually a couple of great crested grebe made my day as they became better acquainted.

    View from the hide with Glastonbury Tor in the background

    The squalls of wind were evident on the water

    Grey heron breaks cover from the reed beds

    Tufted duck

    Shoveler

    Nice to see a great tit other than on the garden feeders

    Slideshow of today’s photos:

  • 8th March 2023 – Pink in Nature

    8th March 2023 – Pink in Nature

    Denzil Nature tells us that the weather is bleak in Belgium and so for this week he has set a new photo challenge of showing pink in nature (to cheer us up).

    (https://denzilnature.com/2023/03/08/nature-photo-challenge-3-pink/)

    It’s equally bleak for us in Bristol in the south west of England and its even snowing here this morning.

    Amazingly we have a fair amount of pink in the garden already.

    Cherry blossom in the snow

    Primulas with a dusting of snow

    Primulas almost hidden by the snow

    Hellebores standing high above the snow

    As I looked back through the year I realised that pink is often the dominant colour in my garden and how often insects are attracted to these plants:

    In and around the country pink is well represented too at all times of the year:

    Pink Rhododendrons in Cornwall in May

    Cottage garden in Cornwall in May

    Pinks at the seaside in Cornwall

    Wildflower meadows in Northumberland in June

    Coastal walk in Wales in June
    RHS Garden Show at Hampton Court Palace in July

    Pinks everywhere at the RHS Garden Show at Hampton Court in July

    Pink from the sunset on the Somerset Levels in December

    I haven’t seen any pink panthers or pink elephants but I have seen my fair share of pink flamingos in South Africa and Spain and even closer to home at WWT Slimbridge in Gloucestershire.

    Greater Flamingo (Strandfontein Birding Area, False Bay Coastal Park – January 2020)

    Greater Flamingo in Doñana National Park

    Greater Flamingos in Doñana National Park

    Brighter pink flamingos at WWT Slimbridge in Gloucestershire with a special diet
  • 5th March 2023 – Galleries

    5th March 2023 – Galleries

    I have created a new “Galleries” section on my blog to highlight some of my bird photos.

    GALLERIES

    I have purposely not labelled the birds in the mixed galleries as I thought it might be fun (for me too) to try our luck at identifying them. They are labelled elsewhere on the site.

    So far I have added the following galleries:

    Miscellaneous

    Waders

    Birds in Flight

    Large Waterbirds

    Kingfishers

    Red Kites

    Thornybush Private Game Reserve, Greater Kruger South Africa:

    I hope to add further galleries as time permits.

    These galleries can also be found under the “Additional Blogs” tab.

  • Nature Photo Challenge: Eyes

    Nature Photo Challenge: Eyes

    I enjoyed Denzil Nature’s Photo Challenge on “Pattern” last week and particularly enjoyed seeing some of other bloggers’ contributions. See Denzil’s post.

    His challenge this week is “Eyes”. So here goes:

    The eyes have it!

  • 28th February 2023 – Somerset Levels

    28th February 2023 – Somerset Levels

    I spent the day on the Somerset Levels – always a favourite of mine; however, the cold and lack of sun did test my resolve. Frustratingly, I could see the sun shining on the Mendip Hills to the north of me.

    The Great White Egret was the only thing to stand out in the poor light at Catcott Lows

    A Little Egret flew in to lighten the scene

    I started at Catcott Lows. The wetlands were teeming with wigeon, but not a lot else until a Great White Egret and a Little Egret appeared. It was just as well as it was too gloomy to photograph anything other than white birds.

    The Wren next to the hide was often very vocal but not when I was photographing it

    I moved on to RSPB Ham Wall. There have been sightings of Glossy Ibis here but they had decided that it was too cold for them and didn’t make an appearance.

    A Robin greeted me on my arrival – it was after a share of my sandwiches

    A pair of Shovelers

    Great Crested Grebe

    A Teal up close

    The Great Crested Grebes spent an awful lot of time diving but not coming up with weeds for their famous dances

    In reality there wasn’t a lot here. Quite a few Shovelers, a few Tufted Ducks and half a dozen Great Crested Grebe and one Little Grebe. Strangely at Catcott Lows and here there were no Lapwings, until a large flock flew over and headed towards Glastonbury Tor. A pretty sight.

    Lapwing

    A very distant Marsh Harrier

    The sun made a very brief appearance on this Shoveler

    The Little Grebe wouldn’t come close to me

    The Tufted Duck was less shy

    Before heading home I had a very brief visit to Westhay Moor. A pair of Greylag geese and a pair of Great Crested Grebe that nearly took to the air were the best on offer.

    A Grey Heron on my way to Westhay Moor

    Greylag Geese

    Great Crested Grebe doing its best to take off

    It felt like the Highlands of Scotland there today and so, with that in mind, I had a dram of whisky back at home. The day seemed much more successful after that.

    Slideshow of some of my photos from today.

  • Nature Photo Challenge: Patterns

    Nature Photo Challenge: Patterns

    I would like to accept Denzil Nature’s Photo Challenge for this week.

    It particularly appeals to me as I am regularly amazed at the wonderful patterns that are seen in nature.

    I look forward to seeing other blogs in the challenge

    A few patterns that come to mind:

    Animals

    Birds

    Butterflies

    Flowers

    Countryside

    Insects

  • 19th February 2023 – WWT Slimbridge, Gloucestershire

    19th February 2023 – WWT Slimbridge, Gloucestershire

    We are regular visitors to Slimbridge but we generally avoid going there during school holidays. However, with a rarity, a White-rumped Sandpiper (an annual visitor to the UK from North America in small numbers), reported there the temptation was too great.

    On arriving at the Rushy Pen hide (where it has been reported in recent days) we were quite disappointed that it was nowhere to be seen. Nonetheless, it was a lovely morning and we still enjoyed visiting all the hides on the north side of the reserve. There was plenty to see and a Black-tailed Godwit, a Common Redshank, Northern Pintails and Wigeon all came close. There were also plenty of geese and swans (both Mute and Bewick) flying around to keep me happy snapping away.

    Northern Pintail

    Black-tailed Godwit

    Common Redshank

    Eurasian Teal

    Eurasian Wigeon

    Canada Goose

    Greylag Goose

    Bewick Swan

    Mute Swan

    Little Egret

    A Water Rail was just a bit too secretive for me to get a good shot.

    Water Rail

    However, there were a couple of Oystercatcher very close up.

    Oystercatcher

    Oystercatcher with worm

    From the Tower hide, as well as lots of waterfowl, geese and swans, we could see Common Cranes. There was also a Sparrowhawk perched in the hedge in front of the hide and Blue Tits and Great Tits were very pluckily trying to mob it.

    Sparrowhawk

    There was a Snow Goose amongst the Barnacle Geese and I presume what I thought was a Ross’s Goose on our last visit probably was the same Snow Goose.

    There was another white goose in the distance with some White fronted Geese but I couldn’t see it clearly.

    Snow Goose amongst Barnacle Geese

    Wigeon (with Snow Goose top right)

    As we were making our way back to the car park we had to pass the Rushy Pen hide and from all the commotion it was clear that there was something special there. I could hardly get into the hide but from about the third row back I could still see the White-rumped Sandpiper, in all its glory right in front of the hide.

    Gallery of White-rumped Sandpiper:

    Stepping in fox poo on my way out this morning was clearly a lucky omen!

    Slideshow of photos from this morning:

  • 14th February 2023 – Chew Valley Lake, Somerset

    14th February 2023 – Chew Valley Lake, Somerset

    A beautiful day to visit Chew Valley Lake just south of Bristol. The water level was very high and it didn’t look very inspiring when we looked out from the Stratford hide.

    Until, that is, a group of 8 Goldeneye came into view.

    Male Goldeneye

    Female Goldeneye

    One of the males was displaying regularly by raising its head to the sky. It looked pretty good to me without even doing that.

    Just one Great Crested Grebe was to be seen. It spent more time diving than being on the surface but it did get its reward.

    Great Crested Grebe

    The Great Crested Grebe with French cuisine

    The other highlight of our visit was the spectacular fly past by a Great White Egret. There was also a Marsh Harrier surveying the reed beds.

    Marsh Harrier

    The Tufted Ducks looked splendid too in the glorious sunshine.

    Male Tufted Duck

    Slideshow of photos from today:

    Female Tufted Duck

    It all looked pretty romantic. Just the job for St Valentine’s Day.

    Slideshow of today’s photos:

  • 7th February 2023 – Somerset Levels

    7th February 2023 – Somerset Levels

    A day spent birding on the Somerset Levels is always a special treat. However, by midday I was beginning to think this might be the exception. However, the sun burnt through the mist by about one o’clock and I saw some lovely birds in the afternoon to go with the magically atmospheric scenery that I had seen in the morning.

    I was disappointed that Catcott Lows was closed due to tree felling but I probably wouldn’t have seen much as it was still very misty.

    On the approach roads I did manage to see very close up (but behind branches) a Common Buzzard and a Kestrel.

    The approaches to Catcott Lows at 11 am this morning.

    Common Buzzard

    Silhouette of a Kestrel

    I headed over to Westhay Moor.

    The approach to the new hide at Westhay Moor

    For most of the morning the view from the hide was more misty than this. Photo software is very clever at “dehaze”.

    The best moment of the morning was when a bittern flew straight in front of me but by this time I had given up hope of taking bird photos.

    Definitely a lot of use of “dehaze” to get this photo of a Common Snipe

    Final views from Westhay

    At this point I decided to move on to RSPB Ham Wall (and its toilets).

    The sun had burnt through en route but the fields were still steaming

    A Robin, the first bird to greet me at Ham Wall

    You can’t have a Robin and not a Blackbird

    Great White Egret from the viewing platform

    From here on there were glorious reflections

    Plenty of close ups of smaller birds

    Northern Shoveler

    Gadwall

    Great Crested Grebe

    Great White Egret

    Great Crested Grebe

    Slideshow of photos from today: