Wild Wanderings

Diary

January 1st 2018

A very damp and still start to the new year. I always visit the paddock with my two Boxer dogs, Bridie and Harriet, early each morning. They usually run and chase around having a great time and I always check on everything looking for any signs of Badgers or Voles etc. This morning as we entered by the bottom gate a flurry of House Sparrows and Blue Tits darted into the hedge. They must have been finishing off the seed from yesterdays feeding. The light was poor so I didn't take the camera.

The best light for photography at the moment seems to be between 12 noon and 3pm so I decided to wait until then to see if the light improved.

1pm. Sure enough it was pretty sunny so I thought I would take a stroll down to the river to see what I could record.

I took a slow stroll to the river. The way down was quiet and the fields were heavy with the recent rain. A couple of Crows were sitting on the hedge lazily eying me up before, even more lazily, taking to the air and wheeled away from me and settled on the next hedge. This is a game they play on a regular basis. Last week I had seen a flock of 50 or so Fieldfares grazing the newly sewn wheat fields and I was hoping to catch a few with my lens. But I never saw even one today just a solitary Redwing but he was to far away.

The river was high and with my Binoculars I could see about 50 Canada geese floating and feeding in the Quarry with about 20 more resting on the island near the centre of the lagoon. I sheltered under a group of trees near the bank of the river to hide my human shape from the ever watchful eyes of the birds. A Buzzard circled above me before moving off across the skyline to the fields down river.

Things were very quiet. They always are when the river is high like this. A Cormorant plopped into the water about 100 meters up-stream and floated down towards me head held high and body low in the water. I think they look like a little 'Loch Ness Monster' when they float like this. He made his way down towards me and I managed a few distant shots before he dived and then re-emerged about 20 metres past my position. I'm sure he was trying to avoid me.

The small flock of Canada's took off from right to left and with lots of noise made their way to somewhere else. I watched them disappear and decided to make my way back home. Still no Fieldfare. I am determined to get a good shot of these beautiful thrushes but it will have to be another day. As I arrived back to base 6 Gulls flew across my path at about 100 feet above me but in the twilight I couldn't get any decent shots of them. The day was closing in and the temperature was dropping fast. The river although flooded had still been a great place to spend an hour or so. I felt chilled out in more ways than one.

Till tomorrow.