Category Archives: Wildlife

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Our photos are of wildlife and the environment.  We enjoy capturing stunning  images of iconic animals  but we know that this is not the whole story.  Throughout the world wildlife faces a battle to survive the constant onslaught of man’s consumerism so we also record stories of conservationists who strive to restore the balance.

Autumn migration

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September has seen the first huge influx of migrating birds into the UK. Last weekend we were down on the east coast of Norfolk and witnessed the spectacle of waders on their high tide roosting grounds.Waders in flight create a blur across the RSPB nature reserve of Snettisham.These birds will have travelled from Arctic Canada across Greenland and down into the North Sea. It is here they will find sufficient food to survive the winter.

Mostly Oystercatchers being forced by the incoming tide off their feeding grounds.

As the incoming tide races across the mudflats the waders are denied their feeding grounds

The sunrise wakes a flock of roosting Oystercatchers

Tens of thousands of waders were present and many people had come to witness this great wildlife spectacle.

Watching the wintering birds as they fly past the hide.

And this is what these birds

An Avocet moves in-between the Godwit

 

Brilliant UK wildlife: 1

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The UK is brilliant for wildlife and being an island in the middle of an ocean is only one good reason.   

London is as far north as Newfoundland, and they have icebergs floating by most of the year !  So forget the rainy days, the UK has mild weather and this is as great for the wildlife as it is for those of us who live here.

Waves roll in from the atlantic to the West Wales coastline.

The reason for this beautifully mild climate is the Gulf Stream, this carries warm water from the Caribbean northwards to the coasts of the UK.  The Gulf Stream originates from the warm surface waters of the Caribbean and the Gulf of Mexico; and the North Atlantic Drift propels it northwards towards Greenland and then southwards where it nurtures the coasts of  Norway and the entire western coasts of Britain and Ireland.  This ‘marine motorway’ has many benefits, it brings unusual species from southern waters northwards as well as enabling nutrient rich waters from the Arctic to flow southwards.   

One of these species is a very special bird. Its difficult to imagine half a million birds, but that is the number of Manx Shearwaters that follow the ocean currents from Brazil to the UK every summer to breed.  These ‘oceanic swifts’ follow the gulf stream and nest a few remote islands off our west coast in the summer.

Manx Shearwaters

Manx Shearwaters

 The best place to see these birds is off the coast of Pembrokeshire in West Wales, especially the area of sea between the islands of  Skomer and Skokholm. These islands are managed by the  South and West Wales Wildlife Trust and boats to the islands and cruises to see the Shearwaters are oparated by Dale Sailing.

 

 

Designed to weave and glide effortlessly over the wave tops, Shearwaters are clumsy and therefore vulnerable on land so they will only visit their nests at night and ideally those nights when it is misty and especially dark.  Their chief predators are the Greater and Lesser  Black-backed Gulls which ambush the birds at night as they come onto the island, where they nest in the darkness of underground burrows..  By walking around the nest sites on mornings following dark nights, dozens and sometimes hundreds of carcases can be found.   However the nesting densities are so great that such predation does not affect the overall population and such natural selection could be viewed as beneficial.   

 Dead Shearwater

 Future blogs will highlight more about the UKs brilliant wildlife.

 

A rainy spring with the Bluebells

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We are well into spring in the UK

In recent weeks their has been so much rain that two weeks after the first severe downpours started, the water is still running down the lanes and filling the streams that run through the Charnwood valleys. This is the Ulverscroft brook which bisects the Lea Meadows , which is one of the nature reserve gems owned and managed by the Leicestershire and Rutland Wildlife Trust.

 

The Ulverscoft brook seen here, bisects the Lea Meadows nature reserve

This rain was much needed as we have had two very dry winters.  Rain is welcomed by all wildlife and none so more than the plants.

In nearby woods the Bluebells are at their best. No matter what the weather, rain will never spoil the magnificence of a Bluebell wood and

are many such woods in the National Forest.

In the Charnwood Forest, Leicestershire, Bluebell woods are common

A 'sea'of bluebells

A bluebell wood, one of many in the National Forest.

On the days when the sun shines, butterflies make the most of this blue bonanza of fragrance.  Butterflies such as the Green-veined White, Orange Tip and Brimstone .

 

A common butterfly throughout Great Britain

According to the British Butterfly Conservation Society, despite the good start in March, much of this spring from April into May has been poor for butterflies.

The reason for this is that butterflies need warmth from the sun to power their wings for flight, given a little sunshine and butterflies will fly and fly as often as they can, for there is no time to loose, looking for a mate.

Remote camera trapping

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I have recently started to use camera traps in a local wood.

The point is not necessarily to get great photographs but to understand what animals are present and to understand their movements.

I have had one remote camera stolen so am now being very careful where I place my new ones. I do have permission to be in this otherwise private wood and to undertake photography and this is important if you are thinking of doing this sort of work. I have been reasonable happy with the results so far, here are a few of them.

I only position my remote camera close to the set entrance once a week, to avoid disturbance.

The vast majority of my successful pictures have been of a fox and they take the majority of the peanuts I put out.

Fox

This fox has stood still for a moment, usually they are on the move and the image quality is very poor.

Lea Meadows Nature Reserve April 2012

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The Bullhead fish

The Lea Meadows nature reserve is to be found in the Ulverscroft valley, on the Charnwood Forest in Leicestershire, England.  The reserve is bisected by a brook which rises in the hills a mile upstream

and as this catchment area is low intensity pasture land where few if any chemicals are used ,the brook remains clear and unpolluted by modern farming practices.

Either side of the brook lie  meadows which have probably not been ploughed since medieval times.  Such lack of disturbance means that the meadows are rich in wild flowers.

 

 

Lea Meadows nature reserve

 

Although the brook may appear small and inconsequential, its cleanliness is rare in the modern industrial midlands of England.  The brook is characterful, some sections with gravel islands, some with muddy edges.

Where the water flows over a harder rock  the water is only two fingers deep, however in other places, where the gound underneath is soft, the water has cut down and will come up to your knees.

The course of the brook twists and turns between  alders, hawthorn and oak, tight bends have created small banks and winter floods have led to the creation of small ‘ox-bows’ here and there.

Each of these tiny variations and nuances in the character of the brook provides a multitude of niches where wildlife can specialise and thrive.

The brook has an infinate variety of niches where wildlife can thrive.

Bullhead fish are common, in April they lay eggs under stones in the brook.  Here you can see the larvae, each surrounded by a spherical yolk sac which sustains the larvae until they hatch.

 

 

The eggs of the Bullhead are guarded by the male fish until they hatch.

Bullhead males have a large mouth and for the size of the fish a large set of fins, which helps to keep the fish steady in the fast flowing, shallow water where they live.

They do not have scales and their skin colouration of mottled dark browns camouflages them well.

 

Bullheads are nocturnal and at night feed off invertebrates especially along the vegetated edges of the brook  but during the day they conceal themselves on the bottom of the brook amongst the stones.

 

 

Urban crow roost

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In Ottawa city, thousands of crows fly in to roost every winters night.  Birds do this as cities are slightly warmer than the surrounding countryside and therefore they conserve vital energy, energy required to survive. Crows are intelligent and highly social, two traits that enable them to compete successfully .

 

Check out Wildshots other crow images

Murder of crows by the Rideau river, prior to roosting

 

 

Roosting crows are safe for the night in trees

 

The Geckos’ cloak of invisibility

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Leaf-tailed geckos (Uroplatus sp) are found only in Madagascar and are nature’s masters of camouflage.  They are nocturnal hunters of the tropical rainforests. When resting during the day, they need to hide from predators.  They achieve this in spectacular fashion by adopting various strategies to give themselves a cloak of invisibility. This certainly gives a challenge to the wildlife photographer.

Uroplatus gecko head

Uroplatus gecko

The Leaf-tailed Gecko (above) has a ragged frill of skin over its eye which breaks up its outline.  A ragged flap also extends around the sides of the Gecko, this merges with the tree trunk and prevents a shadow appearing.

Leaf-tailed Gecko on tree

Can you see the Gecko

The Giant Gecko (above) changes its skin colour, such that it is almost indistinguishable from that of the tree.  Can you see it halfway up on the right hand tree trunk?

Leaf-tailed Gecko

Ebenau's Leaf-tailed Gecko

Ebenau’s Leaf-tailed Gecko mimics dead leaves.  Even the dark veins of leaves are copied, so that this animal becomes invisible amidst the vegetation.

 

Madagascar – priceless wildlife amidst economic poverty

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Madagascar is among the poorest nations on earth, being far off trade routes, having few natural resources, with a rapidly expanding population and governed by a long line of corrupt politicians.

Kids hard at work

 

However due to its evolutionary history, the island of Madagascar is one of the Worlds biological hotspots. Its unique landscapes contain a cauldron of biological diversity, unlike anywhere else on the planet.

Chameleon on a missionParsons chmeleon