Big garden birdwatch... in a gorgeous but tad frosty woodland

How else would anyone want to spend Sundays in January in Britain? I will admit it was a pretty frosty start, but I was too excited to stay in bed, so I grabbed my pre-packed gear, a flask of tea and some food and headed out in 4 layers looking like the Michelin man. I was expecting everything to feel still and silent as is typical of frosty mornings, but it couldn't have been any noisier as the woodpeckers were busy drilling right next to the hide - such an incredible feat these birds go to every year and such volume it makes when there are no leaves on the trees to muffle the sound. I rearranged the feeders and settled in to record for the Big Garden Birdwatch. Again lots of tits and the woodpeckers were very obliging, but after a couple of hours I was starting to ponder the layout and direction of the hide itself not just the feeders. As Ant arrived and began burning and clearing Rhodies again at the top I decided to rehash the hide completely and took it apart to rebuild. It didn't take too long as it's mostly bungee'd tarps and hanging camo netting but it did cause me to fall twice, shed a few layers and promptly replace them with layers of mud - smart Joanne, real smart. I basically doubled the height and instead of just one side being open for viewing, I now have two. Feels a lot more spacious and I can actually fit a chair in instead of slumming it on the muddy floor or a mould-covered log. With the front and one side now open to shoot through it also gives me a much wider vista to watch the behaviour of the birds when they are not actually on the feeders - where they take the food and how quickly they return. It's very difficult to see these things with only a small forward facing window. It does mean I need to get a second black shower curtain to hang behind me as the one I have only covers the back and therefore doesn't fully obscure my outline. That said, the birds didn't seem to mind and were still visiting the feeders hanging around me as I worked. Eventually we will build more permanent hide structures, but first I need to get the siting absolutely right for all seasons. It's relatively easy to get sufficient levels of light when the leaves are down and the sun is shining, but in the summer the direction of the hide could well be pointing into deep shade which would be of no use at all. 

A short break for a cuppa soup and some flapjacks and I was whistled from across the valley by our neighbours, Bob and Rita. They bought Flourish wood next door as well as Ousebeck wood the other side of that. They hadn't been up for a month on account of Rita's hips and the cold, but Bob simply couldn't stand it any longer and persuaded her to "pop up and check all was well". Such a lovely couple and thankfully managing their woods with similar ideas to us - wildlife, fruit trees, bee-keeping and recreational camping.

Whilst chatting with them and explaining what we've been up to, I realised I ought to start on the second hide to get it in place and baited before spring arrives. So as soon as I left them I began work on what I hope will be a bird of prey hide, which points out into the open clearing underneath the power lines. An area where Buzzards, Barn Owls and Tawnys have often been seen. I had picked the spot and collected the forked uprights back in the summer and was luckily given more camo screening by my sister for Christmas, so  I shed another layer, and grabbed a load more bungee straps, and set about constructing a second wind and water proof temporary hide. I got half finished just as the light was fading and then my friend Keith turned up with a gift for me.... wow - an old tripod he had no need for with a beanbag support on top - result!

We had a wander and then ventured up to the top to see that Ant had managed to clear yet another huge section of Rhodies and create a really good looking area where some of the more mature and upright specimens have been left to create cover, shade and evergreen interest. It's also now possible to see where yet another stream is trickling down off the field and almost creating a flowing path down the bank. I can't wait for spring to see what flowers come up in the area now that the sunlight can reach the floor and the ground has been churned up underfoot and hopefully brought a load of dormant seeds to the surface.
PS: new camera is simply AMAZING! I love it.

Figgy flaps, pheasants, a fox and a finch.

Arrived at Rais around noon to beautiful sunshine. I was armed with my new Nikon D4 and a fixed 500mm lens to try out and accompanied by my sister for her first ever session with a camera in a hide. We had gardening "kneely" pads to sit on (last week's soggy numb and frozen bum was just never to be repeated), a bean bag for one lens and a tripod for mine - the Nikon is way heavier than anything I have ever used before.

On the way in I collected the Acorn trail camera from the path which had this gorgeous fox on it and not a lot else but I think I had the angle wrong on the tree I had tied it to because there were tons of images of nothing so I'm guessing the sensors tripped but the animals passed by either underneath or along the path which is further to the left out of frame!

After the obligatory brew on arrival we filled the feeders and settled ourselves in for a bit of a wait as the feeders were completely empty having not been filled since last Sunday. It actually didn't take too long before the first wave of tits came through - the Greats, followed by the Coals and then finally the Blues. Unfortunately the log feeder on the ground was too close for me and my hired whopper lens, so I switched to helping my sister get to grips with focusing and composition; a very frustrating couple of hours passed as she watched the birds come and go in all the spots apart from the one she was focused on! so typical - I remember it well. She did eventually capture an image she was pleased with and hopefully it will spur her on to keep practicing. It's not the easiest thing in the world to do - birds are small, fast and constantly on the move and the bigger birds are far more nervous and don't tend to come as close or as often.

The woodpeckers came in close again but remained on the backside of the tree trunk in front of us, so will try baiting slightly differently tomorrow.

The first sack of bird seed (25kgs) is nearly done now and so I will need to order some more, but the peanuts are definitely the favourite, which fits with the BBC's "Winterwatch" experiment this week where they put out different foods (cheese, peanuts and grapes) and the mice always chose the one with the highest calorific content - the peanuts. Calories definitely needed in this cold weather.

My sister left shortly before 3pm which gave me some time to fire up the storm kettle and fill my flask with coffee to take back inside the hide for some silent Nikon practice with my homemade figgy flapjacks (there must be a domestic goddess in me somewhere), - however I wasn't alone for long, nor did I get to use the Nikon... it was the Samsung mobile phone that got the use as a woodmouse came scurrying in and had a good snoop about right in front of me! Can't wait til tomorrow when I will be back out with a shorter lens (80-400mm) and hopefully as I will be alone I will get to give the new kit a few good hours trial. I need to get to grips with the differences in controls before I head off to Kenya in 3 weeks - switching to Nikon after 15 years handling a Pentax is a real challenge for me.

First session actually using the camera in the hide

The temperature might have been barely above freezing, the rain clouds hovered overhead all day, menacingly, and a cold wet muddy floor on my backside wasn't too comfortable, but I am so glad I went yesterday.

Great Spotted Woodpecker

After spending half hour in the hide behind the screen on Saturday, randomly clicking the shutter to test reactions to the noise, I decided to return yesterday and give it a go and actually poke the lens through. The hide screen needed a bit of adjustment and a couple of bulldog clips to ensure no gaps around the lens, but once the black shower curtain was pulled across behind me and successfully obscured my outline, the birds were surprisingly ok with it all. With the exception of the Jay of course - such a shy bird, ballsy in colour, but really a big girls blouse when it comes to bravery - he really didn't like it and despite coming in a couple of times to a perch a few metres away and stare at the nuts, he wasn't brave enough to get close enough to grab one, let alone allow me to grab a shot or two and both times flew off loudly squawking his frustration.

The woodpeckers were a different story and had no issues coming down to the bottom of the tree trunk right in front of me to peck the lard from the crevices. At one point two were fighting over the same spot which was cool to watch at such close quarters.
I have to get to grips with which are male and which are female, but I just love the odd chattering noise they make when they flit between the trees. They remain silent once perched, but start up again when the fly. Also we have an abundance of coal tits in the Alder carr, or that's what it seems like anyway... either that or we have just 2 very greedy ones!

Coal Tit

The coal tits are like tiny punk rocker birds with their white Mohican stripe down the back of their heads; they tend to take only the peanuts on the low lying log, they don't stay long either; In, grab and out again - so I spent a frustrating hour trying to capture this one - in fact I think I might have even cheered slightly when I finally got it. The blue tits are always the first back to the feeders after a scare and they will take from absolutely any of them: floor, hanging, bark, log, wherever there is food, they are on it. I was kind of gutted I hadn't taken my bins too as I saw my first Rais treecreeper flitting about 10m back towards the storage boxes. I managed a shot or two but it was some way away. I will have to find out what he likes to eat and put something out for him too.

Blue Tit

Despite the overcast day pushing my ISO up to 1600 / 3200 I was quite impressed with how nice the light was and how rich the colours came out. I can't wait to get back up there next weekend with my new camera. I have finally gone for a pro camera and bought myself a Nikon D4. I couldn't afford a lens straightaway too, so I have hired one for a month to practice with before payday and my next trip to the Masai Mara in a few weeks time. Everything on the Nikon seems to be the opposite to the Pentax and is definitely going to take some getting used to, but I am so excited about getting to grips with such an awesome bit of kit.

New year - new grant scheme

click here to read the New Revamped Government Grant Scheme
...and yet more light bedtime reading!
Looks like we might be able to apply by February for the improvement grant t ohelp with the Rhodie clearance. Fingers crossed.

Spent a good while watching camera footage from the two traps set up last week and to my surprise it turns out to be the woodpeckers eating the apples on the nails. The globe nut feeder spends most of its time with a squirrel wrapped around it and there is a large fat rat who takes the night shift at the lard-in-the-bark patch! nice.

New Years Day! start as we mean to go on!