Thursday 19 September 2024

Osprey on the River Camel Aug/Sept 2024

  


About a month ago a juvenile Osprey arrived near Wadebridge and started to hangout near Target pool, visible from the Camel Trail  1 mile marker just beyond Pendavey bridge on the Wadebridge - Bodmin section of the disused railway line that is now a major tourist attraction.
The bird looked to be roosting in the tall oaks above the river but having watched it intently recently I think it's roosting elsewhere and only flying in at first light to perch up and preen.
Because a similar Osprey used the same trees last autumn it was automatically assumed it was the same bird but looking at the plumage it's almost certainly 2 different juvenile birds.
Last years bird would normally have stayed in its winter quarters in West Africa for at least the first year and sometimes 2 years.


So these trees and the undisturbed bit of the river must prove attractive to Ospreys on their Southerly migration. There's no doubt that there is plenty of food as its been seen taking mullet regularly and there have been many hundred fish in that short section of River during late summer although numbers have dropped off rapidly in the past week despite huge Equinox spring tides.


I've spent many hours in a small canvas hide in various places including the  middle of  blackthorn copse with my cameras but still failed to get any shots of it with fish, although others have been luckier in that respect.
In order to prevent any disturbance I approached my hide in darkness, often starting at 5am, and never left until the bird had flown off. It's not in my interest to disturb it as obviously I won't get any views or photographs!
By sitting and watching this bird for long periods of time I was privileged to record lots of intimate behaviour, especially so when it was preening or falling asleep on the perch with its eyes gradually closing and the third eyelids passing across the eyes.

One of the funniest moments was after it had had a failed dive & it flew to it's favourite dead elm but instead of landing on the central trunk it tried to land on a dead branch at speed.
The branch snapped off at the node with the trunk and both Osprey and branch went tumbling through the air with a loud crack!
That was enough for the bird, it flew off looking most indignant or maybe embarrassed and I never saw it again that morning.
Here is a selection of photographs I've taken , sometimes many in one session but also sometimes none at all after 4 cold and dark hours on the riverbank.
We do have to suffer for our art...... but the rewards are fantastic,  just watching these iconic birds at close quarters is amazing.

As an aside there are plans to build an Osprey nesting platform in the near vicinity very soon using the cut off electricity poles by the river... watch this space!


Bit of a sh*t shot ha!















Thursday 8 August 2024

Falmouth pelagic boat trips 27th & 28th July 2024.

 

Common Dolphin

I've been leading a few pelagic boat trips for Naturetrek Wildlife Holidays in the past few years and these 2 single day trips were packed full of wildlife!

We were aboard the "Spirit of our seas", a brand new catamaran skippered by CK, Captain Keith and out of the Falmouth deep water estuary and into Falmouth Bay. "If it's out there Keith will find it!".

Very knowledgeable crew members were Fen on the Saturday & Alex on the Sunday, Thanks guys!

Spirit of our seas.

On both tours we encountered Harbour Porpoise just close in the bay with Mediterranean Gulls bobbing on the tops of the waves.

Harbour Porpoise

Med Gull

A few Kittiwakes were in the bay with an occasional Razorbill or Guillemot being sighted.

Kittiwake 

On the Saturday we headed south-west toward the Lizard Point often hugging the shore picking out Grey Seals off of Porthoustock and Coverack, dodging the pinnacle rocks of the infamous Manacles Reef before heading out to the south to pick up the flight path of the pelagic birds between the Dodman point and the lizard.

The skipper was always watching for "mix-ups" or "work-ups" on the horizon where birds were feeding or tuna and dolphins were dashing around creating a white water frenzy.

When he spotted one it was everyone back to their seats and the throttle opened up to get out a few miles and look for wildlife. When nearby he would kill the revs and we would hang off the feeding spectacle and wait for them to come to us or us to drift toward them. That way they don't get spooked and all the clients get to see all that's on offer.

The Atlantic Blue-Fin Tuna are huge fish and they seem to surround their prey in a circle and when you watch them you can see hundreds of small fish (sprats) leaping from the water to escape the predatory fish and gulls.

Atlantic Blue-Fin Tuna

Atlantic Blue-Fin Tuna

Here's a short video clip of the tuna frenzy taken on my phone....

 


Of course where there are small fish there are always lots of seabirds and the sea was buzzing with Gannets, Shearwaters and Gulls.

The Shearwaters consisted of the numerous Manx, along with many Great, Cory's and Sooties.

Here are a few images of them taken over the weekend trips....

 

A composite of diving Gannets. 

Gannet taking off

Gannet just getting airborne

Adult Gannet

Manx Shearwater

Cory's Shearwater

Great Shearwater

Cory's Shearwater

Northern Fulmar

Northern Fulmar

Cory's Shearwater

Great Shearwater

Sooty Shearwater

Sooty Shearwater 

Another bird that gave us a run around was an Arctic Skua of which I only got some shots of its rear end as it flew off but luckily one of our group got some better shots to positively ID it.

Arctic Skua

Another cracking bird was this Wilson's Storm Petrel, first identified as a European Stormie, subsequent looking showed it to be a Wilson's.

Wilson's Storm Petrel

Wilson's Storm Petrel 
 

The fly past of a flock of Common Scoter was another highlight despite being a long way off but easily identifiable.

 

Common Scoter

On both days we caught up with Common Dolphins and often they stayed around the boat for many hours. Here are a few images ....

Common Dolphins

Common Dolphin

Common Dolphin

Common Dolphin

Common Dolphin

Common Dolphin 

Common Dolphins  

 So as you can see an amazing wildlife adventure!

Naturetrek are running a few more pelagics from Falmouth in the coming weeks with availability on some of the trips.

If you're interested then here is the link for information...

Naturetrek Falmouth Pelagic day tours.
 





Monday 22 July 2024

Nightjars..."you ain't seen me right?" Cornwall July 2024


 Nightjars... What special birds! Masters of camouflage!

For many years I've enjoyed going out to watch & more often hear them in the forests & heathland of mid & north Cornwall.

Until now all of my photographs have been grab shots of them perched at the top of a tree or whizzing past my ear!



 

All that changed this year when I found my first bird at roost on the ground! 

With its eyes closed and just an occasional flicker showing it was still alive I watched it intently thinking 'does he know I'm here' or is he so confident in its ability to stay motionless and its camouflage that it thinks I can't see it.

Or is it genuinely asleep and doesn't know I'm near?

I've now watched a dozen in various places and always given them plenty of space and photographed them with a long 500mm lens, sometimes cropping in strongly on my computer. Often they are surrounded by dead timber and dry grasses so that they blend in perfectly. In fact I will often gaze for many minutes before I notice one lying along a log of the exact same cryptic colouration. 

These birds are not on nests but roosting probably after fledging young, often close to forestry & heath tracks & footpaths. I'm sure they get regularly disturbed by dogs as these areas are popular with dog walkers and I often see dogs rooting through the areas the nightjars inhabit.

I'm confident that I'm not disturbing them as I have found so many in regular areas, often on the same logs or branches.

So here is a selection of recent images....

 







I suspect this is a juvenile