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wyvern wildlife skip to main skip to sidebar wyvern wildlife from the south wales borders and beyond sunday november 01 2020 and then i looked out of the window i hadn t been down the track for weeks but 3 discrete piles of feathers alongside a stretch of hedge told their own story this is a classic sparrowhawk ambush location fly low and hard along the arrow straight hedgeline and grab the birds that get spooked into flying the wrong way the track is little used so time to pluck and feast without disturbance despite the time i ve spent here subsequently though i only ever saw one brief glimpse of a hawk in flight in the summer we could hear the begging calls of young raptors from a treeline and i m sure these were sparrowhawks too but again i only ever once saw an adult powering over the fields second year we have heard them access to the trees might be possible at least to look for evidence of a nest so i ll add chatting to the landowners to the list for this winter but the chance of getting good shots of the birds is probably very low however one day i was washing the dishes honest and saw this beauty sitting in the birch tree outside the window i know from past experience trying to shoot through glass is pretty useless and opening a window this close would be likely to spook the bird nipped upstairs and grabbed a camera and lens sneaked out the back door and slowly poked the lens round the corner of the house the bird looked over at me then went back to staring into the tree canopy for it s next meal completely unfazed i tried edging round the corner a bit more and it remained quite relaxed in the end i was standing in front of the kitchen window and it just didn t care posted by brian at 7 02 pm 1 comment labels birds crick thursday april 09 2020 the good old days suddenly proper outdoors time is at a premium and it s tricky to keep an eye on what s happening even locally last years woodpecker hole on the route of one of our regular walks shows no signs of a nuthatch using it yet despite them having a good look last year after the woodpeckers had moved out when i saw the nest last year well as usual i heard it first i had high hopes of some good photo opportunities but this pair were clearly spooked by my presence despite best efforts so i rapidly decided to leave them to it as it turned out i did get a chance to snap another nest again i found it when i heard the youngsters calling i d been heading to see a wood warbler that had belatedly arrived in the usual spot but decided instead to spend the session with the gsw s fortunately this pair were much more accommodating and rapidly settled into a pattern of regular feeding visits to some well developed youngsters and although the light levels were a bit low and the leaf cover lent a green colour cast to many of the pics i did get some ok shots if you look at the big versions you might even see some woodpecker spit the tree had 3 or 4 older nest holes you can see another in these shots so was clearly seen as a good nest site i only had the one session before they fledged but i had hoped to check it again this year however the forest of dean is sadly well beyond reach during lockdown i have spotted a hole that i think is new and in use near another of our daily walks now that might be do able if things relax a little bit but i have doubts that i will be re retired in time to take good advantage stay safe posted by brian at 9 51 pm no comments labels birds forest of dean monmouthshire monday january 27 2020 forest of dean just a little late it s been months since i posted here and i have come the conclusion that i either get back into the blog now or just drop it altogether so let s try again just forgive me for the untimely posting 2019 was a funny year having retired i expected to get a lot more snapping done but life intervened and if anything i was down on opportunities one principal target for the year was due to be the woodland migrants in the forest of dean wood warbler pied and spotted flycatcher and redstart in the end i was probably lucky to get any pics at all my preferred venue was very slow none of the usual spotted flycatchers and although i heard the odd redstart i didn t find a clear territory the old hawthorn didn t have any nests but another old favourite nest hole was occupied by a nuthatch family this year just frustratingly high up it was satisfying a few weeks later to see a couple of the youngsters still in the vicinity their heads more rounded than that of the adults but otherwise the classic nuthatch poses were all there a couple of friends were passing through and i feared i would have nothing to show them but in the end we stumbled across a pair of pied flycatchers establishing a territory and had a visit from a handsome male redstart snapped handheld through a hide window in the field i was pleased to see bluebells around when we were snapping the pied flycatchers but whilst i like the flower stems with enough shape to show as bluebells i m not sure if the blue blobs in the background detract rather than add value i did find one other male pied flycatcher trying to attract a female to a nest hole but it was right at a busy public car park and in the end i didn t get to revisit as for the wood warblers again my traditional sites seemed to be vacant but more of that next time posted by brian at 8 48 pm no comments labels birds forest of dean tuesday june 04 2019 a hammer made of feathers och it s easy up here if you see a chiffchaff it s a willow warbler it s funny how things stick in your memory i was in my teens we were on a guided walk at insh marshes reserve in the highlands and the rspb warden was explaining to another visitor that he had never seen a chiffchaff in the highlands so there was no need to worry about telling them from willow warblers even though we do hear them in south wales to this day the sound of a willow warbler triggers memories of our annual trip to aviemore so that s why a trip up to see kay s parents got me thinking about scotland i ve written before about the wildlife that has inhabited the old coalmine tip site i always grab the chance to go up there with the camera and this year the first song i heard was the falling ripple of a willow warbler but much as i was pleased to hear it my real target took a little more finding j ust as indelibly t he song associated in my mind with this old coal tip in yorkshire is that of the yellowhammer that first afternoon all i heard were contact calls of birds flitting between the bushes getting up early on a misty morning the next day though the bread and cheese song reassured me the yellowhammers were still around and soon i found some singing and feeding i would have loved a better sky though they weren t quite so consistent in the song perches they used as i recalled so i spent a fair bit of time standing around pointing my lens at birdless branches being barked at by various dogs dogs don t like tripods do they assuring passers by that the canary on my camera screen was a resident british bird and not a freshly arrived migrant from africa and being repeatedly stared at by a whitethroat who obviously did have a programmed song perch route i was standing too near silence fell like a hammer made of feathers terry pratchett posted by brian at 12 38 am 1 comment labels birds up north wednesday may 15 2019 when is a lake not a lake in winter i live a 10 minute walk away from a lake in summer i live a 10 minute walk away from a field and twice a year as one shifts into the other i live a 10 minute walk away from a marsh the marsh time is my favourite and the horses which always have the choice of dry land often favour the marsh as well i ve taken some snaps of the wildlife of the lake field marsh over the years perhaps most surprisingly the kingfishers which appeared for a week or two in two of those years but it was only recently i thought about making more of a project out of it now i have more time so here is instalment 1 spring marsh as you look out over the grass small mostly mounds stand out at first they are bare a result of my appearance but wait a minute and the occupants sneak back it s nice to see coots at peace for a change but as always they can manufacture a squabble anywhere interestingly when a horse walks up much nearer than i ever am the birds remain glued to their nests other occupants of the marsh also ignore the horses the egrets are a bit skittish but come in if you are still and quiet breeding colours evident on some the grey herons are more nervous and tend to hold back and the little grebes are well they re like all little grebes shy and inquisitive at the same time popping up unpredictably and revelling in my inability to get a decent snap the swans built a massive mound which like most of the nests is now vacant the odd coot egg seems to have been predated probably whisper it by a corvid of some kind but i hope at least some youngsters have made it through and headed for the nearby reen which rarely dries up the lapwings are still chasing the crows so i hope that s a positive sign for them and the shelduck are paired up but not apparently yet hidden down rabbit holes the rabbits watched them but the fox was a few fields away so they were ok for now a lone greylag stood on a coot mound yesterday for minutes looking around then called a few times before wandering off still alone to see larger versions just click on a picture posted by brian at 12 24 am 1 comment labels birds crick mammals monmouthshire older posts home subscribe to posts atom translate about me brian these are just snapshots but they are intended to give a feel of what i manage to see and snap in just a few hours each week plus some not quite random thoughts that occur as i go along view my complete profile photo gallery click here to link to my web albums for higher quality pictures some samples below my american wildlife blog you can see some snaps from florida and hopefully in time from other states on my blog wildlife snapshots goes usa http wildsnapsusa blogspot com video gallery click here to link to a few videos i ve ditched youtube for vimeo and hope the quality is a little better blog archive 2020 3 november 1 and then i looked out of the window april 1 january 1 2019 9 june 1 may 1 april 3 march 2 january 2 2018 10 december 1 october 1 august 1 july 1 june 1 may 1 april 1 january 3 2017 13 december 1 october 1 august 1 july 4 june 2 february 2 january 2 2016 14 august 2 june 3 may 3 april 3 march 1 february 1 january 1 2015 14 october 2 september 1 august 2 june 1 may 1 april 2 march 2 february 1 january 2 2014 20 december 1 september 2 august 1 july 3 may 1 april 3 march 2 february 3 january 4 2013 21 december 2 october 1 september 3 august 2 july 1 june 2 may 2 april 2 march 2 february 2 january 2 2012 25 december 4 november 1 october 1 september 2 august 2 july 4 june 2 may 2 april 1 march 1 february 3 january 2 2011 31 december 1 november 1 october 2 august 3 july 2 june 6 may 4 april 6 march 2 february 3 january 1 2010 31 december 4 november 2 october 2 august 5 june 5 may 2 april 2 march 4 february 5 2009 49 december 3 november 3 october 3 september 4 august 4 july 6 june 3 may 4 april 4 march 4 february 4 january 7 2008 68 december 8 november 3 october 5 september 5 august 5 july 6 june 5 may 6 april 7 march 7 february 7 january 4 2007 54 december 5 november 4 october 5 september 7 august 4 july 4 june 8 may 2 april 4 march 5 february 2 january 4 2006 13 december 3 november 4 october 3 september 3 links a link to our village wildlife group website a link to some great photos and more from my brother a web album of my photo s a work in progress another brian davis forest of dean pics bob bushell s forest of dean blog chris grady great wildlife images david slater s professional wildlfe photography fraser simpson mainly city wildlife gloucester birding has sightings page graham catley s lincolnshire photos gwent birding has sightings page jodie randall an upcoming talent lewis thomson forest of dean wildlife richard steel s blog fieldcraft and a good eye severnside birding has sightings page followers labels amphibians 5 arachnids 1 bass rock 2 beachley 2 bears 4 birds 301 bison 1 black rock 1 bristol 5 burnham 1 caldicot 3 caldicot levels 7 chepstow 2 cosmeston 3 crick 101 crustaceans 1 dorset 3 down south 1 farne islands 6 finland 4 fish 3 florida 12 flowers 32 forest farm 1 forest of dean 56 freshwater 2 fungi 12 gigrin 1 glamorgan 2 glamorganshire 2 gloucestershire 3 great saltee 3 greylake 1 holiday 4 iceland 5 insects 53 landscape 35 lichen 1 magor marsh 1 mammals 68 marloes 1 marshfield 7 mexico 1 molluscs 1 monmouth 1 monmouthshire 62 moorland 1 nagshead 2 newport 2 newport wetlands 25 norfolk 2 northumberland 2 other arthropods 2 plants 18 pontypool 1 portishead 2 powys 2 reptiles 12 saltwater 1 scotland 14 severn hams 2 severnside 15 skomer 2 slimbridge 15 up north 32 upland 1 usa 21 wales 1 wentwood 4 yellowstone 9 popular posts red kites black mountains and a mandarin stream i ve been starting to explore some new sites for photography including a red kite feeding centre in the black mountains in the past i florida refuges preserves and the other bits although the holiday in florida was not a wildlife or birdwatching trip we did fit in a few days at local nature reserves in orlando itese mexico been away for a while couple of weeks in mexico on a hotel beach holiday and then pics to sort through no car over there and anyway the and then i looked out of the window i hadn t been down the track for weeks but 3 discrete piles of feathers alongside a stretch of hedge told their own story this is a c 2009 cranreuch cauld from time to time i come across a word that grabs me i don t always know why but some are just pleasing i came across cranreuc orchid bees and bee orchids i m acutely aware that i haven t posted much recently partly that s because life has been quite busy partly because the dog m fallow elk as both nature s calendar on tv and the bbc wildlife magazine have pointed out we re around the fallow deer rutting season i know owls at aust a backwards day today the forecast sunshine didn t materialise until midday but that at least was the only saving grace of my failed adder additions some more shots of adders enjoying the sun on sunday as much as i was there were at least 4 alongside a well trodden path at a nationally the good old days suddenly proper outdoors time is at a premium and it s tricky to keep an eye on what s happening even locally last years woodpecke photographs the photo s on the blog are inevitably of low quality please use the link to the photo gallery to see better versions check out the latest album for updates and use the slideshow feature it s definitely the best way to view