Beasts of the Forest

 Ever since I first went to the forest of Dean six years ago, it has always been my number one aim to see and even better get a picture/some footage of a wild boar. They' are an animal I've always been fascinated by and the Forest of Dean is the best place to see them in the UK. If you haven't read my last post then go and do so as this is a part two to that one. 

First thing in the moring at a crisp 6:am I headed out to where I saw the boar through my thermal imaging camera, but this time in the hope of seeing them in the daylight. I didn't see any boar, but did see some deer. This is a female fallow deer:

This roe deer walked out on the path in front of me:

Here is another I saw of to the side of the path:

After failing to see the boar around where I saw them the night before we headed to an RSPB reserve called Nagshead that was recommended by some walkers for seeing boar. We arrived and looked at the recent sightings board that did include wild boar so we headed down the paths and to the hide where they had been reported. After a few minutes we stopped and I had a scan with my thermal camera along the edge of a small field. It picked somthing up along the woods edge before dissapering into the ferns. We had the camera ready and watched as the tops of the rustling ferns got closer to us, a bit like in Jurassic Park. But it ended up being jurassic pork as 5 wild boar appeared suddenly on the path in front of us before suddenly realising we were there and sprinting off back into the ferns, snorting and squeling loudly. 

An encouter like that was exactly what I had wanted all these years. It does however get even better as once we got to the hide there were four more. But this time, they were humbugs (piglets)!

Suddenly, the sow appeared out of the ferns and I got the shots that were worth the six years of trying and failing:

This next one is my favourite photo I have ever taken, only slightly different to the last one but it's head is slightly more raised, poised for the best angle:

Even after 6 years of research on them and how to at least even spot one in the Dean, I never imagined I would get a shot like that. Shortly after those pigs had moved on another one appeared and seemed to follow in the same direction. Based on my knowledge of boars, it would most likely be a sister or previous daughter from another year of the sow. 

The hide didn't stop delivering though as a fox appeared and had a drink from the pond in front of the hide:

The hide was also brilliant for bird life:

We saw this jay:

A stock dove:

A siskin:

My top bird of the day was my first ever firecrest:

Finally, just before we left, a herd of four fallow deer appeared:

That was everything we saw in the Forest of Dean this year. Finally seeing the boar and getting some brilliant pictures was well worth the wait. Remember to leave a comment and thanks for reading.

Night Time in the Forest of Dean

 This post includes something I've been wanting to showcase for quite a while, and this is the perfect chance to do so. This time last week me and my dad went out on a trip in the campervan, and the first stop was our 4th trip to the forest of dean. We've been 4 times over the last six years with the main task being to record (or at least see) a wild boar. These elusive animals have proved incredibly tricky to find and that has made them my all time number one target to see. We have tried something new this year by staying in a part of the forest where the boar's numbers are highest. They are still a hard animal to see wherever you are (especially when you are only there for a limited time) as there are only about 300 - 500 individuals in the area. Once we arrived I headed off into the forest. There were lots of signs of them everywhere and I set up both my camera traps. Spoiler alert, between them we only got glimpse of a fox which isn't even worth showing. After setting the camera traps up I walked around for a bit longer until the sun started to go down (dawn and dusk is the best time to see boar) and spoke to a guy who said that he sometimes sees a small herd in the area. Some other walkers said that they see them around quite a bit and also recommended a local RSPB reserve called Nagshead as being another good place to see them. I didn't see any boar before the sun went down so switched to my plan B. In February, I bought a thermal imaging camera as a new aid to help me spot wildlife that might be hiding in the shadows of a forest or wildlife that is out at night. It has proved to be a brilliant purchase as I have seen countless foxes and several other things like badgers and rabbits with it. I've never done a blog post using it before so that's what this one is about. I set back out again once the sun had gone down and walked along these long paths that I couldn't really (hopefully) get lost on.

The first animal to be spotted was big fallow deer stag on one of the paths:

Next up was this muntjac walking through the woods:

Then the camera picked up what I believe to be a fox far away on a different path to what I was going to head down:

Next up was a particuarly exciting spot, a tawny owl on the ground near to where one was hiding in a bush just as the sun was going down ( I didn't get a good picture of that earlier one due to low light levels). It was peering around a tree:

Further down the path I spotted loads more deer including this male fallow:

To complete all the dean's deer species, here is some roe deer footage:

While walking back (having not yet seen any boar) I finnally found them off in the distance:

I was so excited to finnally get my first ever footage of a wild boar, even if I couldn't actually see it without the special camera (the topdon TS004 if your interested). But I wasn't finished there as the next day I wanted to complete my long awaited task of seeing a boar, and even better getting a shot of one in the day. In my next post you will see how I got on...

Deer and Foxes in New Spot

 I found a new spot the other week and left the camera trap out there for a bit. A few foxes and deer passed by so I will put all the footage in order of time:

Thats all for today's post. Remember to leave a comment and thanks for reading.

Spoonbills at RSPB Burton Mere

 Hi everyone, in today's post we will look at some photos I took the other day at RSPB Burton Mere. 

When we got there we were told that there were about 12 -13 spoonbills at the border hide, the furthest hide from the entrance. The entrance looks over the whole reserve and we briefly saw them take off and settle back down again near the hide. Spoonbills are a very rare bird (in the UK) I had never seen before and were high on the list of ones I wanted to tick off. I didn't actually expect them to be there as that particular flock had been reported at another reserve further away over the last week or so. 

I speed walked ahead and after about 15 minutes got to the hide. Thankfully they were still there and I got some brilliant pictures of a bird I have always wanted to see:

You can see why they are called spoonbills. 

They weren't the only bird that I saw for the first time as on the other side of the pool there was a pair of green sandpipers. The photos aren't great as they were a long way away:

In the distance I spotted a (what I think was a juvenile) marsh harrier which then flew over and scared a few birds off the pool. It was super quick and was difficult to get good photos. I got one half decent one:

Here is another:

Here are some other photos I got from the border hide. They are of avocets and a little egret:

As we walked back we stopped off at some other hides but there wasn't much. However, while watching a great egret through the reedbed screen, I quickly saw a kingfisher dive in and out of the water. I managed to locate it on top of some reeds and got some brilliant photos. 

I can't decide what's better - the one in devon or these pictures. 

That's all for today's post. Remember to leave a comment and thanks for reading.