The Forest of Dean & Cannop Ponds

 Hi everyone, recently, at the end of August, I went to the Forest of Dean in an attempt to find wild boar. It was the second time I have tried; the first time being in 2020. Unfortunately, like in 2020, we didn't find any. However, in our search across the forest, we did find some other interesting wildlife. Over the course of the next two posts, I will tell the story of our trip to the forest, and the animals we saw. 

We left home around 10am and it took around 4 hours to get a town just west of the forest in Wales called Monmouth. After grabbing some supplies, we headed into the forest. We were camping on the Western part of the forest, in a campsite called Bracelands. The forest is severed in two halves, by several towns going through the centre, most notably Coleford. Bracelands was a nice campsite with good facilities, and if you are ever looking for somewhere to camp in the forest, I would definitely recommend Bracelands. However, there was another reason why we picked Bracelands as the campsite we would stay at. Despite the Western side of the Dean having a smaller population of boar, earlier this year in January the campsite was attacked by a sounder of five individuals. They recked the ground, and at the time it was unsuitable to pitch a tent on and they have had to put boar-proof fences up around the site. However, when we came in late August, the ground was perfect to pitch up on again. 

Once we had got the tent up, we went straight down one of the footpaths into the forest. One of the first things I noticed were bits of upturned ground. These were a sign the the boar had come through this part of the forest. I checked the colour of the roots - if they are white then they are recent; possibly within the last few days. If they are yellow or brown, that means that they could be weeks, months or even years old. Luckily, they were white, meaning that they were recent. However, like I said earlier, we didn't get any footage of boar so don't get your hopes up for any boar footage (I am hoping to go back next year though so we can try again then). However, despite not seeing any boar, we did manage to get loads of great footage of the forest's other residents, so over the next two posts, I will show you some of the amazing footage we got. 

I found a good spot for the camera trap near where the rooting were, in an area which looked like it had been trodden down by some large animal. Over the next few days I checked it and we got one of the forest's other most exciting animals. You will have to wait until the next post before you can find out what they are. After that, we went down several footpaths and I found a wood ant's nest. It was huge, above my waist and it was crawling with ants. Here is a video.

The next day we went somewhere called Cannop Ponds. We walked from Cannop Ponds to a place called Mallards Pike. On the walk there we saw even more ant nests. They were all probably connected via tunnels underground and they were all patched together.

Once we arrived at Mallards Pike, we saw a small flock of Mandarin Ducks. It was the end of August so most of the males were in or going into an eclipse, where their plumage isn't as colourful as in the breeding season. They start to look a bit more like female ducks. 

We got back to Cannop Ponds and unfortunately hadn't seen any boar. Once we were back I walked around Cannop Ponds. I saw another flock of Mandarins which swam away for cover under the trees. The first thing which caught my eye were two cormorants.

After that, I saw my first ever sighting of a little grebe.

The next day we walked from Bracelands to Symonds Yat. It was a nice village, and we took a 'hand ferry' over the Rive Wyre to get some lunch. After that, we walked up a huge hill (which we nicknamed from the last time we went to the Dean in 2020 'the hill of doom') and to Symonds Yat view. Here's a video from the view. 

Sadly, we would have to leave the next day. Once we woke up, I went to get the camera trap. We didn't get any boar, but what we did get was almost as exciting. Stay tuned for the next post to find out what we got on the camera trap! Remember to leave a comment and thanks for reading!

A New Spot

 Hi everyone, In August I thought I would try a new spot for the camera trap. It was in the same woods as normal, but it was next to some new burrows I found. Unfortunately, after 2 days of being out, It didn't catch anything coming out the burrow. However, if foxes used it, they would only be using around spring time to raise their cubs, so I might put it out here again in spring. However we did get a few other things including lots of mice and a squirrel.

We also got a deer passing through, meaning that it could be a good spot for deer.

That is all for today's post. What do you think of the new spot? Shall we try it again?

Remember to leave a comment and thanks for reading!

Birds at Seaton Wetlands - Part 2

 Sorry I have posted for a while, I've been quite busy this August filming lots of exciting wildlife from around the country, so there are lots of new posts coming this month, showcasing the exciting things I filmed this summer.  Anyway, this is part 2 of "Birds of Seaton Wetlands" and if you want to see part 1 click here.

After the first two hides we went to the last one known as "the tower hide" to see what we could spot. There was a nice man in there who pointed out a heron and told us that if you stay long enough, you should be able to see a kingfisher.

Here is the heron:

Another bird which was close to the hide was a curlew. I see them a lot as I live near the Peak District (where there used to be loads but now are sadly declining in numbers) but I had never caught one on camera before.

There was also a huge flock of gulls with lots of different species, including the great black backed gull.

One of the birds I wanted to see the most were egrets. Luckily, (even on a rainy day) Seaton didn't disappoint. At first the egrets were feeding relatively close to the hide and would fly past every now and then.

Eventually, the egrets got a bit fed up of each other and chased each other away. It is one of my favourite videos of the year and probably one of my favourite videos of birds which we have got.

While we were filming all this, a kingfisher kept flying in and out the reedbeds, and eventually we caught it on camera, something I have wanted to catch for ages. You can see it fly out from the right of the screen a few seconds in.

That is all for today's post. If you are ever in east Devon, I would definitely recommend visiting Seaton Wetlands, as even on a wet day there is still lots of rare wildlife to see, such as the egrets, shelducks and kingfishers. Remember to leave a comment and thanks for reading!

Birds at Seaton Wetlands - Part One

 Hi everyone, sorry there haven't been many posts this summer, i've just been trying to get better footage and produce better footage.

Whilst on holiday in east Devon, I visited Seaton wetlands to see what birdlife I could find. In the first hide you could lots of different species of gulls, including black-headed, herring and great black backed gulls. The other birds that you could see were redshanks and sandpipers out in the rain. This video is of a sandpiper we saw on a rock. 

After that, another wading bird known as a redshank appeared much closer to the hide.

After we finished in the first hide, we carried on around the site, walked past some artificial sand martin nests (I did see a few bob in and out but couldn't get any on camera) and to another hide where we saw some little brown birds (probably reed warblers) fly about. We then went back in the direction of the first hide and passed a juvenile shelduck feeding along the muddy banks. It was the first time I had ever seen one. 

That is all for today's post. Stay tuned for part 2 coming soon. In part 2, we visit the last and most successful hide. One bird to look forward to is the egrets, which we got lots of great footage of. However, that is just one of the many exciting birds coming in the next post. Remember to leave a comment and thanks for reading!

A Bounty for the Badger & A Dilema for the Deer

 This week has had some surprisingly nice weather and we have had several nice bits of footage on the camera trap. On the same day we put the camera out we got one of our best deer videos yet. This was at half past seven on Sunday evening. 

I was relatively quiet after that apart from the squirrels which were enjoying the seed I had put out.

The next animal (other than a squirrel) which we got was another deer, probably the same one as earlier in the post. This one was on Friday at half past 10 in the morning. 

The next animal we got was one of my favourites. It was of course, the badger. It is the first time we have had a badger since the fight in February. It had found a bounty of seed I had put just in front of the camera in hope that a hungry badger would come along. 

On Saturday, a squirrel knocked the camera over so it was pointing down into the grass.

However, it was Saturday night when one of the animals had run into a problem.We were alerted by a local Facebook group that a deer had got stuck in the canal near the woods. A fire engine came and rescued it but it ran away as soon as it was safe. Hopefully it will be ok and we will continue to get it on the camera but the stress could sadly cause it to die. We don't know which of the several deer I have been recording that it was but hopefully it found its way back to the herd . 

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

The Sparrowhawk

 This post is a bit late as I got this footage in April. However, one evening a sparrowhawk landed on my neighbour's garage roof which is a part of my garden wall. It was a female, which nearly double the size of the males. Becoming more and more urban, many garden birds will pray they do not catch their beady, yellow eye. Here are some photos:

Here is the trimmed YouTube video of it.

Sparrowhawks are definitely one of my favourite birds and you should look out in your garden for one who is after a snack.

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

Deer...Again

 This week's camera trap outing wasn't quite as successful as last time but we still got some good footage.

You may have noticed from the title that the deer have come back again. At this rate, they are becoming more regular than the badgers and foxes! The dates and times have been fixed so we know when everything was taken. Seeing as we didn't get that much, I will start with the best footage first, that of course being the deer. We only got one deer this time and it was a female who was just passing through. The deer are usually in a small herd but sometimes spread out a bit in a small area. The other deer were probably somewhere nearby. It is also the first time we have ever had them in summer and they also have their nice, orange summer hides on. Here is the footage:

In the next video it even sniffs the camera!

The next video is of a mouse.

We also got a squirrel which suddenly appears from thin air.

That is all for today's post. If you want to know more about the deer then I will make another post soon on their full history. Remember to stay tuned and thanks for reading!