Scotland Trip - Day 1

 This is probably the best post I have ever made for this blog in my opinion. Some of the photos I took of the rare creatures I found are incredible, and proabaly my best yet. On the day after we arrived (so the first full day) in Scotland we headed out to Threave Castle nature reserve. The aim was to see a rare bird of prey called an osprey. Ospreys have always been my favourite bird of prey since I saw one in the lake district a few years before I started my blog. Obviously I was too young to take any pictures but it's been a bird I've wanted to photograph for a while. Ospreys nest at the nature reserve and there was a hide looking over a river onto the nest. It didn't take long to see an osprey though, as before we even reached the hide I spotted it perched high up in a tree on the other side of the river. Luckily the camera I was using has a super long lens so I managed to get some good photos despite it being pretty far away:

It then landed on the nest briefly but I was too slow to get a good picture before it flew off again:

Ospreys weren't the only thing we saw at Threave as we also saw a red kite and a quick glimpse of a roe deer:

After we had seen the ospreys we drove twenty minutes south to Barhill woods near Kirkudbright. We went there to hopefully get a glipmse of a red squirrel. The red squirrels there are fully native as well, unlike populations in the highlands and elsewhere in the UK, the squirrels there were not introduced; they have been there long before the greys. We walked around the woods looking for a hide where food is left out for them (which took a long time for us to find) and once we reached it we saw a few other people photographing something up in the trees. The hide was locked, but it didn't matter as a red squirrel ran down a tree and hopped off. These were some photos I took of it:

When that one ran off, another one appeared at the food: 

Then the other squirrel reappeared and a got some amazing footage of them chasing each other up a tree:

One of them grabbed a nut and sat on a branch with it. That's where I got some of my best photos and video of the trip:

I think that this photo is probably the best I've ever taken:

I got down to the ground and tried to take some more level with it on the floor:

Seeing such a rare animal and getting so close to it is amazing. Along with the osprey, it was probably the best day I've ever had wildlife watching. I'm not totally against grey squirrels as they're here to stay now and it's not their fault that they're here in the first place but imagine if the reds where (as our native squirrel) everywhere, in all the woodlands across the UK. They look nicer and are more secretive and less likely to scare other birds off your bird feeder. Unfortunatley, the greys are the top squirrel now, and it doesn't look like it's going to change. There is a lot being done to help reds though and small areas of woodland like Barhill woods are crucial to the reds, especially if there are no greys. Anyway, that is all for today's post. I've still got loads more to show you from the Scotland trip so check for more posts over the next few days. Remember to leave a comment and thanks for reading!

RSPB Leighton Moss

 The next few posts are going to be some of the best I have ever posted to this blog. That's because we have been in Scotland this week, and I have got some of the best footage and taken the best photos I think I ever have. Anyway, in today's post we will just be looking at a few photos I took at RSPB Leighton Moss. We were only there for about an hour and half becase we just wanted to break up the car journey to Scotland. 

The first photos I took was of these cormorants:

The other bird I took some pictures of was a rare type of duck called a goldeneye. They were really far away though.

That's all for today's post. Over the next few posts I will show you all my footage from Scotland. Remember to leave a comment and thanks for reading.

SUPER Rare Bird Near Me

 This morning we made a short trip up to mow cop to try and spot a super rare bird that a friend had told us about. We parked up and followed the instructions given to us to a field where it had been spotted. I had taken loads of equipment like my thermal imaging camera (more posts on that soon) and my binoculars as I was expecting a quick glimpse on the other side of the field at most. However, I didn't need either as once we got to the gate that it had been spotted from, I noticed it really close to us. The bird was a shore lark, or a horned lark if you're American. They are super rare in the UK with only a few hundred or even less migrating to the UK from Scandinavia every year. Most of them turn up along the east coast, so I don't know what one was doing in Staffordshire!

That's all for today's post. This has probably been my favourite spot of the year so far. Definitely going to make the top ten at the end of the year. I think this is also the rarest bird I have seen in the UK, despite being so easy to find. Thank you to Colin as well for the tip. Remember to leave a comment and thanks for reading!

Interesting Footage from a Week in the Woods

 We've had some interesting footage from a week and a bit in the woods. One camera was back in the regular spot this week and we will have a look a the footage there first. The first animal to pass by the camera was our first badger of the year on the second night out:

It was shortly followed by a quick glimpse of the back end of a fox:

Later that morning we got another fox enjoying a lie down in the bluebell plants (only a very few have flowered at the time of writing this). Its quite a peaceful video:

That was all we got on the first camera and even though it was all within the space of a few hours there is some nice footgae to look at.

Onto the second camera that I had left out in the log location, the first animal (other that a few birds, rats and squirrels) was another fox.

Here's a video of two rats:

A few nights later we got a few deer passing by. A doe appeared around 8 PM:

It enjoyed a good lie down until around 10 PM.

A few minutes after the doe went off screen a buck appeared, but it doesn't look like one we have had before. There is a strange deformity in its antlers which makes it look completely different to any other we have seen. I believe that this deer has perruque head which is a super rare case where the velvet grows uncontrollably due to a lack of testosterone. This can be fatal so hopefully I'm wrong. If I am right, then this is only very early on as it can get a lot worse than it looks right now. It could also be one of the bucks we have already seen this year if they have a got into a fight which can cause injury that leads to a perruque roe deer. Something also seems to have happned to its left antler that could be a result of fighting. The best way we will find out is if we get some more footage later in the year.

They came back throughout the night:

The doe came back again:

That's all for this week's post. Thanks for reading.

Deer in Velvet

 Over the last week and a bit we have had some brillaint deer action. One of the cameras was set up in a place it hasn't been in for a while, an old spot where we used to get loads of good footage. But before we go there we'll have a loomk at this brilliant footgae on the 25th of February of three deer out in the morning. You can also hear a woodpecker in the background of some of these clips.

It starts with a buck growing a brillaint pair of antlers that are still in velvet.

Then a different buck appeared with much smaller, stubbier antlers. Its not unusual in the winter for roe deer to form mixed groups that can have several young bucks that don't have an established territory yet. 

The bigger buck then came back on screen:

A third deer then arrives, this time a doe. 

Then the big buck comes back like they are going around in circles.

Then we get the young buck and the doe together as well.

The other buck followed shortly:

Here are two more good shots of the young buck:

A tiny glimpse of a fox's tail and this rat (behind a cobweb) were the only other notable things caught on this camera:

As for the other camera, we got two more deer on the first night, which I beleive to be the doe and the young buck or another doe.

This is another one of the doe:

Here is another one a few days later:

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