Hares, Foxes and Badgers

It’s been over a month since I last posted anything on this blog. During that time, I have been putting any free moments into catching up with the local larger mammals on the patches I regularly walk. I have thought long and hard before posting these pictures as it inevitably leads to requests of “Where did you see these? I would like to see them myself.”

I decided I would share the pictures, I will not however share the whereabouts of any of the animals pictured. I hope you enjoy the photos and ask that you don’t put me in the position of refusing to share locations with you, as the way I refuse will almost certainly offend!

Hares are a real passion of mine. It always makes my day to encounter them when I’m out on my wanders and I am getting better at creeping up on them. I was worried at the beginning of the year that I had not seen many Hares on the land I walk. This is still true of areas that had a few last year but I have seen none this year. However, a couple of areas have produced the goods and I enjoy looking for the Hares in these areas. One spot has already seen the attention of two guys with running dogs, but they have now twice vacated the area quickly on my approach. They didn’t enjoy having the camera pointed at them and I have not seen them for a while. I would like to see these amazing creatures carry on and thrive in these areas.

 

The Foxes have been a little more difficult to track down. The first is a dog fox and one of a pair I have been watching. At first, he was hunting very frequently, obviously providing for the vixen while she was denning with cubs. Recently, I have found him occasionally laid out sunning himself, as it seems he in no longer the sole provider of food to his brood. What I believe to be his mate can now be relied upon to make an appearance if I am willing to be patient and wait for her. This regular vixen is in quite good condition and has obviously been suckling cubs. I have recently seen her hunting rabbits. Twice I have watched her successfully catch and carry off a rabbit I expect to her cubs. The cubs will be old enough now to be left for short periods and she will also now be hunting as she starts the process of weaning the cubs off her milk. Fresh caught prey will become rapidly more significant in the cubs diet now, so both parents hunting should provide for their needs in this rabbit rich environment. My view point for two of these foxes doesn’t allow for decent pictures. I’m facing the setting sun, there is too much undergrowth and bramble and they are a little distant. It’s not all about photographs though, that’s just I bonus if and when conditions allow.

The third fox looks quite young, probably one of last years cubs. This yearling on the face of it looked in very good condition initially, but I suspect it may have a problem. Foxes do go through a heavy summer moult and some can look pretty tatty at this time of year. This youngster is almost moulted out, but i’m a little concerned by the condition of its tail. It looks like it may be suffering from the early stages of mange. I will keep a look out for this individual and see how things progress.

• I have seen this yearling again and the tail is not looking any worse. It does have a covering of fur along its whole length, so i’m hoping this is just a moult. Mange symptoms do tend to start at the tail base, but there tends to be complete hair loss in the affected area. If it hangs around, I will keep an eye on its process.

 

 

Most of my free time though has been spent hoping to see some badger cubs above ground. They just cannot resist being above ground playing once they are about 12 - 14 weeks old. I have been watching a few Setts I am aware of, and eventually my patience paid off. I was pleased to get some decent daytime pictures of three cubs occasionally accompanied by mom playing in the late afternoon sun.

 

 To be in the close proximity of badgers as they go about their business is a real privilege and only makes my adoration of theses fascinating creatures stronger. I’m sure no-one  is under any illusion about the black cloud hanging over our nations badger population in the form of the governments badger cull. This ill thought out policy has failed on every level, including failing dismally to meet their own already low standards of what constitutes a humane death for the shooting of a free roaming badger. With absolutely no solid scientific evidence to prove badgers spread Bovine TB to cattle, and cases of Bovine TB actually rising in some cull areas, the government still seem hell bent own pursuing this abhorrent scheme.

The Badger Trust is fighting hard to change the mind of this government and bring this failing policy to an end. Any support that can be given to the Badger Trust is money being put to good use to save our badgers. 

I listened to Dominic Dyer, the CEO of the Badger Trust speak recently at a Badger Cull protest rally I attended in Leicester city centre. Of all the things he said, this one quote struck a chord with me, as it must have done with others as it appeared a lot on social media.

 

 

Check out the Badger Trust’s website for yourself and make your own mind up. If you agree with what they stand for, try and make a donation.

Click the banner to check out the Badger Trust Website.

 

 

The Hinksford Hoopoe

 It has long been an ambition of mine to see a UK Hoopoe. Even before my birding took on a more serious note there were three birds I really wanted to see; Hoopoe, Dartford Warbler and a Stone Curlew. I have now achieved that long standing target, although I never expected the Hoopoe to be a December tick!

This is the third Hoopoe I have intentionally tried to “twitch,” and the third time I have set out to see this particular Hoopoe. The first visit was three weeks ago in gale force winds. I was there at first light and hung on as long as I could, a duration of about five hours. It showed, about twenty minutes after my departure.

Visit two was last weekend, it was reported at 1.00pm and I arrived at about 2.30pm. I hoped it would show quickly as only around 90 minutes of light remained on what was already a very dull and rainy afternoon. One other birder was there and we were treated to an in flight glimpse as it passed over our heads. We were unable to relocate it. I was less than satisfied with my first Hoopoe sighting and had hoped for a picture, so Monday, the first day of my Xmas holiday; I was again in a reclaimed quarry in Wall Heath, hoping this Black Country loving Hoopoe would put in an appearance.

It did! and I was able to get a few record record shots too.

As usual, I had taken my camera and my spotting scope. My intention was to use the camera if the bird was particularly mobile, but if it allowed I could attach my phone to my scope and phonescope a few record shots. I don’t know why; after all this time phonescoping, that the quality of the pictures still surprises me.

It was early morning, overcast and very very dull. The camera even with its 1’ sensor required a high ISO to achieve anything like usable shutter speeds, especially at full zoom. I also had to go into the digital zoom range because of the distance involved to the subject; this also impacts on shutter speed and picture quality.

Now obviously the scope has a much greater optical reach than the camera and with the iPhone attached it did an admirable job. I am not sure how the phone operates as well as it does with low ISO in poor light, but on this occasion it definitely out performed the camera.

Results from the iPhone and Novagrade adapter 

 

Results from Camera

The hunt for a new walk about camera

I have for the last few years used a Canon SX40 Bridge camera as my main walk about camera when out birding. I have always been happy with this camera and it is still going strong, but I now feel the need to upgrade. This decision has meant a lot of internet research, in fact I have spent hours going through the various options open to me.

First and foremost I like to watch wildlife, photography is a secondary interest. I have over the years through trial and error discovered that when real distant shots in difficult conditions are required, I can usually get better results using my Scope and either phone or digiscoping my target. Now if I go on a twitch or just out for a full days birding, my scope is always with me and so is my phone, so extreme distance photography is covered. So now, my requirements for a walkabout camera are a little different. 

Extreme Distance I Digiscope

Approx 400 yards - Good Light.

 

Approx 350-400 Yards Poor Light.

300+ Yards - Very Poor light but still a heat haze.

Although I haven’t included them the results from my SX40 Bridge camera did not compare to the above digiscoped pictures. So, I have distant record shots covered.

I now want a camera that can cover from macro to middle distance and although photography is a secondary interest, the quality of the pictures I take is becoming more important to me. Many times recently I have seen the opportunity for an interesting picture, but because the light is poor and knowing my small sensor SX40 bridge camera will struggle to give me a picture of reasonable quality as it will need a high ISO, I don’t even attempt the shot. So, I want a camera that will perform a bit better in lower light situations and still give me reasonable reach. 

Such a camera has been released. Canon has just released its 1” Sensor G3X with an equivalent 600mm (25x) Lens. It hasn’t got the reach of the small sensor cameras with some like the Nikon P900 sporting a 2000mm lens, but with a sensor 4 times the size and 20MP the image quality should be good. It has its negatives, it doesn’t come with an electronic viewfinder. Now a lot of the forums contain photographers down crying this camera for that. I must admit, it’s an expensive camera and I would have liked to have seen one on the camera as standard. However, Canon’s electronic EVF can be purchased and used separately if required. That does however bump up the cost. I gave this some thought and considered my own camera use at the moment with the Canon  SX40. To be honest the EVF is so poor on this camera, I very rarely use it. I have learnt to use the display screen for my photography. 

I weighed up the Pros and Cons and decided I would bite the bullet and go for this camera. A purchase was made.

  

I still want to stay with a Bridge Camera format due to their versatility without having to carry and swap lenses in the field.

My Efforts with the Canon G3X

So first of all I tried a bit of Macro. 

Then some at the extreme end of the lens 600mm

 

Now I am very happy with the quality of these pictures. However, I did have the lens give a lens error message and close twice in the the three days I had the camera. I also noticed that at the extreme of the lens there was a difference in quality in the photographs of the same subject. I believe that there was a fault with the camera and returned it.

However, the more I think about it and go over the pictures I took with it, the more I think I should get a second one and give it another go. I had the same issue with my first SX40 and returned it. The replacement is still producing the goods today. I will give it some more thought. I must say though that the camera build really impressed me, and if the first model had a problem and I can get a perfect model, this could be exactly the camera I am looking for. 

Birding record Shots

Monday and the new “Standard" Adapter from Novagrade arrived by post. I couldn’t wait to try it out so as soon as I got home from work I set the Standard adapter up to take my iphone 5 and set off to use it. The first observation other than it isn’t quite as pocketable as the original “Compact” version is that the Standard adapter is much quicker to set up to take any phone in its everyday hardcase. The Standard Adapter will also accommodate the larger sized smartphones such as the iphone 6 and HTC One M8 with ease. It looks like it would probably accept phones the size of the iPhone 6+, but I don’t have one at hand to try.

The differences in appearance.

The Original Compact Novagrade Adapter.

Compact Plus Phone

The New “Standard” Novagrade Adapter.

The “Standard plus Phone.

A big plus point with the Standard Adapter is that as well as being far less fiddly to initially set up, it grips the phone much further down the sides of its body, this reduces accidental depression of side buttons that sometimes occurs with the iPhone and the compact adapter. It can be resolved by sorting through the assortment of grippers that come with the compact version, but the problem doesn’t present itself at all with the new Standard version.

The size difference is only in the arm extension and gripping mechanism. The main eyepiece component is the same size.

So, with the Standard adapter set up I headed for the Corn Buntings I mentioned last week. They don’t allow you to get too close without making a quick exit, so this was an ideal opportunity to phonescope.  If anything, conditions were too bright and the heat haze was also an issue, I am still pleased with these results though.

I also managed some HD Video footage using the phone and Standard adapter. For best viewing, make sure it is playing in HD, You tube often selects lower resolution playback as default.

All in all, I think the Novagrade’s maiden voyage was a success. It was very easy to attach the adapter to the eyepiece, very quick and easy to snap the phone into place, and although this was my first time out using this adapter, no issues became apparent. I will update this information with further use of the new adapter.

Twists of Fate

The Middleton Avocets caused a few raised eyebrows when two of the chicks appeared on the Jubilee Wetland area, around 500 meters from where they hatched. As they can’t fly yet, they obviously walked and it must of been a bit of a trek for them. One remained on the North pit, causing the parent birds a few issues, but eventually, a day later, all three ended up on the Jubilee Wetland area. It does seem that one of the initial four chicks has not made it to this stage and it wasn’t the smallest last to hatch chick that has gone missing either but one of the larger ones.

The remaining chicks are growing fast and already starting to look like the adults.

Ringed and Little Ringed Plover seem to be thriving at Middleton and can be seen rapidly scurrying about on most of the scrapes.

Friday evening I braved the threat of heavy rain and headed for Cannock Chase to look for some Long Eared Owls I had been told about. The directions I had been given were excellent and after a short wait, an adult Long Eared Owl put in an appearance flying low over the Heather and disappearing from view. From the small woodland it had emerged from came the high pitched squeaking of its young and soon two Long Eared Owl chicks also flew from the woodland, but they landed on a low branch of a tree and started preening and calling to the parent birds. The light was fading fast and it was raining. I tried to get a few record shots with my digiscoping camera, but it was struggling in the gloom. In desperation for a decent record shot, I attempted to hand hold my iPhone to the eyepiece of my scope, this achieved the best pictures of the young Owls.

This is my first ever sighting of Long Eared Owls, so I really wanted a record of it. The phone again proved its worth in the field!

This was the start of a great evening. The first adult I had seen returned and coaxed the young to follow it. They didn’t need much persuasion and soon all three were out of sight. I hung around for another 10 minutes and did get occasional glimpses of them in flight.

I moved on from here and was soon watching Woodcock fly overhead and getting the best views of Nightjar I have ever had. The rain then became heavier and reluctantly, I headed back to the car. It rained for the next 15 hours!

The rain brought the rivers up rapidly and Middleton was soon suffering from rising water levels. A second Avocet nest that a few regulars had been keeping an eye on became a casualty of the rising water with reports that the parents had abandoned the nest on Saturday, a day before the eggs were expected to hatch. Sad news indeed.

Then, on Sunday a report came through that it seems two of the eggs had indeed hatched, and two chicks from this second nest had been seen, what great news. I hope after such a tough start lady luck smiles on these latest chicks and they catch a few breaks in the survival stakes. 

Back to the Beginning

I decided to go back to where my interest in digiscoping was really triggered and that was Phonescoping. I had prior to this dabbled with digiscoping using a camera with very mixed results with the usual outcome being disappointment. I eventually gave it up as a bad job. The phonescoping started when I one day hand held my iPhone to the eyepiece of my scope to get a record shot of something I was looking at, the results surprised me and were much better than anything I had managed with my previous attempts using a camera to digiscope. I decided to take this further.

I made a couple of homemade adapters but they were not very robust and eventually fell apart, usually at the most inconvenient of times. I purchased a couple of adapters but didn’t get on with them for a variety of reasons. Then, I stumbled upon the Novagrade Adapter and never looked back. I cannot recommend this universal phonescoping adapter enough, it will adjust to fit most phones and scope eyepieces and only needs setting up once. Before you ask, I receive no financial gain from Novagrade adapters and purchased mine with my own hard earned. I recommend them purely based on my experience using one in the field on a regular basis for around the last 12 months.

Here is the Novagrade Adapter attached to my eyepiece.

What many people don’t realise is, with most smartphone adapters you have to keep your phone in a dedicated phone case that attaches to the eyepiece adapter. This IS NOT the case with the Novagrade Adapter. You use your phone in its everyday protective case, straight out of your pocket. No swapping phone cases to go phonescoping. To me, this is massive plus point.

Then I just snap my phone into place, still in its everyday protective case.

If you look back at my blog you will see I took some pictures I was very pleased with using this set-up. Then, I decided to try my hand at camera digiscoping again. I have been more successful this time around and enjoy using the camera, a Nikon P300 to digiscope with.

So, as I mentioned in my opening lines, today I removed the camera adapter from my scope and decided to go out with the Novagrade Adapter, I had forgotten just how much fun this style of digiscoping is, I had an enjoyable few hours this morning and again this afternoon. I have taken some pictures I am really pleased with and include some of them here.

From this morning.

And a few from this afternoon.

I feel these may well be some of the best digiscoped pictures I have taken this year, and all with my phone, I also had a lot of fun doing it.

Now I want to try a different smartphone, just to see how I get on with something other than an iPhone. It will give me the opportunity to show how the Novagrade Adapter adjusts for different phones. Mrs Moocher has a HTC One M8 phone its much bigger than my iPhone 5. I want to take it digiscoping! She seems reluctant to let it out of her sight, so the digiscoping will either be a bit of back garden birding or, I will convince her to come birding and obviously bring her phone along. Looking forward to this.

Glad it's the Weekend.

I am hoping to revisit and capture to camera the pair of Barn Owls I reported last week. It won't be an easy task using a digiscoping set up. I feel my best chance is to attempt to capture the birds on video and rip stills from the footage. 

I'm also trying out a new blogging APP on the iPad, so I hope this turns out ok?

After a hectic week at work, and a few late evenings, I decided that Friday, I would leave early and use the remaining light to try and see the Barn Owls. I was out of work for 3.30pm and observing the Owl field by 4.00pm. The pair showed by 4.10pm, but one quickly disappeared. I believe it is hunting a little further afield. One Barn Owl however decided to keep the hunting local and stayed in the meadow. It was distant, never coming closer than 100 yards. The light was fading, it was a dull day anyway and now it was starting to rain. Not great conditions for digiscoping. I attached the camera to the scope, and attempted to record a hunting Barn Owl.

Considering the poor light and distances involved, I'm quite pleased with these. The stills were taken from a HD video using the Nikon P300 through the scope. 

Saturday morning and a walk along the river Tame. Low temperatures, but a nice bright morning. 

Although the conditions for walking were great, it was very quiet bird wise. I did see a Yellow Legged Gull on one of the lakes, and a couple of Common Gulls amongst the Black Headed Gulls. There were plenty of Robins showing this morning though, all vocally advertising their presence.

Sunday morning and another quiet walk around the patch. A Little Egret was working the edge of the lake, it flew off when it saw Jon and I approaching. We sighted it again later as it flew overhead, returning no doubt to where we had disturbed it from. The highlight of the morning was spotting what we thought was a Whooper Swan grazing in a field with a herd of Mutes. It was only as we got closer we realised it was a Anker Valley regular. A Whooper/Mute hybrid that has made this area it's home for many years now. Oh well, one day!

Sunday late afternoon and another visit to see the Barn Owls. At 4.45pm, there was still no sign. Just before 5.00pm one put in a very brief appearance, and just a quickly disappeared. No views of them hunting today. 

So, my weekend ended where it started, Owl watching. No doubt I will visit them again soon.