My second expedition

My next expedition was to see some Mandarin ducks (Aix galericulata), I arrived early in the morning around 8:30am to stake it out. I got there with plenty of time to set up my equipment, but I hadn’t for seen that the ducks were not to play ball with me. I sat there for a good 3 hours with nothing to show for it.

I decided to take a walk, as I knew that if the ducks were to return they would do so in the early evening. So I set off round the fields lugging all my gear around with me. Just in case I saw anything interesting.

After I entered the route that I would take I started to think to my self that I would just use my small lens and try some HDR and panoramas. Although later I though that the panoramas were not good enough so just had to settle with HDRs. 

 

 

As I started the walk I was greeted by Green finches (Carduelis chloris), Gold finches (Carduelis carduelis), Blue tits (Cyanistes caeruleus), Great tits (Parus major), Coal tits (Periparus ater), Pheasants (Phasianus colchicus), Rooks (Corvus frugilegus), Jackdoors (Corvus monedula) and to my surprise a Jay (Garrulus glandarius) whom was hopping around on the floor looking for nuts to burry for the winter.

This walk was new to me so I didn’t really know what to expect, so as I crossed the fields I was interested that the walk goes through a range of different habitats. I had gone from open farmland into managed forests. In the forests I wasn’t able to do as much photography as I would have liked because it would have been shots of trees, consequently it would have been very generic.

I did how ever find an old gate, which was on a hill leading up to a conifer forest. This was startling although clearly a plantation it was managed in an interesting way. There were huge trees, which have been ripped out by their roots. Now this is very strange because on closer inspection of the trees some of the bark very low down on the tree was missing. Almost as if a chain had been there and had pulled the tree down, it was very strange. 

Once I had passed that I then continued, eventually stumbling upon a hop farm finding some old abandoned lodgings and storage sheds. It was here were I spent most of the day listening to birds and doing some HDR I generally don’t like that kind of photography. The abandoned building kind, I think it is last photography there isn’t much else to do but find an old building. The photographs came out OK but personally I am not a fan. 

After than I found the hop farm, it was a shame that the hops were not yet planted and growing it would have been amazing to wonder through the corridors made by them. So instead I pulled out my camera much more interesting, except that the ground was parched and there was nothing growing, it wouldn’t have looked out of place in Chernobyl. 

Then it was back into the fields and back to those ducks. It was a shame as when I got to the pond they still eluded me. Leaving straight away after that I encountered a Coot (Fulica atra), Moorhen (Gallinula chloropus), Nuthatch (Sitta europaea), Treecreeper (Certhia familiaris), great spotted woodpecker (Dendrocopos major) and a Green woodpecker (Picus viridis).

It was a nice end to my mini expedition, but as I walked along the path above the pond I saw on the pond my elusive prey. I have already seen them before but the Mandarin duck is spectacular. I managed to get a shot of it. It’s a record shot, but I got one.

Bewl Expedition

 




I went to visit the reservoir at Lamberhurst, Bewl water. This reservoir supplies most of the south east of all its water, so it is relied upon a lot, which is a problem. I arrived there early morning around 8am. The light was not grate so I waited and then it cleared up and I set off at 9.  This was the first time I would set eyes upon the water since I was last down in Kent, which was just before September. Seeing how high the water was, I was taken aback. It was and still is incredibly low. The reservoir is a man made one, so there used to be a village where the water now is. Talking to my granddad he told me when he was a boy he delivered papers there, and when it was build (the dam and reservoir) and there were hot summers you could see some of the old houses. I though I might be able to this time but no luck.

As soon as I arrived at the Bewl trees and birds singing in my ears, surrounded me. Chiffchaffs (Phylloscopus collybita), Blackcaps; my first this year (Sylvia atricapilla), Wrens (Troglodytes troglodytes), these birds don’t usually like to be seen and keep themselves hidden away in brambles and thick bushes. This was the case today as well; keeping hidden in the shade on a hot day was just what was needed for very small birds. I Also had the usual suspects as well, Robins (Erithacus rubecula), Sparrows (Passer domesticus), Blue tits (Cyanistes caeruleus), Great tits (Parus major), Mallards (Anas platyrhynchos), Coots (Fulica atra), Blackbirds (Turdus merula), Moorhens (Gallinula chloropus) and a Kestrel (Falco tinnunculus).

As I have mentioned the water was very low, so I decided to see how low it was. I left the track and headed down the slop to the waters edge. This picture shows how low the water really is and also where it should at least be. The dead weeds and underwater plants, which usually make up the murky edge of the water and now dry and burnt brown. It has been that dry that there is even new plant growth in amongst these dry plants.

While walking around this exquisite countryside I was taken aback at the varsity of the reservoir and how much the water had gone down. It was only really after my first stop off to have a drink and a snack that I really got time to look at how low it was.

It was not long after this stop that I reached an overflow pond. Which was empty. Completely empty no water, no new life. It was like a small crater on Mars. It was a very surreal moment. 

About an hour and a half later I herd some Herring gulls (Larus argentatus) cawing and making a big fuss about something. Thinking nothing of it I dismissed it, then coming to my senses I the looked round and saw them mobbing an Osprey (Pandion haliaetus). This was something I was not expecting to see. So I did not get a picture of it, as I was on the walk for landscapes and to see how low the water, I was not expecting to see this monster of a bird fly right past me.  I am glad that I am a birder (ornithologist) before a photographer because I really got to enjoy seeing this majestic bird close and with no pressure to photograph it. As the osprey evaded the gulls it then fell into the clutches of 4 Buzzards (Buteo buteo), and got hounded by them for a couple of minutes before gliding gently off behind some trees.

After this the walk became the same as before, full of chiffchaffs and blackcaps and the low water still making a full point.

This was an amazing walk it is a shame that I didn’t get a shot of the osprey.  But I am just very happy to have seen one this year, this was a very successful expedition, as I got more than I had bargained for.