Kingfisher blues, Fuzzy Foxes and a great weekend!...Thanks Harry!

Apologies to those of you who may have already read this post on the RSPB Community site. It is due to popular demand that I post up a few 'old' adventures of mine, which got great responses when first posted....

(Kingfisher blues, Fuzzy Foxes and a great weekend!...Thanks Harry! was originally posted on 4th October 2011)

Hello All,

Wow, what an interesting weekend I have just had and although it didn't go to plan (as usual) it was very enjoyable! So in pictures and words here's a quick run down.....

My weekend was planned around trying to get some decent pictures of a Kingfisher that has eluded me so far this year. You might remember but I posted a little while ago that a friend of mine had given me a tip off of a great “Kingfisher spot” and after several weeks of trying and many long hours I drew a big fat 'HIGGY ZERO!'

From this disaster I followed up by failing on my quest with badgers and of course that darn buzzard (Harry) who I see all the time but just won't 'pose' for the camera!

Having located the above-mentioned badgers set, situated in a small wood around a large pond, I spent many hours there with absolutely no sign of a badger what so ever! I was however overwhelmed by the richness of the bird life within this wood so told my 'Kingfisher' friend about this little unknown gem. Last week he went for a visit that prompted an excited phone call from him where he relayed to me his fantastic morning trip to this wood and spending ages watching a Kingfisher!!!....He even described the exact spot where I could set the camera up on a tripod and get a "perfect picture" Apparently there was a small island of stones in the middle of the pond with an old branch sticking out which the Kingfisher was using as it's perch to hunt from, if I located this I couldn't fail!..... 

Excited???....You bet and in true Higgy fashion I packed the car and come Saturday drove straight down there. Parking the truck up I couldn't get everything unpacked quickly enough! Over the gate I went and hiked across the field, only to get half way across and find this group of ‘thugs’ and another twenty or so of their mates running at me!...

 

Last time I was there the field was empty! As it is an extremely large field I was stranded, completely marooned with no where to go!......Following some quick thinking a bit of shouting and a lot of waving my tripod around like a mad Samurai swordsman they stopped their charge and decided to just stalk me the rest of the way instead!....Whilst this was happening my friend 'Harry' the buzzard flew over and I'm sure he was laughing at me again! He really must think he’s watching the comedy channel every time I’m around!!!

Finally I got down to the lake and settled myself in behind the old Oak tree and waited for the turquoise & orange beauty to turn up and pose nicely for all my lovely high tech and very expensive camera gear....and….waited....and….waited...2 hours.…and….waited... You guessed it....NOWT!!

Three hours into my mission no Kingfishers but I did have a stroke of luck as whilst crouched behind the big old Oak tree waiting a Tree Creeper landed on the trunk right in front of me and quite simply ‘posed’ for the camera! This pretty little bird was literally only two feet away from me and I could have reached out and touched it! Unfortunately 'higgy's luck' struck again and as I was using my 300mm lens I was too close and couldn't lock focus on it!!!.....had I been quicker to react I could have taken my mobile phone out of my pocket and probably got my best bird shot ever!!! LOL

Over four hours later all I had in the bag was the picture of a stick, a portrait of my new best friends and my 'end of the day picture'...As you can see from this picture It really was getting late at this point and very dark also!....

So with only the three shots in the bag I packed up my gear and trekked back to the car to head home and get some sleep! My thought process at this point was very much about somehow sweet talking Mrs Higgy into giving me a pass for the following day (Sunday) to continue my newest pursuit of a decent Kingfisher picture. After all this was a dead cert….wasn’t it!?…

I knew Sunday would be better and the excitement got the better of me and I was awake just after 5am! Well not one to waste an opportunity and more importantly another day pass I was out of bed and heading for the wood by 5:20am! When I arrived it was still dark and I opted to follow the hedge line along in the next field, I figured that this way I would avoid waking up & spooking my new best 'bullock' friends and frightening away anything else which might be out and about at this ridiculous hour! 

Thinking about my past photography failures I set the camera with my 'low light' settings and preceded across the field. I didn't get any more than 100 yards when a fox came out of the hedge and casually 'strolled' across the field right in front of me! He was obviously on his way home, belly full from a nights hunting.....panic stations...no time for tripod...clang...right down on your belly camera at the ready....snap, snap, snap...three quick rapid shots taken like a professionally trained SAS sniper.....a quick look at what I’ve got in the LCD display….

DRAT!!!......FUZZY FOX!.............

I think my 'low light' photography needs some work!!???....

Any way forget about yet another failure, the sun is now rising so for a change a 'start of the day' shot this time...

7am, and I can already tell that it's going to be a very hot and sunny day today. I'm now settled in behind my favourite Oak tree camera on tripod focused on the perch, there is no way I can fail in my mission this time is there??........

10:30am....movement across the pond....here we go camera ready...snap...."oh drat, MOOR HEN!.....

Midday and still nothing, I'm not sure who is border now, me or that darn stick that I've been staring at for the last five hours!! The Great Tits and Blue Tits have been warning of my presence since arriving and to top it all 'Harry' has flown over several times but I've missed getting a picture as the camera has been on the tripod set up or as I get it ready he flies back over into the tree canopy!!!....."Damn Buzzard!!"

I'm at the stage of about 12hours into this farcical 'Kingfisher' hunt now and I've just about had enough of it, my backs in agony, my eyes hurt and to just about sum it all up I've got sunburnt on my leg but it's just a lovely even 2" band around my knees where my wellies and shorts didn't quite meet!!!....how sexy!! LOL

"That's it I've had enough can't take it any more"....teddies firmly out of the pram!!.....grab the camera and I'm off for a walk to stretch my back....

"Hey there's Harry"......"drat not got my tripod!"....."oh well"....Snap....Snap....Snap....

Still no Kingfisher pictures but, the end to a great weekend......THANKS HARRY!!!

Original thread complete with replies and comments can be viewed here:- 
http://www.rspb.org.uk/community/wildlife/f/13609/p/56413/380711.aspx#380711

Higgy

Is it a buzzard saga or a badger saga??...

Apologies to those of you who may have already read this post on the RSPB Community site. It is due to popular demand that I post up a few 'old' adventures of mine, which got great responses when first posted....

(Is it a buzzard saga or a badger saga??... was first posted on 25th August 2011)

Hello All,

Some of you will have read my sagas over the last few months where I inevitably go out with a challenge to photograph a specific species only to come home with everything but!!!....

My last big saga was getting some decent buzzard shots, which I have to confess I have been pursuing (obsessing) for quite sometime with very little success! Having spent so much time on the Buzzard quest I thought that this week I would take a break from them and visit an old badgers set which I used to walk past when out with my dog a few years ago. I wanted to see if it was still active and ripe for photographic opportunity.

A successful recce on Monday evening (apart from the dog nearly falling into it!!) showed that the set was indeed active and had grown in size since I had last seen it! I was itching to get back down there with the camera as soon as possible......

Today sprung a rare window of opportunity to get down there and start my new quest for the perfect Badger picture….then the heavens opened, typical!!!..... Luckily by about 7pm the rain had stopped and the sun was out but low in the sky so I grabbed the camera, stuck on my wellies and dashed out ready to photograph those lovely badgers that had been running around inside my head all day!

Now I imagine you've guessed what comes next.....Oh yes in true Higgy fashion there wasn't a single flipping badger to be found within a ten mile radius of yours truly!....LOL

Not to be completely defeated I did my usual thing and snapped at anything that moved (or didn't move!) and came back with some pictures of this little chap....

Not a badger and certainly not a Buzzard but a pretty little bird that is so often overlooked….

And then.....

If being in the middle of a badger saga wasn't enough that damn buzzard decided to fly over.......what a dilemma......do I sit it out hidden in the hedgerow for the badgers??....but the buzzard flies over again squealing as he goes this time! I am really sure that he watches my every move and then flies over and has a right old laugh at my expense!…

I just couldn't resist it and like a scene out of Rambo I was out of that hedgerow brambles trailing attached to the seat of my camouflaged pants (ouch!!!) camera at the ready........Then I'm shooting.....shutter held down all thoughts of cute badgers long gone.....I must get that buzzard!!.....he's not getting away this time!!.... 

Still not the greatest pictures as shot in very low light and heavily cropped, but at least now I had got some sort of picture! This was probably a very good thing as I had made so much noise in the process of extracting myself from my make shift 'hedge' hide that any badgers who may have been present had most certainly now left the country for sure!!......LOL


Incidentally, whilst sat in the hedge trying to avoid being scratched by the brambles and eaten alive by the local mosquitoes! I did get to enjoy the huge variety of Tits, Finches and other small birds who inhabit this particular wooded area. I snapped this little Chiffchaff as an ID picture thinking it to be a Warbler of some form at the time....again not a great picture but reference to the large variety of species found here. I will often write about some of our more 'vibrant' characters but my passion is for all wildlife so a small bird worthy of note and not overlooked despite my excitement towards others on here!!...

As always at the end of one of my adventures I must leave you with the last shot of the day, which is of course.... 'The end of the day!'....

Original thread complete with replies and comments can be viewed here:- 
http://www.rspb.org.uk/community/wildlife/f/13609/p/53842/365177.aspx#365177

Thanks for reading


Higgy

Prey saved the day for birds of prey trip....

Firstly welcome to my first post and apologies to those of you who may have already read this on the RSPB Community site! It is due to popular demand that I post up a few 'old' adventures of mine which got great responses when first posted....

('Prey saved the day for birds of prey trip' was originally posted on 7th April 2011)

Hello All,

Firstly apologies for what has now turned into a long story!.....

What a lovely sunny spring week we are currently having here! I have recorded 20degrees both yesterday and today, which I have to say is very welcome indeed.

All of a sudden it feels like the local countryside has sprung into life with birds nesting and other animal's new borns hopping around the fields......

Some of you will have read my thread about 'low light deer photography' and my epic attempts to grab some pictures of a lovely herd of young deer that I had been watching for some time. Typically on the actual day of getting ready and travelling to photograph them they had completely vanished! (just my sort of luck!)

With the warm weather this week I have witnessed some spectacular aerial displays from the buzzards and other birds of prey (BOP) which inhabit the Gordano Valley in North Somerset. Yesterday I actually seen a group of 7-8 birds circling high in the sky on the thermals and from the elevated motorway I literally had a birds eye view! I thought to myself that I wouldn't get caught out like I did with the deer so came home and did some internet research to find local footpaths in the area and how I could legally access the high ground and plan my trip. My plan was to visit this afternoon on the way home from work and use a footpath that runs under the M5 motorway giving me access to the high ground near Cadbury Camp. This was sure to present me the opportunity to get some A1 BOP pictures.....As I arrived I was feeling quite excited I have to say!

This afternoon the weather was perfect and I was still very excited, I had my plan in my head and thoughts of some fantastic wild BOP shots. As I started my drive home my anticipation grew and as I passed over the elevated section of the motorway I couldn't help but take a look across the valley where I have been observing these (many) birds.....As I looked out across the valley what did I see......

........NOWT!!......Oh no not again I will soon be nicknamed the most unluckiest birder and wildlife photographer in history!! (good job I don't do it for a living!!)

Not perturbed I dropped down onto the valley floor I found a parking space, located my footpath and with camera in hand started my accent to the high ground (Flipping heck that was a hell of a long and steep climb!) Anyway with sweat dripping from my brow I had made it to the top and I could look out across two different valleys which were either side of me, quite spectacular I have to say......yet still not a single sign of a BOP!

Something then caught my eye and a pair of Green Woodpeckers flew into a nearby tree, great at least I'll get a shot of something I thought......Then the peace was shattered as a fluorescent clad jogger ran out of the wood and shouted across to me "DID YOU SEE THOSE TWO WOODPECKERS MATE!!??".....You guessed it the Woodpeckers seeing the 'day-glow' human running towards them panicked and flew off!!

Now I'm not too happy by this time as I haven't seen a single BOP, my Woodpeckers have been scared away and I feel like I've tracked to the summit of Mount Everest!.....Even worse I looked at my watch and it said that my little one needed picking up from nursery in 'not enough time!'......so I started my very rapid decent back to the truck where I could wallow in my own self pity!! boohoo.....

All of a sudden something small caught my eye on the other side of a fence which I was just passing, breaking to a halt I was just in time to see two tiny little baby rabbits bolt down their hole....."Drat!"

This now seemed like an opportunity to get at least one photograph out of the afternoon so I manoeuvred myself down wind and wedged the monopod into the rocky ground and focused the camera on the hole that the two little fellows had disappeared down......A couple of minutes later one of the little bundles of fluff came out of the hole, I immediately took a snap to which he shot back down the hole never to be seen again!!.....

So my BOP photography trip was saved not by a bird of prey, but it's cute fluffy prey!!......    

Cute, but not quite a Bird of Prey!....... 

P.S. On the drive home I seen at least six buzzards but was so late by then that I couldn't stop for a picture!!......Flipping typical isn't it!

Original thread complete with replies and comments can be viewed here:- 
http://www.rspb.org.uk/community/chat/f/2542/p/40776/268369.aspx#268369

Birds of Prey and bunny rabbits....the saga continues!!...

(Birds of Prey and bunny rabbits....the saga continues!!...was originally posted on 12th April 2011)....

Following my disastrous trip photographing BOP last week when I returned with just one photograph of a.....Bunny rabbit!!.....I decided that today was the day when I would have another go! After work I drove excitedly to  my local river and spent two hours attempting to see and get some decent BOP photographs.... 

....I'm pleased to report that I did see some BOP today in the form of a kestrel and a great aerobatics display by a crow as it attempted to chase away a buzzard! Unfortunately I also have to report that I didn't manage to get a single picture of them yet again! I'm sure this is due to my inability to 'gawp' mouth open at such a spectacle and take a picture at the same time!!.....

You will all be pleased to know that once again a bunny saved the day and gave me something to snap at!!...

Bunny number 2!!!.....

I am now starting to get worried that I will soon be labelled as a 'specialist bunny photographer!!!'....

Luckily to show that I can photograph something other than a bunny this male pheasant wandered past the car on the way home....I have to say that I didn't need to be asked twice!!!.....

As with most of my trips I did however get my usual 'End of the day' picture which in this case was a dusk photograph of Clevedon Pier...

Original thread complete with replies and comments can be viewed here:- 

http://www.rspb.org.uk/community/wildlife/f/13609/p/41173/270881.aspx#270881

Thanks for reading...

Higgy