A Good Start to a New Year

Unfortunately, the stresses of day to day life can sometimes tear you away from the things you love the most and actually these are the things that can lessen the stresses of everyday life.

After a particularly stressful time at work which also coincided with selling and buying a house which also coincided with the stresses of Christmas, I had lost touch with one of the things that helped me to escape stress and anxiety many years ago; nature.

Through the persistence of my husband and the start of a new year I embraced it again and realised just how much I had missed it. But, wildlife never judges and it’s always there to call on when you need it.

We started our new year’s day with amazing viewings of 4 long eared owls in Cheshire (01.01.19), a cheeky little owl stumbling across a rooftop and a short eared owl soaring across a meadow in Liverpool (02.01.19) and a huge gathering of starlings at Blackpool pier (05.01.19).

Although the end of Christmas and the start of a new year can make many people feel blue, I know that the days are slowly getting longer and camping trips, reptiles and butterflies are just around the corner.

Hand-feeding a Nuthatch

Working a bit of overtime entitles me to a day off and what better way to spend it than hand-feeding wild birds with my Mum at RSPB Middleton Lakes in Tamworth. Last time I visited Middleton Lakes with my husband I was surprised when a Blue Tit and Great Tit fed from my hand, so imagine mine and my Mum’s surprise when a nuthatch came down to feast on a handful of mealworms!

We also had amazing views of a water rail…

 

The Nightjar

The Nightjar is a bird that has always fascinated me. We had an amazing encounter with one on the heathland in Suffolk a few years ago, but our goal was now to see one in the day. Their camouflage is ridiculous making it almost impossible to see one. Nightjars also sit parallel to branches unlike other birds.

Walking amongst the bracken at Westleton Heath, a flap of wings startled me. A bird lifted and I knew instantly that it was a Nightjar. My heart was racing, I was so excited. It flew a full circle around me before landing on a low, gnarly branch at the side of me. It croaked three times, such an eery sound. I didn’t have a clear view of it, it was a hunched up silhouette, sitting there like a mythical creature. Before I had chance to lift my camera, he was gone.

A few days later we took a visit to Dunwich Heath. Walking along the path John disturbed another Nightjar. I managed to follow its flight and it landed on a branch in a nearby tree. We both managed to get a photograph before it lifted and flew back into the bracken. What a bird!

Sparrows in the Nest Box

Checking the camera nest box last night which we have attached to the side of our flat we were pleased to see plenty of nesting material in there. What we weren’t expecting was to see a sparrow in there this morning! Bit of a change from the blue tits that usually nest in there. With the cold weather and snow returning will they continue to nest? We will keep you posted!

Hand-feeding Blue Tits and other birds

The list of birds we are hand-feeding is growing. After numerous rainy weekends we decided to brave the showers and take a visit to RSPB Middleton lakes in Tamworth, one of my favourite nature reserves, mainly because the robins there are some of the friendliest I have encountered. The reserve was quiet, both in terms of people and wildlife. But as we turned the corner, a flurry of woodland birds greeted us. Chaffinches, great tits, blue tits, robins, blackbirds. Surely a blue tit would never feed from the hand. A little temptation and they were straight on! Both blue tits and great tits. I was astonished but cold weather is the best time to coax birds onto the hand as food such as insects are scarce.

 

 

 

Caberfeidh Cottage, Scotland

Although we absolutely love camping in our campervan, there are times when a nice cosy cottage is in order, especially in Scotland in the middle of winter.

Caberfeidh Cottage in Dulnain Bridge in Scotland was a home from home. Perfect for a couple, a cosy abode to come home to after a wintery walk and amazing wildlife in the garden!

Waking up on the first morning we were surprised to be greeted with sights of a red squirrel on the squirrel feeder in the garden. Wow! The red squirrel was on our list of ‘animals to see’ and we were not expecting to not have to travel too far to see one. In fact there were three individuals in total. You could time your watch by them. Around 8am each morning one would appear on the nut feeder and was easily seen from the kitchen window. That is what I call luxurious wildlife watching. Unlike the grey squirrel, which seems to scurry along the ground a lot, the red squirrels stayed on the feeders or up in the trees. Our favourite was a young squirrel who was very bold and very persistent in trying to obtain nuts from the feeder. He was often chased around the tree trunks by the older squirrel but that certainly did not deter him.

We also set up our camera trap in the garden and were pleased to capture footage of badgers in the garden each evening. The owners of the cottage kindly left us some badger food but they seemed to favour the peanuts. They arrived from 7pm and made frequent visits throughout the night. We were even able to watch them LIVE through the kitchen window with a torch on some evenings.

As well as red squirrels and badgers, coal tits, great tits, robins, blackbirds, chaffinches and long-tailed tits also visited the bird feeders on a regular basis. The cottage was perfect but the garden and its wildlife was the cherry on the cake for us.

 

 

Mountain Hare and Red Grouse

Findhorn Valley is one of the most beautiful places I have visited in the world. Whether it was the snow-covered ground that gave the feeling of cleanliness or the lack of pollution from vehicles and other made-made objects. If brave enough to face the biting cold winds, which at times threw me off balance, the place gave a sense of freedom and feeling alive.

Our initial aim was to see golden eagles. These birds are huge, but a landscape such as this one could easily dwarf these majestic predators. Seeing one would require us to walk to the highest point of the mountains and with such icy ascents and a lack of equipment this proved to be impossible. However, we were blessed with amazing views of mountain hares, an animal I had wanted to see for a long time, especially one in its snowy winter coat. I have so much respect for these animals that live in such harsh conditions.

I also had my first viewing of a red grouse. Sitting on the brow of a hill we had excellent elevated views as they flew from one part of the heathlands to another. Unfortunately we had no views of the golden eagle, but the sightings of hare and grouse, deer crossing a river as well as the amazing views certainly made up for it.

This is what I call ‘Braveheart’ landscape…

 

 

Hand-feeding Coal Tits, Loch Garten

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When visiting Loch Garten in Scotland in search of Crested Tits it was actually the coal tits that stole the limelight. I have fed some extremely bold and cheeky robins in the past but these coal tits really did take the biscuit, or should I say, peanut! No coaxing required, as soon as I opened my hand full of peanuts a coal tit landed straight onto it. In fact I think he was becoming quite impatient wondering what was taking me so long! The peanuts were not quickly snatched away either. Oh no, one coal tit took quite a while scrutinising each peanut before choosing the perfect one and flying away. I have to say, they provided plenty of entertainment.

 

Crested Tits at Loch Garten, Scotland

On a mission to find rarer and more elusive species it is sometimes easy to forget the joy that watching smaller birds can bring.

A visit to Loch Garten brought a flurry of activity. Chaffinches, great tits, siskins and coal tits all battling for food. I wonder if they sensed the bad weather that was about to come.

Our aim for that day was to see a crested tit, the only member of the tit family that I was yet to see. Loch Garten seems to have its own micro climate, a lot colder than anywhere else we had visited in Scotland during that week. Luckily we didn’t have to travel far. We were blessed with sightings of two individuals in the trees on the car park. We were even able to use our car as a hide to watch them. We also had good views in the reserve itself. The bird feeders in the reserve gave us great opportunities to photograph these punk-haired little birds. They spent time on the nut feeders and also favoured whatever food they were able to find on the ground. Flitting very rapidly from one place to another made it very difficult to get a good photograph. But such a lovely reserve made numerous visits very enjoyable and I finally got a few photographs I was happy with.

 

Scottish Crossbill, Abernethy Forest, Scotland

A bird that we really wanted to see on our trip to Scotland was the capercaillie. The size of a turkey this bird is our largest grouse. So can’t be too hard to spot, right?

To ensure a good chance of seeing one we went with a very friendly guide called Malcolm from Arc Wildlife Tours. He took us on a very magical walk through Abernethy Forest. This is the largest remaining remnant of ancient Caledonian Forest in Scotland.

An early start meant that the forest was quiet and the frost on the ground and trees made it feel as though we had stepped through a wardrobe and into Narnia. We had been blessed all week with good weather and the good thing about Scotland is that no matter how little wildlife we see, the views and landscapes never fail to take your breath away. No capercaillies were seen that day but we were blessed with incredible sights of Scottish Crossbill, or could they be Parrot Crossbill? We are still undecided on that one, but either way, it is a first for me. Their tinkling call gave away their location. Perched high on a tree in the sunlight I could not have wished for better views.

We searched pretty much high and low for the next couple of days for the capercaillie with no trace. We have even more respect for this bird now. There is something very mythical about such an elusive creature.