A few hours by the Crown hotel

Last week we decided on taking a bus trip to an area I've seen while on route to Wales for our cottage holidays. The area in question is small beach/pebbled area with some rocks and plenty of muddy for lots of waders, Geese and duck species. There were a large number of birds including Godwits a first sighting for me. There is only access via a bridge over the railway and when we arrived the tide was just coming in pushing the waders ever closer to us.

To the keep the weight down my brother brought his camera and I left mine allowing me to have more room for food supplies. As it was quite overcast and we only intended a quick visit it seemed the best plan. It was our last visit over the Welsh border till December. To make this Winter holiday more special we have decided to book a cottage with a view and hopefully if the weathers bad we don't have to leave the cottage to spot Dolphins, sea birds, seals and who knows even Whales have been known to visit the coast in December.

A little tease of the cottage below

Regards

Mike

Cheshire Badger cull :-(

Where science and facts have been pushed aside the Badger cull has once again started and has now come to Cheshire. I know a few people involved with legally disrupting the cull shooters and making sure they follow the rules where they can.

Those people out there fighting the injustice have my respect I would love to be involved but as I can't drive and the cull area in Cheshire is in the middle of a no bus area. Instead, I have decided to keep an eye on all my local setts and try to check 10 every other day including poo pits for traces of peanuts and sett disturbances as in early 2017 sett diggers were disrupted on my local patch. At nearby Blakemere I spotted these dodger diggers which I reported to Cheshire hunt monitors.

We only the second week of 6 weeks of shooters being allowed to trap and shoot Badgers and hopefully, the quota they won't be met. We will only know that once the 6 weeks are over if the hard work of the sabs (Badger defenders) who are sacrificing their time and own money pays off.

You can donate to them here:

If you can donate anything to there fuel fund they would really appreciate it!
https://gogetfunding.com/badger-cull-fuel-fund-2/

Regards

Mike

"Stay safe Badger warriors, for you are the last stand against the death in the darkness"

A suprise encounter :-) :-)

 I know I said I would not be posting but last week on the first day of my week off I got the opportunity to get something I've been trying to photograph for a while. If you have followed my blog over the past few years you will know how long I have been trying and all though the shots are not the best they mean the world to me. Last Monday I headed out early with wellies, umbrella and camera in my back pack as I left home the rain poured down and as it was very warm it was quite pleasant. I saw the Otter in an open part of the river stretched out swimming down river diving and surfacing but getting further away and not having my camera out at that point I had to think fast to get anything on my camera. I decided to run further down river to an Open spot where I new the water was shallow and the Otter would have to emerge from the water to enter deeper water. And it did I watched as it left the water skulking low using the balsam as cover it entered a deeper pool and dived for a minute then came to the surface where I got my second shot before it disappeared into the more overgrown parts of the river.

 First photograph I took from under some trees and not wanting to scare I turned the flash off

 Color close up to show this beautiful creature up close a few meters away

After this encounter I returned home elated and with the rain still pouring down I decided I had earned a few more hours in bed after finally getting this close encounter and with a few blurry shots to record the moment was a perfect start to my last week off of the summer season.

The beauty of my local patch on a sunnier morning

Later that week I went to check out some countryside an hour away from home at a town called Macclesfield which is close to some hilly and large areas of forest but we could not stay long due to having to get back to pack for a 2 day camping trip to Wales.

Kind regards

Mike

Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter on my local river

With the 4th season of the year upon us I have decided to post a photograph from each season taken on my local river. From Spring to Winter I visited this bridge to see if I could spot the local Otters and Kingfishers. Most days I just enjoyed the view and enjoyed the trickling calmness of the flowing water. While I was there I thought it would be a good idea to take a photograph to capture the beauty of each season in one photograph. As you can see the sun usually sets behind the bridge casting some really beautiful light at the end of the day. 

SPRING

SUMMER

AUTUMN

WINTER

All the photographs put together in one picture

 
Thanks for reading my blog
Stay wild, be happy and be safe

Mike

Busy, busy, busy as it's Tax return time #uh

Sorry to have been very quiet for a week or two but it's the time of year when I get my Tax return in online and as it's very cold and wet out there I always leave till January for those reasons. Over the past 2 months my health has been up and down, so over most of December and January I've been inside planning future projects and videos. While backing up my business records to my archive hard drive I decided on checking out my unsorted wild photographs. I noticed a few Iphone photos I took over 2014 of an area where I like to relax by the river. The photographs show the changing of the seasons at one spot off Ravenscroft bridge which goes over the river Dane located at Middlewich.
Spring

 Due to having a mild Winter in 2013/2014 lots of vegetation survived till Spring 2014
Summer

I love being on the river in my kayak hidden by vegetation growing on the bank the river becomes much more wilder.
Autumn

The leaves on the trees above the river start falling down and landing in the river as the water cools.
Winter

The river looks stunning on the Winter sunshine but it feels so lifeless at this time of year but when all the still waters around here freeze it becomes a lifeline to lots of birds and mammals as an area to feed and sleep due the to faster flowing waters of the Dane.

 There are a few Little Grebes down on the river Weelock near the Croxton Trail foot path. I've seen them since Friday diving for fish then hiding in the floating vegetation along the river edges.

Thanks for reading my blog

Stay wild, be happy and be safe
 

Mike

A walk by the river on a Monday morning

While taking a walk on some of my local patches more secret places where I can only visit at certain times of the week due to various factors and as I had a Monday morning off I new just the place I wanted to visit.

After a nice walk by the river watching the Chub feed in the clear waters of the Dane, emerald green weed with Damselfly's flitting around and a clear blue sky above. It wasn't all summer beauty as I ended up getting nettled quite abit after fighting through all the vegetation that had grown around my waterside spot making it clear that it had not been disturbed since the beginning of Spring. I had a look around and spotted a newly formed pond with a few mallards and Dragonfly's. I also spotted 2 Fox cubs playing on the dusty path in the photo above there could have been more but I ran to cover to see if they would carry on playing but I think they caught my scent and returned to the safety of the bramble patch.

 Low level I-phone shot of the rivers surface

On my way I noticed lots of Minnows in the shallow water of one of the rapid sections of the River Dane and this is a great find as I have not seen any here for many years in good numbers as I used to fish here when I was a child in the school holidays and slowly there numbers decreased. Since the return of the Otter on my local waters the rivers and canals seem to be getting healthier and returning to the way they used to be before the Otters were persecuted for loss of fish numbers. Most Otter haters forget Herons, Mink and other birds eat fish and when you think how many fish we take from the world everyday who is actually doing the most damage us or the creatures that should be allowed to have a safe place to live and eat as much as they please. Why persecute fish eating creatures just so human beings can have some sport as surely it's them that are the true fisherman as they only fish to survive not for pleasure or sport for nourishment.

A lovely morning walk in the sun on Monday morning off work and I also saw a raptor on the thermals above me and I think it's a Hobby and as it's my first sighting of one it was great and to see locally makes it even better.

Thanks for visiting 

Mike

Lunch by the river with a Goosander family

As I run www.GoWildlifeWatching.co.uk in the afternoons and I have a part time job in the mornings. So after my morning Job I decided not to go straight home to work on the shop, Instead I popped down to one of my local rivers to eat my lunch on the river bank as it was a stunning summery day. Luckily I had my camera with me with 1 battery left and from in the reeds below me a family of Goosanders swam upriver. 
There was 1 female and 8 young and as I had the wrong setting on my camera I did not have time to change. I was very pleased with the sighting as this is a second family I've seen this year with freshly hatched baby's I am guessing they nest quite close.

The female led the youngsters back down river past me and usually they journey upriver as the other day 
I saw the first female with 3 youngsters a few miles upriver and they had grown quite alot.

Regards
Mike

Two panoramas from my local rivers one river is more shallow has plenty of weed and the other is deeper and more clay and sand but each have there positives. The panorama at the top is my Otter watching spot where you can see my green bench and this site is yet to deliver.

Middlewich wildlife watching cheshire wildlifeMiddlewich wildlife watching cheshire wildlifeMiddlewich wildlife watching cheshire wildlife

Finding Dragonflies, Carp and a big Coot family

As today was hot with a decent breeze I set off to some canal side ponds a few miles from my home to try and find somewhere with plenty of dragonfly's. I arrived at the ponds and there were lots of different Dragonfly's darting about on the surface feeding I managed to film a newly hatched dragonfly on a reed but I am not sure what species it was but hopefully I can get back down there next week for a few hours to film them.

 

I also saw a huge Coot family with 7 young of different sizes normally I have only seen them with 3-4 young on the pond but this year they was plenty of food and cover but unfortunately they are right next to a railway. Lets hope Foxes don't discover them as it would be great to see them all get to adulthood.

Big family

They were lots of carp feeding I think they were Mirror carp on the pond surface but they seemed very calm and staying on the surface for along time and this was something I have never seen before especially so many which made me think they were getting ready to spawn very soon as they were not feeding.

Regards

Mike

Photographing Coal tits from my garden hide

Today I saw a coal tit feeding its young in my garden but could not get close enough to get a good photo. I decided to fit an old hanging bird table to my garden hide window so I could sit at my bench and photograph the coal tit and other birds from inside my hide. Below is the result of some of my attempts to photograph the coal tits and was quite pleased with the results and after I took these photos they left the garden.

 Regards

Mike

Visiting the great orme and a short wildlife film idea for 2011!!!!

Today I set off to visit the Great Orme at Llandudno on the North wales coast to see what was happening with the wildlife. It's very this busy time of the year and I wanted to see what I could film. It seems every time I visit the Great Orme it never disappoints as there is always wildlife to film. Whether its the goats that live on the Great orme's slopes or the Peregrines, Kestrels and Fulmar that glide along the cliff edges.

Here are a few clips of the beauty of the Great Orme in North wales
Fulmars in there nest

My first ever Peregrine sighting!!!

Jackdaw gathering nesting material from a Goat

As I love Llandudno and spend all of my holidays there I have decided to make a short documentary about the Great Ormes mammals, Birds, Insects, and the Cetaceans that pass by the Orme at different times of the year over the next 2 years from 2010/2011. It seems no one has ever made a film that shows how rich and captivating the wildlife and the Ormes views are.

Regards

Mike

Damselflies on the river Dane

Today I decided to go down to the river and check for otter signs but no luck due to the rain we had last night. I think all the rain washed away any tracks and spraint but never mind I will keep checking all the areas that I have only recently just discovered that seem perfect for otters to use as commuting routes. While I was down by the river I found an area that was teeming with Damselflies from blue to red to green. I think the males are blue and the females are emerald green. I watched a female fly by all the males who would try and keep up with her and the one who caught up with her was the victor. After mounting they would land on the surface weed or a grass stalk to mate. Some males got abit to excited and started in mid air or on the surface weed in really fast water and getting washed away. When they are successful they come together into a heart shape which is very strange and calming to watch as two insects form such a unique shape that means so much to us humans.
Male

Female

 Regards

Mike

Camera trap night 4 of 5 results and Young Tawny owls

 After checking the camera traps I had 38 videos that had been recorded overnight. I took my Laptop with me so I could check the videos straight away instead of heading on the long walk back home. No badgers had been filmed on the card as only a mouse that probably lived down one of the badgers holes kept eating peanuts and scampering around. After packing up my camera traps to head home and feeling disapointed with the results I had got I decided on exploring nearby. Close to the Badger sett is a small woodland adjacent to the canal and I heard a blackbird alarm calling so I decided to check it out. Amazingly it was a bird I had never seen in the wild and it was a stunning adult Tawny owl. The bird was hunting and I was so pleased I managed to get a great shot of it with a young blackbird chick in its talons which it caught to feed its 4 young that had left the nest recently.

As the Adult called the Owlets answered back and led me to there location. So after creeping closer I managed to film the young and adults as they sat in the sun. Its the first time I have ever filmed an Owl and hopefully not the last. After disappointed with the Badger camera trap it turned out it was a great day after all and another bird off the list. I will keep an eye on the Tawny owls for the next few days to try and film them flying and feeding the owlets before they leave the area to find territory's of there own.
Adult in the shadows of an old Oak

Owlet looking down through the canopy at me

Regards

Mike

Camera trap set up in possible Otter and Badger Location

Today I decided to setup my camera trap in an area where I found a small brook and woodland. The area is a good few miles walk from my home and the new area was near a canal, I found a small badger sett which showed some good signs of activity including fresh digging and plenty of stinky latrines that were very close to the sett meaning this was a new group of badgers to film.

Nearby I found some Otter spraint on a group of rocks in the stream and a possibility of a holt close to the rocks where I found the spraint. I ended up going back hope for some salmon and if l leave some fish as well as peanuts/fruit by the brook near the spraint and close to the sett to see what I can film. I hope to get Badgers and Otters  filmed together or one or the other but in one night !!!!. I left feeling excited but nervous about leaving my camera trap so far from home so I think that I will be up early tomorrow to collect my camera trap. I will take my camcorder with me in case I have any wild encounters on the way and hopefully I may see an early morning Barn owl.

As I had another smaller camera trap with me and a spare apple I decided to leave it on a possible Water vole run by the stream and check that to the next day to see if any small mammals show up to take a bite.

Regards

Mike

Camera trap night 3 of 5 results and checking out an possible otter slide

For night 3 of camera trapping week I thought that I would put the camera by a small woodland stream that comes off the river Dane. I hoped to see if anything was coming off the river to rest or entering the river via the stream but all I got was a cat. I also recorded a Buzzard and Owl calling at 11pm in the darkness of a woodland on the opposite bank. Also today I went to check out a small stream on the edge of Middlewich where otter signs have been seen in 2007. I have only just found this information so I decided to check it out. The first thing that I noticed was a few scratch marks in the clay close to a bank. The bank which leads into a small woodland and the second thing I noticed was a few bare patches of mud leading up the bank into the woodland in various places. I will place a camera trap sometime by the stream to see what I get. I found no clear signs so I could not sure of what animal was making the marks and due to the rain this week most things are getting washed away.

   Regards

Mike

Kingfisher watching from my 2 man hide

Today I decided to get out by the river for a few hours to get some footage of kingfishers on the river Dane with my Camcorder. Plus I had a new piece of kit that I put together which consists of a bullet camera, mini DV recorder, 15 metres of AV cable and a broken Umbrella handle. You put all that together and it makes a great perch camera setup. After waiting a few hours it seems that they were not interested in perching on my perch and it seemed to be more active on the opposite bank where I managed to get some quick shots of them.
Fight!!!!!!!

Hide and beak

Fishing in the rain

Regards

Mike

Camera trap night 2 of 5 results and an early morning canal walk

Sticking with the project on the river I retrieved the camera trap for the 2nd time and the camera had 3 videos on it. Two of which were recorded between 4am and 5am in darkness guessing as first light. It was set off by a Magpie and then a Mayfly which shows how sensitive the Prowler HD is. The last one was recorded at 8pm the night before in daylight and it was a Magpie so still no luck.

I was getting a little down about not capturing anything exciting so Later that morning I packed up my camcorder and set off down the canal for a long relaxing walk. I ended up passing by the canal reed beds to search for the Reed warblers and Reed buntings. As I went passed a farmers field I noticed a brown bird that was calling in the long grass. I could not be sure if it was a young starling or a  Dunnock as its call seemed very different from both of the juvenile starling and Dunnock calls.
I later found out that this was a Grasshopper Warbler and there very difficult to see.

Adult Coot and its baby

The Heron gets its fish

 Regards

Mike

Morning walk by the flashes

I guess this is my first Wildlife related post so here it goes. As I woke up early this morning at 5am and had plenty of energy from the early morning sun as well as the beautiful dawn chorus. I thought it would be a good time to go to do some early morning filming as every where in the countryside is quiet and there's nobody to disturb the mammals or birds your trying to film.

I decided that i would go and check out Croxton flash and the stretch of canal that runs past the an aqueduct which allows the canal to go over the river. The river Dane flows 2 miles along the canal past the flashes. The canal side has  mixed habitats of farmland, marsh, canal and river to woodland. Today was a good day for Reed Warblers and I managed to film them as the sun came up. As the sun rose higher it set off the territorial singing as normally you only tend to hear them and not see them, I felt very privileged to get this beautiful shot.

After a late tea at about 7pm I decided to go and setup a camera trap on the river where I think there maybe be Otters. I think there using the bridge once in a while to spraint on a nearby sand bank and as there are tracks coming out of the water and reentering the water 2 meters up river on the same bank which is located under a river bridge. For now its best that to keep the area a secret just in case I ended up finding Otters using the Sand bank to rest as they travel up and down the river. I think I discovered otter footprints there a month ago but can't be positive due to quality of the prints in hard sand. So I knew Otters are around but I started thinking of reasons why an otter maybe passing through this area. One reason I thought they were using the area was because nearby there is a pile of boulders in the water and when I had a look under them an eel about 20cm swam out into the main river and disappeared into the deeper water.  On this part of the river there are not just Eels but there are plenty of minnows, Bullheads ,Chub ,Trout and Salmon. In 2009 further down the river Dane I stumbled upon a crayfish possibly a White-Clawed Crayfish but I cannot be sure but having all these fish coming back tells me that the river is healthy which is great for the river Dane.  We had some bad pollution locally which really damaged the rivers ecology a few years ago so hopefully Otters are coming to my local patch and maybe begin to breed in the area. I will be camera trapping for 5 nights in a row to give me more of a chance of filming a otter passing by the area.

Thanks for reading my blog
Stay wild, be happy and be safe

Mike