The canal with a hole in it? Good or Bad

At the beginning of spring on one of the branches of canals was closed due to over flowing from one of the many lock meaning no boats could get through from half of Cheshire without adding a weeks journey to there trvelling plans. This meant the rest of the canals would be very quiet and the amount of users would be down. The canal is not due to be reopened till the end of the year or even 2019!!
The positive is thanks to this chaos it has been the first time I've seen watervoles on my local patch thanks to the quieter canals and with all this hot weather the river and canal levels are really down.

More information here - www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-manchester-43432245

 I've spent so much time in the river this year keeping cool and sunbathing on the sandbanks enjoying some really peace spots especially all the new rivers beds that are usually covered up by the flowing river dane have become my areas of peace and relaxation.

Even the Swan family headed to the river to eat the fresh river weed

Bull heads seemed to be lined up on the edge of the canal bank possibly breeding

Bullheads are river fish and only normally survive in clean and healthly enviroments so its a really good sign to see so many breeding individuals. Until today I never new there was any in the canal as I wonder how they got there as the river flows next to the canal but is on a lower level.

Even the Badgers are avoiding the drought and at most of my setts I have only seen one Badger but they seem to be enjoying the fruits on offers as there boudary poo pits are being filled already.
This one seems to be most active and he has a light brown back so is easily identifiable

With the upcoming disgusting Badger hitting Cheshire in more places this year I might be very busy in the Autumn and Winter period. All I can say is I've bought myself a megaphone so I can share my beautiful singing voice or my favourite music with any undesirables I may have the displeasure to meet. I don't work with any groups involved in the anti cull as they have there own way of doing things and I'm more of a leader than a follower when it comes to protecting Nature it's just my way and my rules.

Thanks for reading

Mike

The death of Flash :-(

Today I thought I would post about one of  my local patches characters and in this instance its Flash one of the local Mute Swans who had a territory here for over 16+ years. We last saw him in February this year when he was fighting with a new pair of swans. On the 11th February my brother separated them and put Flash in a safe place on the river away from the danger of the attacking pair. After that he disappeared and since then we had no clue where he was. Last week we got an email saying he was reported dead at Middlewich on February 14th 2016. He was a wonderful swan sometimes grumpy but yet very calm and intelligent. He will be sadly missed..........
Below is a video I made about the life of Flash

As a wild bird he did his job protecting his mates & cygnets over the years. I shall miss him swimming along side me in my kayak as the sunrises on a warm summer morning along the canal.

I took this photograph in the beginning of 2002 when he had one of his first brood of cygnets

One of his last broods a few years ago..

He was quite a poser

Flash at his main nest site which he held for many years without fail

Flash by the big lock pub

Thanks for reading my blog

Stay wild, be happy and be safe
 

Mike

My brother Ryan shares a Swan blog

Today I've decided to let my brother post on my blog as I've been pretty busy keeping my eye on poachers and as it won't be long till the new life of Spring begins soon and the poachers crawl back under there rocks. I'm not sure if I mentioned my brother Ryan much in my posts over the years so here's a quick introduction to him. Ryan photographs wildlife like me but he mostly keeps an eye on the local Swans all year round. Although he doesn't feed them at the local swan gathering place as a local group does that but we won't mention them as there not the friendliest people in the world. My brother travels around the local areas from Cheshire, Staffordshire and North Wales to collect data from there BTO/ring leg tags which he sends to a local recorder. With this data he finds out how far the swans travel to find a mate, build a nest and spend there Winters. As well as recording this data my brother and sometimes I lend a hand to rescue Swans and other local wildlife that needs a helping hand and this week my brother had to help a local swan "Flash" who got trapped when being attacked by a pair of Swans that have a territory a few miles away.

Thank you for visiting and I'll leave you with Ryan while I put my feet up... 

Cheers Mike
 Stay safe and protect Nature where and whenever you can
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 A quick thank you to Mike for the introduction and allowing me to post on his blog and to all the readers I hope you like my blog posts as much as his and hopefully I could do a few more in the future if he lets me. While out checking the safety of the local wildlife I spotted 2 swans flying over( Male is Barbossa and the female is Elizabeth) and once they saw Flash our oldest local Swan the 2 of them landed and began to chase Flash. He got flash trapped in between the bank and canal boat, so I had to react quickly before he got crushed by the boat or drowned by the local pair. Once I got him out to safety I checked him over all was fine. Because of the pair on were still on the canal I relocated him to River that flows next to the canal so he could easily escape using the faster flowing water to escape if they decided to follow Flash as hes quite an OAS now(old age swan now being 18).

 RED-SWAN PAIRS MAIN AREA / BLUE-FLASHES AREA / YELLOW DISTANCE TRAVELED

I don't think this will be the last Battle to between Barbossa and Flash this year as they have a few months before they choose a nesting site and stay in that area, until then the pair will keep any swans from being on the edge of there territory.

Thank you

Ryan Mottram

Kayaking with the Swans

As it's that time of year again when the weather warms up and the breeding season begins. I have started working with a new pair of Swans as it seems Flash is having a year of breeding this year. The new male is Barbossa but the female is Flashes old mate Snow. At the minute the pair keep coming and going like the Great Crested Grebes and don't seem to be settling. Both of them have built nests and haven't seemed to want to lay yet probably due to the sudden return of the cold weather. Last year Flash and Snow were very confident and would come up to my kayak straight away and pose for photos and showed no aggression to me.

Before work the other morning I decided on going on my first photo shoot with the new pair up. The new partnership seems be a little of the opposite with them both keeping there distance and showing no aggression to me or the Geese on the lake.

As the sun rose on the dark black sky the water sparkled around him

A lovely close up of Barbossa as he takes some of the floating food mix I brought them 

After checking on the Swans health and having abit of bonding time with them to get them to accept my kayak and allow me to film them up close. I also wanted to check up and photograph a Canada Goose that had nested in the Swans old spot.

Photographed from the bank at the lake

She seemed happy on her throne of reeds which the Swans started building and she took when they left the lake for a few days and for some reason the Swans have not pushed her off. I took a few photographs of her then I left her in peace. I will hopefully try and check on them all every week but as there's so much to film at this time of year I'm not sure if I'll have much time.

It looks like she smiling as I spun my kayak around to get a clear photograph

A view of the lake when the sunrises on a cold Spring morning as the mist is burned away

Thanks for reading my blog

Stay wild, be happy and be safe
 

Mike

The return of Flash

As it was very warm the other day we decided not to head out to far. We ended up going to a local stretch of river so if we got to hot we could cool off in the water. We were mainly looking for a Swan family or Sand martins .After walking a few miles along the river we ended up finding nothing but the river looked beautiful with it's clear and sparkling water. 

There were plenty of Damselflies zipping up and down the river and mating on the river weed. On the way back though from a high bank over the river we spotted a pair of Swans with one cygnet, I did the call that some of the pairs I photograph know to see if they would respond. The female reacted and raised her head to my call and this so it got me thinking was this Flash and his mate Whisper. 

 Staying together and doing quite well with the faster speed of the flowing river

 

We could not see the family properly or leg tags so we fought through the nettles to get onto the sandbank where they were resting. Once we got closer we saw it was them and they had 4 Cygnets not just one.  When we approached calling like we have to Flash for years he came over without any aggression and tapped my bag to see if we had any food for him and his family. I took a few photographs and left them in peace heading down river closer to the unsafer area nearer to the town. The things that worry me at this time of year are the increase more Dogs off leads playing in the river and a few people who find entertainment in harming nature. Hopefully I will be able to keep an eye on them but nice thing was Whisper seemed to be wary of us which means she will be keeping her Cygnets very safe and she will lead them to safety if needed.

 I think Flash on the left is moulting but I think he's quite strong even if he can't fly

Thanks for reading my blog

Stay wild, be happy and be safe

Mike

Off to find my snood but we found so much more

As I dropped my snood while on the walk the other day, I decided to head that way again to check out the other areas and to see if I could find my missing snood. We arrived at the area and I quickly found it by a kissing gate then we headed over to where we saw the Foxes hunting in the sun the other day.

While heading over I spotted something fly out from some logs near some Rabbit holes. I quickly realized it was a Little Owl and luckily it landed in a nearby tree where there were lots of hollow branches. I am thinking the Little Owl may be nesting in the tree so I will be checking the area a couple of times a week. I managed to get a few photographs before it disappeared into a hedgerow on private farmland.

Hiding in the tree you can just about see him

He seemed to be watching us as on the way back we saw him watching us from a different tree

As the woodland was quite well barbed off I could not access but I spotted a Fox skull within my reach so i got the skull and hopefully I can find a way into the woodland another time to see what lives there and makes sure there no suspicious activity as I think I could see a Badger sett through the trees surrounded by Bluebells.

I also saw a Jackdaw go into the Owl Box so there won't be any Barn Owls nesting in the area but I'm hoping they may hunt here due to the habitat being perfect for them due to the grassy plains and hedgerows all around. A very successful afternoon finding another Bird species I've been after plus another item for my Nature collection.

Thanks for reading my blog

Stay wild, be happy and be safe
 

Mike

A new place to photograph Wildlife

Last week we decided on taking an afternoon to walk to checkout an area of countryside we visited over the winter season. The area has a river, woodland, a few small pools for waders and lots of farmland.
A panorama of the area where you can look down onto lots of farmland down to the river

One of the larger pools where two Swans have decided to call home but there not nesting

The two Foxes were close to a woodland so they could be a pair and have cubs nearby. So I've found another area to explore another time. When I tried to get closer the Foxes disappeared into the hedgerow. I had a quick look there and all I could find were a few droppings and plenty of Rabbit holes.

We spotted this Owl box below where the Foxes were hunting. I am not sure if there's anything using the box but I will be keeping an eye out as the Nature footpath goes right below it.

 The male Mute seemed to be protecting his female rather than any nest due to there being no vegetation to build with

I spotted this Wader on a different pool but I am not sure what it is possibly a Redshank??

  On the way back we spotted these Guinea fowl grazing in a field

I hope to return again this week to hopefully put some time into photographing the Foxes as well as checking out the woodland and a few other nearby areas. On my way back I noticed I dropped my camo snood on my way back and as it was a long walk back home I did not fancy going back to find it.

Thanks for reading my blog

Stay wild, be happy and be safe
 

Mike

Nesting Swans at last

On one of my local canals a pair of Swans have finally started to nest and now they are incubating there eggs. Hopefully we will have Cygnets on the water soon if there is now predation by Mammal or bird. Luckily the nest is at a farm along the canal and as they always nest here every year there always successful and are pretty safe.

Enjoying the sun

A photograph of the Male Swan guarding his mate on her nest

 Updates on this family and Snow and Barbossa coming soon.

Thanks for reading my blog

Stay wild, be happy and be safe

Mike

Magpies nest and his loot of silver

A few days ago I was having a wander through a local woodland checking on the safety of a few Badger setts. While on my way back under a Hawthorn tree I spotted a Magpies nest which must have blown out of the tree with all the strong winds over the past few months. It's the first time I have had the chance to have a real look at magpies nest and after looking at the structure I'm thinking Magpies would be good at playing Kerplunk.

The intricate nest of a Magpie with each stick perfectly placed to build the structure

A few of the shiny items I found in the base of the nest

I found these scissors which was the most unique item but they seemed to like paper clips more

 I kept the small pair of scissors and one paper clip for my Nature collection and I arranged the rest of the items under a tree in case the Magpies decided on coming back for there little collection.

I also had a look around to see if there were any Grass snakes basking in the sun but as it was quite cold first thing, I don't think they were up and about. While I was eating my dinner in the sun I saw one slithering around under some logs and old leaves.

A few log piles for Snakes, Amphibians and Rodents to hide under

 A small pond for any animals that need a drink or birds that wish to bath

Thanks for reading my blog

Stay wild, be happy and be safe
 

Mike

A book from my childhood

Over the past few weeks I have been getting rid of some clutter and the other day I found this lovely short poem about Swans in a book I had when I was 10 years old. This year I'm 31 so the books twenty years old, the poem book means alot to me as it shows that my love for wildlife started when I was very young. I have a few other books about wildlife from my childhood which I may blog about in the future.

 I am not sure who wrote the poem as I took a photograph before I gave this and a few other items to a charity shop. I hope you liked the poem as I think it sums up Swans perfectly.

Thanks for reading my blog

Stay wild, be happy and be safe
 

Mike

Last light on the lake

Over the Easter weekend I kept to some of the quieter areas of my local patch and I was pleased to find out the long tailed tit nest by the river had survived after the 3 days of rain we had. I also found a Nuthatch nest and possibly a Grey Wagtail nest too and in time I might be able to get some footage and photographs. At sunset the canals and river were quiet and peaceful so we always went for a nice evening walk as the sun was falling casting stunning light down onto the water and onto Snow the Swan.

Last photograph of the peaceful canal at last light

Thanks for reading my blog

Stay wild, be happy and be safe
 

Mike