It's not all about Myrtle...

The first of a few picture-posts about some of the other wildlife that we've seen here....
over the past couple of months...

No, honestly, it isn't that we are preoccupied by moorhen activity....
although Myrtle has taken up quite a lot of our blog space over the past few months.

It is also about seeing...

....a Grizzled Skipper backlit by the morning sun...

 when you had seen it....

....on the same plant the previous evening!!

It's also about seeing...

a Kingfisher through the kitchen window...

and it stayed put until you'd rushed upstairs to get a clearer view...

"This is my left profile....

...and this? My right!!"

It's about being out of an evening and meeting...

...Mrs.Toad going about her business.

or seeing a....

...a Glow-worm halfway up the longère wall....
using the white to double her glow.

Or seeing....

...a male Beautiful Demoiselle delicately perched on a leaf, near Myrtle's platform...
the metallic blue and green sparkling in the sunlight...

or seeing...

... a Leaf Cutter Bee in the act of taking a large chunk out of...
the Cut-leaf Maple that we'd raised from seed!! What a cheek!!!

It's about trying to photograph Orioles....

...as they fly towards the house...
(it is the yellow blob)...

...and actually getting something recognisable...
it is a male... it is black and bright yellow...
hold it... I can see the eyes!!

It is all about SEEING...
seeing the world a hundred different ways....

through a hundred little lenses!!

Hope you enjoyed this...
there will be more!!

The kingfisher trap

According to Tim, Bill Oddie described the "Kingfisher Trap" on one of his wildlife TV programs, but short of buying the DVD boxed sets and playing them all, I couldn't say which one. I have a small side bet on "How to Watch Wildlife", a series first broadcast on BBC2 in early 2005.

The reasoning behind the Kingfisher Trap goes like this:

• birds never sit still
• when they sit still, you can't see them properly
• when you can see them properly, you haven't got your camera with you
• so you provide them with a perch positioned where you can see it, and you sit there with your camera and take pictures when the bird turns up.

It works.

My first ever picture of a kingfisher - an adult male

All you do is fix a pole over the water where the electric blue bullet whizzes to and fro, making that piercing "Hweet" call. This one is over the millstream, visible (after a little judicious gardening) from the bedroom window. You still have to find a way of persuading your kingfisher to stay long enough to focus the camera, but that's down to the likely prey in the chosen stretch of water. No prey, no stay.

Other birds like to use the kingfisher trap, too. It provides a convenient spot for an incoming bird with food for chicks to check that all is well and no predators are watching before going to the nest.

Female blackcap with breakfast

This pair of blackcaps has a second brood, having successfully raised about four from the first. They have relocated to the side of the tree nursery area, in a space previously occupied by a wren. She used the perch too, and is also on a second brood, somewhere.

Other species, such as grey wagtails, use the perch as a survey point to catch insects over the water. Last Friday a family group of at least four birds, adults and young, landed on the pole in great excitement. Unfortunately the evening sunlight was coming straight down the pole and all I got in the picture was a reflection of the camera.

Kingfishers return

When we first saw the millstream, it was clear as crystal and full of fish. We could see trout moving through the water, and Tim saw native crayfish scooting* around. Kingfishers (Acedo atthis, martin pêcheur), flew to and fro, on one occasion taking a detour around the barn before going back to the stream.
Then suddenly, a couple of years ago, the water became cloudy. The waterweed was swamped by clinging grey mud. No more fish, no more crayfish. And no more Kingfishers. According to the River Technician, Yohann Sionneau, a local dairy farm was to blame, and judging by the muck they spread over the road from constant building work, that's very probable.

But since Yohann started work, the millstream has gradually cleared. There's still mud on the bottom, as can be seen if you chuck a pebble in, but the native weed and the fish are coming back. And this month, kingfishers too! The piercing whistle announces the passage of a blue bullet. When defrosting the freezer, Tim took some icefloes to the bridge for disposal (perfectly clean water, just a bit cold). As he dropped the largest over the parapet, he nearly brained a kingfisher flying underneath. This bird was followed by two more - they must have bred close by.

Yesterday we saw a kingfisher perching in the cherry suckers lining the bank outside our window. As usual, no camera to hand. As Tim tiptoed downstairs to get his camera, I watched it dive into the water for a small fish and hurtle back upstream out of sight. So - no pictures then.

Fortunately Tim's brother Nick is an excellent wildlife photographer and has some stunning kingfisher pictures on his Flickr site... like this one!


 

*A native crayfish, once, crawling along the stony bed of the ford!

Spring is on its way - part III

Two Green Woodpeckers and "Pickle"*

Yesterday morning, we saw our first swallow (hirondelle) flying over the house. This morning, Tim watched a pair of green woodpeckers (pic vert) searching for insects in the verger and two kingfishers (martin pêcheur) zipped past the kitchen window, heading down the millstream like two brilliant blue darts [and too fast to capture on film!]. To top it all, a flight of cranes came by, on their usual ENE flightpath. The red squirrels were clambering about in the alders next to the Aigronne, and the water vole chugged past on an errand.

Green Woodpecker concentrating!
[Not the greatest of pix.... handheld through telescope and double-glazed windows!]

[* For "Pickle" see De la Bonne Bouffe]

One of the old records: August 2008

11th
Dry, overcast with a little drip of rain early AM and Very late PM. Just before dusk - two Muskrats by tractor ford plus Moorhen and chick. Later, after dark [10.30'ish] with a very light sprinkle of rain - Glowworm [♀] by fence / telephone pole - very bright - showing three bars [reception must be getting better]. Also very cricket'ous - bloody loud and everywhere.
When looking at laiterie to check on building progress, checked also the Black Redstart's nest - all hatched - John later confirmed that all had fledged and flown about a fortnight before. I just love the idea of a wild bird that uses a double glazed room to raise its young!! But it's got to stop... we've sealed the hatchway and John has finished the bathroom light-pipe so no way in now.

14th
Frédéric mowed the verger, etc... Tim strimmed the rest of the field. Standing on the bridge, Pauline heard the Kingfisher  ... it came at speed along the bief and then came back and perched on a branch in full view - no camera!! That's the second time it's done that [the first time it had the temerity to turn round and give both side views [I wonder what a kingfisher's snigger sounds like?] It flew up and down a couple of times before shooting back towards Le Moulin de Favier. It looked fabulous in the sunlight.

Today [13th July 2010] - for the last few nights we've been unwillingly interfering with nature again... our lounge windows/French doors have a pair of pale green net curtains to help keep the sunlight levels in the room down [they face due South]. However, at night, the male Glowworms gather in number [15 last night].... given the colour is close to the female's lights it must be a case of "Cor!! Look at the lights on her then!" They'll just have to up-put until we go to bed.

Point to note; we've not seen/heard the Kingfisher for about two years now. The Aigronne was made very muddy by an extremely severe storm two years ago that washed fields away [5 litres of rain per cubic metre fell in 45 to 50 minutes] and the water quality changed overnight! It is now recovering... but no visible fish. The Banded Demoiselles are increasing in number by our bridge though.... and real weed is beginning to overtake the amount of blanket weed.