Badger Cull; Poaching and Lots More

Sorry I have not posted for a while; been busy with house renovations and work. 

Lots going on in the Forest of Dean to take up my spare time though and I have listed everything (with photographs) below. It has taken me a few hours to put this post together, so please take the time to read through as there is some very important stuff below.

Please do not forget to click on the links and support whatever you can as our wildlife depends on people like us. Thanks, Rob.

GlosARG

As most of you are aware, along with a friend (Scott Passmore) I recently founded GlosARG and we are delighted to inform you that we have our first patrons.

Patron 1 - Zara Boland (better known as Zara the Vet) http://www.zarathevet.com/.

Zara is known for her media vet work and is a regular feature on Channel 5, the BBC and Sky TV. She is also the founder and Director of Vet Voice.  

Patron 2 - Sean McCormack

Sean is a veterinary surgeon and has worked with domestic and exotic animals after finishing University. During vet school Sean completed Canine Behaviour and Zoo Medicine elective modules. Over the years he has kept and bred a huge variety of reptiles and amphibians. 

We welcome both patrons and thank them for their support.

Talking of reptiles lets look at some adders, which I photographed this year while surveying. 

This female gained me my first ever "explore" on Flickr and in case you are wondering, yes I was really that close.

She was not very old, probably around 2 or 3 years and like many snakes of this age, she was extremely inquisitive. She was basking on a log and I managed to get my camera on the end so I was shooting straight up the log at her. She watched me for a while before deciding to come down and check me out.

When this happens it is truly amazing as they show no aggression at all, they just come down, taste the air and stare straight into the lens. Photographed using the Canon 100mm f/2.8 macro lens.

Juvenile Adder (Vipera berus)

Here is mum in the same area, except basking on a different log. The mature snakes are not easy to get close to as they are more wary, so I never try and get up close with them.

Mature Female Adder (Vipera berus)

GlosARG on Facebook

GlosARG on Twitter

GlosARG Official Website

BADGER CULL

Now onto a very important and distressing situation. The proposed badger cull!

I understand that bTB (Bovine Tuberculosis) is a debilitating disease and that it must be tackled, however, I strongly disagree that by eradicating the badger it will stop this disease. Yes it will reduce the numbers of infected cattle, but as this is not a cure I believe that an alternative must be considered.

Over the years DEFRA has spent millions on a vaccine, yet they have chosen to shelve it and go ahead with the culling of 70% of badgers in the Westcountry.

The startling realisation is that if they go ahead and kill 70% of badgers in the proposed areas, it is fact that this will reduce bTB by just 16%! Hundreds, if not thousands of badgers will be slaughtered and yet we will still be left with this disease, why? because other animals (mammals) can also carry and transmit this disease. Mice, rats, deer, fox and wild boar; they can all carry bTB and they are all capable of entering farmland.

I wrote to MP Jim Paice in 2010 expressing my concerns and I asked him to clarify numerous questions regarding farming practices, testing and the movement of cattle in known bTB hot spots. I received a 6 page reply in 2011 where he answered all of my questions, although indirectly.

Badgers will be targeted illegally and it has already started! - Story Here

If you would like to help, please visit the following links

Brain May's Save Me (Yes, that Brian May)  

Save Me on Facebook

Save Me on Twitter

Save Me Official Website

Brian is due to visit the Forest of Dean very soon to talk and express his concerns.

Please also support GABS (Gloucestershire Against Badger Shooting)

GABS on Facebook

GABS on Twitter

GABS Official Website

Playful Badger in the Forest of Dean

                                           

POACHING

If you admit to having a problem, you then have no option but to deal with it and sadly the seriousness of poaching in the Forest of Dean is being played down by the people who are supposed to be managing and caring for our forest "and the wildlife!"

Evidence of poaching can be found all over the forest, yet it is still not being taken seriously. Yes, the Police have asked for information regarding a recent incident, but who is going to grass on a poacher with a shotgun, or high powered rifle?

To see the aftermath, left behind after these butchers have been to work is gut wrenching and it has to stop. The most recent incident involved a 18 month old male wild boar, which had been shot in the jaw and then slowly bled to death in the forest. This is inhumane animal cruelty and the people responsible must be stopped.

The Police are asking for information regarding a 4x4 seen at Forest Hills Golf Club in the Forest of Dean last week. Apparently the occupants were shooting at wild boar from the vehicle. 

Open your eyes people, this is public land, used by dog walkers and golfers. If this carries on someone is going to die!!!

Story Here

Below are some photographs taken deep in the forest where no public access is allowed. The Forestry Commission have said that they do not use this track, so whoever made these tracks were in the forest without permission.

It goes without saying that we obviously reported the location to the FC, yet so far nothing has been done to try and stop them, whoever they are. They are here regularly as the mess is getting worse on a weekly basis.

If you would like to help, please visit Friends of the Boar.

Friends of the Boar on Facebook

Friends of the Boar Official Website

                                              

                                                     

Moving on from the sorry state our country has become under the new so called Government, here are a few photographs from recent months.

Red Fox 

This young fox knew something was there, but as he couldn't see me it made him inquisitive. He walked to within a few metres before he smelt me and legged it. He did come back though, so I obviously don't smell that bad?

Curious Fox

Red Kite
A portrait of a red kite. The key is to position yourself with the sun hitting just one side of the face. Through the naked eye you will still see the entire face, but by dropping the exposure it will highlight just the areas where the sun is hitting.

Thoughts of a Kite!

Three years ago I photographed this chap and ever since I have wondered if I would ever see him again. As the years passed I resigned myself to the thought that he must have been either culled or poached. However, after more than three hours in one location on Tuesday and with a very sore bum he walked out in front of me.
Moments like these are truly magical and will stay with me forever.

Ghost of the Forest

And Finally - Lightning

Nature is all around us, all the time, but on occasions it unleashes something quite spectacular. Lightning is awesome to watch and photograph as you capture details, which can never be seen through the naked eye.
The shots below have been taken over a few years.

It doesn't have to be big, to be impressive!

The lightning in this shot has illuminated to mist forming over the forest

Over in an instance, yet the intensity of the light is overwhelming 

Rob

Disease to Devastate Forest of Dean

The Forest of Dean could soon lose all of its 700,000 larch trees due to a devastating disease. Phytophthora ramorum is an airborne spore, which is carried on the wind and this disease has already infected 36,000 larch trees in the Dean. It is worrying as if the decision is taken to fell all larch in the Dean, it will equate to 880 hectares, or 2.174 acres and this will leave large areas of the forest like a war zone.
One thing however, which we have to be thankful for is the fact that the people undertaking the work will be experts and professional when it comes to Forestry Management.
I am sure we can rely on the Forestry Commission to halt the spread of this disease and we must give them our support as if the decision is taken to fell all larch, it will be a tough decision to make.

If we do lose the larch our wildlife will be affected and one species that will take the brunt of it is the goshawk as this bird favours larch when nest building.
Mature larch are very tall with very few branches low down and this gives the gos a perfect habitat to hunt
Up until recent years the goshawk was on the red list for endangered species in the UK. Their numbers were at critical levels and in some cases they were extinct from many parts of the UK. The reason their numbers plummeted was due to persecution and it is very sad that this time a more natural disaster could have a massive impact on this species in the Forest of Dean once again.
Goshawk build numerous massive nests and they will then rotate between nests year after year, so if the trees come down the nests will come down with them.
This bird will nest in other trees such as conifers and only time will tell what impact the felling of the larch will have on Britain's most persecuted bird.  

Goshawk nest high up in Larch Tree

Closer view of same nest. Photographed from ground level

Female Goshawk

Click Here for Full Story

Rob

Eagle Owl Shot in the Forest of Dean!

They might be a native species, but the eagle owl (pictured below) is a rare sight in the UK today. Persecution saw the demise of this bird many years ago, but over the past decade they have started to repopulate areas of the UK, to the dismay of many people and they are once again being targeted!
For over a year, a tame (escaped) eagle owl had been living happily in the Forest of Dean. However, a few days ago he went missing after a local resident heard gunfire and for a few days of not seeing him, they feared the worst!
Luckily a local workman found the owl in the middle of a road on his way to work and managed to catch him by throwing his coat over him. He was taken to a vet where it was discovered that he "had" been shot, through the wing!
He is now being rehabilitated at the International Centre for Birds of Prey and as I know this centre and the owner well, I know he will be looked after well. I just hope he is still able to fly after the wound has healed.

I have said this many times, but persecution is one of the biggest threats to our wildlife today and I for one am totally disgusted that anyone could, or would want to kill such a magnificent animal.
When first discovered over a year ago, this bird had jessies on his legs, which meant that he was once a captive bird. He was loved by the people of the local village and they were gutted when this atrocity happened.
If the person who shot this bird is reading this, I hope you are caught very soon and that you receive the maximum penalty available. Obviously education has not worked with you, so perhaps your punishment will serve as a reminder to others who persecute our wildlife that it is wrong and illegal.

The Eagle Owl





Rob

Peregrine Falcon Poisoned - Forest of Dean

The results from tests on a dead peregrine falcon, found in June this year have revealed that it had been poisoned.
It is rare that I get upset to the extent that people make me swear, but these people are Assholes!

Click below for full story.

CLICK HERE

The Buzzard & the Buck

First, we have a buzzard. This is now our most commonly seen bird of prey in Britain.
This was a big old bird that was taking a nap in a tree when I found it. Look at the size of the talons, pretty impressive!




It then took flight, but went the wrong way! Never mind, still nice to see up close.




Next we have a poor young fallow deer buck. He was being eaten alive by flies and midges. I know exactly how he felt as they were everywhere, in my ears and eyes.




His ears didn't stop flicking, trying to keep the flies at bay. As you can see, the flies were out in mass! I wish I could flick my ears.




It got so bad that he decided to just shut his eyes while munching on the buttercups.



Rob

Forest of Dean Birds

Took a trip out to Speech House earlier today to see how things are, after the snow.
Had a quick look for some deer and wild boar before heading out to check on the birds. No deer or wild boar today, but plenty of birds.

Click on birds for larger view.

Jay


Nuthatch


Dunnock

Great Spotted Woodpecker (female)

Nuthatch

Cole Tit

Robin

Watch this video for some more birds, including a buzzard and also a insect, which I think is an inch worm?

Rob

Archive Pics

I should be able to get out on Wednesday to capture the snow and also some wildlife this week, if I am lucky.
In the meantime, take a look at some photographs "I made earlier".

The first 4 have been altered using the selective colour technique.



Great Grey Owl

Female Adder

Red Kite

Siskin

The next 3 are random photographs, which I have taken in the Forest of Dean over the years.

Treecreeper

Female Adder

Note: You can see by the way her scales have stretched on her mid section that she has not long had a meal.

This is something that goes on in our gardens every year, but we hardly ever see it as they are too small.

An ant milking aphids!

Rob

Mid Wales

I have been busy clearing snow over the last couple of days and have had no time to venture out with the camera "yet"!
While outside it got me thinking about some cold days spent in Mid Wales with the camera, over the last few years.

Thought I would give my pics a showing.....


Here are a few of the small waterfalls that you see while driving around. Sometimes you have to follow the streams up the side of a mountain for the best shot, but it is worth it, as long as you make it back down in one piece!

I can't go to Mid Wales without taking a trip to Gigrin Farm, near Rhayader, to watch and "try" to photograph the feeding of the red kites!

Sometimes the weather is not on my side, but it is still an awesome sight, to see up to 300 kite's in the sky at the same time.

This is a rare white kite, alongside a red kite. The backdrop is spectacular and helps you to achieve awesome photographs.

Having a rest!

This is a buzzard "I think"? Someone who was also there filming told me that it was a red kite, buzzard hybrid!

Don't know what to believe. What do you think?

Grey Heron's take advantage of the free food, as well as the buzzards!

If you want to know if it is worth going, take a look at this photograph. The dots and specs in the distance are not from a dusty sensor. They are red kites!

Rob

Forest of Dean 21st December 2009

It snowed again during the night and this could mean only one thing? My friends would need feeding again!

While I was out there feeding the birds, a sparrow hawk came through, swiftly gliding as if on a blanket of warm air, not a sound, but very powerful.

For a moment I thought it was my fault, for attracting a large number of birds to one location? This is true, as the sparrow hawk will often use regular feeding locations as a source of food, but you have to weigh up the situation!

You feed up to and usually over 100 birds at one time, sometimes one will be taken by a bird of prey! This is unfortunate, but to lose one while helping over 100 to survive the winter has to be worth it?

Below is a video of a snow covered Forest of Dean, from one of our famous viewpoints, New Fancy View! With some birds and pics at the end.

Turn the volume up!

Rob

The Forest and it's Wildlife

Well we are supposed to have some snow this week? If we do I will be hoping to get out and photograph some wildlife!

Here are a couple from earlier this year when we had the bad snow in January. Taken at Speech House.



Robin in the snow

There is quite a lot going on here. They seem to like my seeds?
A female blackbird with male and female chaffinches.
A red kite.

The bluebells in 2009.

Finally, a male mandarin duck

Rob