June Wildlife

Some images from my travels around the Forest of Dean, so far during the month of June.

Frog
Toad
Butterfly
Dragonflies
Wild boar
Roe deer
Fallow deer
Birds

Frog

Wild boar

Tortoiseshell butterfly

Roe deer (doe)

Toad

Male broad bodied chaser

Four spotted dragonfly

Fallow deer (doe)

Emperor dragonfly

Common lizard

Wild boar

Wild boar sow

Wild boar sow

Juvenile wrens

Juvenile wrens

Wild boar

The Weeks Ahead

Over the coming weeks I have a few meetings, which will definitely keep me busy!

I am soon to meet with the Forestry Commission to work out the best plan of action regarding the wild boar. I'm not expecting them to implement my suggestions, but I do hope they will listen. The wild boar require management, but only when absolutely necessary and this is something I am hoping to help them with, to get a better understanding of boar numbers throughout the area, so that a more accurate guess can be made when a cull is imminent.

I will also be attending a talk on ash die back, to hopefully better understand what is going on within our forests. Huge amounts of larch has been felled and is still being felled throughout the UK and the sooner we get on top of these issues the better.

Then a meeting with Forest of Dean District Council regarding Northern United (Northern Area Action Plan).

As I have been surveying and monitoring this area for wildlife for many years, I have been invited to a meeting to discuss the area and the wildlife. I welcome this invitation as it is local people with local knowledge who can really help, not people pulled in from far and wide that do not know the area and the wildlife present.
I have never approved of the development of this area, but if Northern is to get the green light, I am not going to sit on my hands, or bury my head in the sand as a defeatist. I will work with them to make sure the wildlife comes first and that sensitive and unique areas are maintained, preserved and protected.

Then... It's off to one of my favourite areas in the Forest of Dean to work with Gloucestershire Wildlife Trust on a project to manage reptile habitat.
Really looking forward to this as it is where I excel and the excitement of knowing that you will one day find an adder basking in an area that you have helped create is amazing!

Spring is around the corner and I am looking forward to warmer days and lighter evenings, so I can get out with the camera more often.

I leave you with some photographs of wildlife 

All photographed in the magnificent Forest of Dean

Roe Buck

Wild Boar Sow and her Piglet 2012

Red Fox

Baby Grey Squirrel

Wood Mouse Nicking the Bird Food!

Me, Photographing Wild Boar

Portrait of a Wild Boar Sow; From Encounter Above

Male Great Spotted Woodpecker Searching for Bugs

Cinnabar Larvae on Ragwort and Cinnabar Moths on Thistle

Male Adder Basking in Bracken

Wild Boar Sow, Checking Me Out!

Female Adder Photographed From a Distance of a Few Inches

And Finally, a Guard Hornet Guarding the Nest

Rob

Swans and 7 Cygnets - Video

In 2010 on a local pond, two swans successfully reared 7 cygnets. I filmed them over a two hour period and you can see the end result here.

If you like swans, especially cygnets then you will love this as it is truly mesmerising and beautiful.

Sorry about the quality, but I had to convert from MPEG2 to AVI as the file was too large in MPEG format.

Rob

A Trip Down South!

Along with a good friend (who was driving) I endured horrendous traffic, which meant it took four hours to reach our destination in Dorset and with heavy fog most of the way it appeared that we would probably be travelling back without the photographs we were after.
However, optimistic as always and nearing our location the sun broke through the fog and it turned into the perfect day for the rare reptile species we were after; the Sand Lizard!

NOTE: The Sand Lizard is protected under, Schedule 2 of the Conservation (Natural Habitats, etc.) Regulations (1994), and Schedule 5 of the Wildlife and Countryside Act, 1981.

With the help of some very trusting and friendly locals, it was only a few minuets before I was face to face with my first sand lizard. I must admit that I was shocked to have found one so quickly, but without the help of our local friends it would have taken a lot longer as they are so well camouflaged.

First find!


This was great, except it was not the best of shots due to the bush it was basking under, so we moved on.
I had never seen a sand lizard in the wild before, so as far as I was concerned this was about as good as it was going to get. How wrong I was as just around the corner our luck changed!

This fella was out in the open making the most of the blazing sun!


There were at least six lizards in one location and it was hard picking one to photograph.


The one thing that astounded me was the fact that they were all very curious and even came up to the camera!
The sand lizard, as mentioned above, is very rare and also extremely protected so the last thing I wanted to do was to disturb them. This concerned me on the way to Dorset, but I was gobsmacked at how relaxed these lizards were with our presence.


It's always nice to get two different species in one shot, but when I got up on this morning I couldn't of imagined that I would be photographing a sand lizard, with a ladybird walking around next to him!


We left this site and headed out onto some heathland where we saw a nice male adder. I missed this opportunity, but something even more special was just around the corner.
A male sand lizard!


We left the locals and headed to another spot where there was a chance of photographing another species, which I had not captured previously; Sika Deer.

Not knowing what to expect and ready for the stalk I followed my friend to some open grassy areas, surrounded by woodland. Now these deer are wild, they are not on an estate, or privately owned, so I was again wondering if we were going to succeed!
We spotted some on the edge of the woodland in the grassy area and proceeded to crawl towards them.

I photographed this fella at ground level and the blur in the foreground is grass.


At this point we were almost in the middle of the grassy area when a hind walked up to check us out!


Then two young stags started squaring up to one another!


As you can imagine, I took quite a few pics of these deer, but we still had one more place to visit before we left. The coast.

I'm not the best when it come to identifying birds, so if I have some of these wrong please let me know and I will correct.
And please note: Photo's taken from cliff top!

Bar-Tailed Godwit


Black-Headed Gull



Black-Winged Stilt


Little Egret


Not bad for 5 hours work!

Rob

Dippers - Mating in the Forest of Dean!

Fantastic weekend and the weather has been bang on too!
After gaining a dipper location I decided to put in a few hours today to see if I could capture this elusive bird, (in a photograph that is).

The location wasn't great as it was quite dark, but I found a nice stone, which looked ideal for a dipper to rest on.



I must have sat there for at least 4hrs until suddenly I saw a flash from my right and sure enough, a dipper landed right where I wanted it to.





Now, if you have a sense of humour and are still here, thank you for enjoying "my" humour and read on.....


I was gobsmacked that a dipper was right in front of me, as if posing for the camera! But everything was about to go go ballistic as another one (presumably the male) turned up and they started mating, right there in front of me!



This was more than I could have ever imagined and I was buzzing with adrenaline, but then from out of nowhere a crazed beast popped up and before I knew it the dippers were gone! All that remained was just a few crumbs!



I managed to capture the beast and after a few moments I had tamed him. He is now a close friend and I am sure he will be popping up (unexpectedly) in future photographs, so look out for him.

PS: After interrogation he told me that they tasted like chicken!


There are lots of issues regarding our wildlife in the UK, which can sometimes get you down. For this reason it is "always" a good idea to occasionally do something silly, just to remind yourself that although it may be hard work sticking up for the wildlife, usually ending up with ridicule and abuse being thrown back at you; it is also there to be enjoyed and we (I) mustn't be serious all the time.

Rob

Feeding Time!

Well I took loads of food into the forest today with the intention of giving the birds a feast!
It didn't take long for the usual suspects to show up, but what I was really looking for was a Great Spotted Woodpecker to show in the snow. I could hear them drumming the trees nearby, but they were too busy and didn't put in an appearance.

Some of the birds, which did show up...


Female Blackbird


Nuthatch


Jay


Robin


And a Pigeon



Something caught my eye, but it was so quick I couldn't make out what it was, so I focused my attention on the area waiting to see if it would show again, whatever it was.
Then I saw it, a tiny wood mouse peeking out from a crevice in the tree. I took a few snaps, but I was too far away to get a decent shot, so I moved in to see how close I could get.
With the temperature dropping in the area to -7 at night and with snow on the ground, this little mouse braved the snow to come within a few inches of me; pinching peanuts before scampering off back to the safety of the crevice.
Then another one turned up and another! Three wood mice, I couldn't believe it, but at least they have enough peanuts to see them through the bad weather now.

Here are two of the wood mice. I was too far away for a decent photo, so I moved in closer!


Now closer (a lot closer) I waited for one to peek over the top.


He watched me for a second or two before risking it and scampering towards the peanuts.


He grabs a peanut!


He hasn't eaten the peanut, it is in his cheek pouch!



I decided to re-focus on the birds, but I had a problem, a big problem!
A sheep decided to jump up on the fallen tree and she started to eat the bird food. I scared her off a few times, but she kept coming back. It was hopeless, so I called it a day.



Rob