Odds & Sods 2023

Ed D said:

Hi John,
The trailcam I use is the OS Wild 4KDS Max Wi-Fi Trail Camera and powered by the Solar Panel For OS Wild Camera Traps. I got them from the One Stop NatureShop at Burnham Deepdale near Brancaster. The night vision is great too. Hope this helps.
Ed

Thanks for the info Ed. I've made a note of it.

A few Peak District red deer from a wet weekend walk and a smiling bull (well I think he was smiling)

Excellent Bob. I love the group of four, and the push-me-pull-you in number three. The bull is smiling because he's thinking, 'here comes another victim'. Number two is brill as well ...

Thanks. I was thinking push-me-pull-you when I posted that one lol. I do like bulls too, I know they have a reputation but most I pass by aren't bothered. Saying that if one was bothered it wouldn't be great :)

Black-tailed Godwit and four LRPs on Manor farm part of nascent Longwater Road nature reserve.

On the principle of 'photograph it and identify it later at home' I discovered I had decent-ish images of Black-tailed Godwit. Additional confirmation was provided by a fellow Moor Green Lakes Group volunteer, who asked if I had seen Black-tailed Godwit as we legged it back to the MGLG car park, doing our best to shield our cameras and lenses from the rain, which had just started, and proceeded to wash out Wimbledon tennis.

Starting with one of my better efforts.

Conditions were overcast, to the point where I broke off photography when it started drizzling. I estimated, after looking at Netweather's rainfall radar, I had about an hour's window to get down to the reserves before the rains arrived. It was more of less accurate.

There are four LRPs in this photo. They were on a gravel/pebble bar in the Main Reed beds of the Manor farm restoration.

They scurried too and fro, as well as flying around, sometimes going over to Finch pond - about 100 yards to the west of the Main reed beds.

There were five Black-tailed Godwits in all. Not sure how long they will stay.

This is an un-cropped photo of the scenes I photographed. My lens is at 600mm. The birdies were a fair distance away. Remarkable that the R7/Sigma combination actually managed to photograph the flying LRPs.

Cropping out, along with some heavy duty post processing, yields this.

Matters were not helped by the bright water back lighting any photograph and so messing up metering. I had point metering selected. I think an average metering strategy might have been better. Didn't think of it at the time.

This Black-tailed Godwit spent ages asleep.

Feeding was a major priority. I'm surprised that food was available as this area was restored last year. A major tonnage of stuff had been trucked in and bulldozed here.

The LRPs scurried around at quite a pace. I wonder if they are fledglings following a poor, harassed adult around?

I was photographing the LRPs like mad, as I didn't know what they were, and they didn't show up well on my camera's LCD. They were making quite a racket, which I didn't associate with LRPs. Again, four in the photo below, beautifully camouflaged.

One concern we have is that the organisation that will take over management of the site from Cemex will not maintain the large tracts of gravelly/pebbly/stony ground needed by LRPs to breed. I spoke to the Inert site manager, yesterday, who said that the south central portion of the site will not receive a capping layer of top soil. This seems to indicate that the existing gravelly/stony ground will be retained. Which is good, as this is where the LRPs bred this year.

Again, an uncropped photo of an LRP flying over Main reeds beds (not yet fully restored), with my lens set at 600mm.

Cropping out the bird gives

Only three LRPs here. I think the other one was over at Finch pond.

I made a brief stop to visit the Colebrook hide viewing screens. An LRP was about 15 yards away on a gravel bar in front of the hide. It really was very dark at this point, and a minute later started raining, necessitating a hurried rush to the MGLG car park.

Oh, there was also this, a common sandpiper. I've never knowingly seen one.

There are quite a few Green Sandpipers on the reserves. Indeed, there is a pair breeding in the recently restored Finch pond.

Both the sandpiper and LRP happily and calmly fed on the gravel bar no more that 15 yards from us.