Water Vole Watching

The past couple of weeks I have been visiting the Itchen Navigation watching and photographing Water Voles to gather information towards one of my Woodlife Diploma assignments

Each time I visit my eyes have become more tuned to the water voles and their habitat. I have had locals ask me what I’m photographing, when I tell them water voles they ask “do we still get them here?”
I then show them some photographs of the day or simply point out the burrows on the opposite side of the navigation with a water vole sat there munching on a nice juicy reed. The response is normally I thought that was a rat or they plainly just didn’t see it.
This makes me chuckle as this particular part of the Itchen is called “Water Vole way”

So apart from getting some nice photographs of the water voles I went in search of actual signs of their presence. Water voles will use latrines to mark out their territory so I really wanted to find some of these territorial markers. Now a lot of these latrines are in and along the banks in the reed and sedge and can be quite difficult to get to without wading through the water and although I found scat I didn’t find a latrine. Apart from also not wanting to disturb the water voles the level of the Itchen had risen a lot so any chance of recent latrines could have been under water, still something else for me to look for next time.

Water voles also use feeding stations. At these feeding stations you can find strips of reed or sedge where the water voles discarded the non succulent parts of the plant. I could also feeding signs all around in the vegetation, reeds cut off at a 45° angle made by the water voles bright orange incisors.

Where the water level hadn't raised above the mud I also found some water vole prints.

I have spent a lot of this time just watching and for the most they forage for food and sit around eating, waters voles will eat up to 80% of their body weight in food each day. But every now and then you get some excitement, water voles are territorial and when one strolls into another’s territory a rough and tumble normally ensues. 

The picture above is a little deceiving, it looks like the two are up on their back legs having a good look around when in reality they are in a full on rough and tumble with the water vole at the front about to retreat back into the water.

Another great day at the along the Itchen Navigation...

Now I need to get that assignment done......

Woodlife Trails Diploma Weekend

I spent the weekend just gone at Hatfield Forest on a Woodlife Trails Diploma Weekend with some of my fellow students demonstrating verbally and practically some of the skills that we have already learnt. The skills that we successfully demonstrated were then awarded to us. The Diploma Weekends are always a relaxed affair unlike some courses that you attend that make you feel as if you are being crammed with lots of info in the shortest possible time.

Most turn up with their minds and movements running at around 90MPH, a busy week at work, rushing around getting things done, battling through the traffic to get to the course and then just as if someone has enabled the limiter you slow right down and start to immerse yourself in to the Forest. The calming effect of the Forest washes over you and your set for a weekend of good company and learning.

On the Sunday we were on our way back from the obligatory cuppa and bag of chips at the National Trust cafe when a Fallow Doe and her Fawn were spotted some way off the track into the trees.
I was carrying my camera with the 400mm lens attached and I could see mum muzzling the Fawn. Mum decided to go for a walk leaving the Fawn sat on its own. Not wanting to distress the Fawn we all stayed back on the track whilst Pablo very carefully went in for a closer look. He skilfully managed to get within metres of the fawn without disturbing or distressing it.

I don’t think he will mind me mentioning that when he returned back to the group he was emotionally affected by the experience. Pablo has been tracking for a long time and tracked many animals so it was great  to see that even your mentors still get affected by what they are teaching, this shows they still have a real passion for what they do..

I can only hope that one day I will have a similar experience.

Cheers Guys..  

More Macro

Macro photography can get a bit addictive so first thing this morning I was up and out into the garden looking for some more macro subjects. I found a Broad-Bodied Chaser Dragonfly a Hawthorn Shieldbug with an Aphid (Greenfly) and a Damselfly.

Click on the images to see more detail...

Red Mason Bee with Mites

Yesterday evening I was watching a couple of Bees flying in and out of a screw hole in the pergola. As they started to settle in for the night I decided to try and get a few macro shots of them tucked up in bed, so to speak..

One of the Bees came out of its hole and appeared to be shaking. I switched the camera to video crop mode to take a closer look and to my surprise I could see lodgers on the Bees back with one crawling around its head.

I have to admit it was a surprised to see them, something as small as a Bee with its own lodgers.

After some research I identified the Bee as a Red Mason Bee and its lodgers are Pollen Mites or Krombeins Hairy-Footed Mite (Chaetodactylus Krombeini).

This Bee only had a few Mites but they can become so laden with these hitchhikers that they are unable to fly and then face certain death. If you See a Bee on the ground get your magnifying glass out and take a peek, you never know what you might see..

Woodlife Trails Diploma - Wilderness Immersion

This weekend as part of the Woodlife Diploma I attended the Wilderness Immersion Course. I attended the course back in April 2011 then helped out on the same course in the following October.

Although it was essentially the same course, due to the different time of year both yielded different experiences. So when I returned to take part this year I was pleasantly surprised to find that once again a whole new experience was gained.

As I open my journal to select some parts of the weekend to blog about the smell of the wood smoke fills my nostrils which invokes memories of some of the weekend’s experiences.

I set my alarm for 5am (not that I needed it) and set off for a dawn zone-in. As I’ve mentioned in previous posts this is my favourite zone-in time. From blacks and greys to pastel s and then a burst of full colour, the birds wake and start claiming their territory. Squirrels quarrel and play in the trees and then if you’re lucky a close encounter with one of the woodland residents.
Just down the track from the base camp I position myself up against a tree and began zoning-in and immersing myself into the surrounding woodland. There was a slight mist rolling around the track and I could hear Blue Tits, Great Tits, Blackbirds, Woodpecker and a Cuckoo. Then my first sighting of the morning was Muntjac Deer crossing the track in front of me..
After that I could hear a Cock Pheasant working its way across the woodland behind me. He emerged from the edge of the woodland and started to cross the track. Every now and then he would stop and give out a call whilst shaking his wings, have a quick scan around and onward with his patrol.
Then it’s back to camp for some breakfast.

After a day of tuition from JP and Pablo it was time for everyone to put their skills into practice and find a layup for the night, for me this would produce a first time encounter.  I was fortunate enough to be laid up within sight of a Badger Sett. I zoned-in and sat and waited in hope of seeing my first Badger in the wild emerging from a sett.  My first sighting was a Fox. I gave out a squealing sound that I have previously used to call in a Fox but instead of coming towards me it circled back on itself and then disappeared.  Later it was explained to me that the Fox was probably instigating a search pattern looking for what it thought was injured prey.
Some 30 minutes later and the light was dropping, I was beginning to ache and was starting to get cold when suddenly a Badger emerged from the sett .  At this point I had that warm fuzzy feeling inside and the discomfort just disappeared. The Badger scanned the area before making its way through a run to the other side of the sett. A little later it appeared on a high point of the sett, again had a good scan around and then disappeared.
I waited around for another 45 minutes or so and my final sighting of the evening was a Fallow Buck and three Does crossing just behind me. It was then back to camp for a hot brew, a social round the fire and then a lovely warm sleeping bag.

Thanks to JP & Pablo for another fantastic course.   A chilled, knowledge and experience gaining, social weekend with Friends....

Wasp Nest

Sometime back a friend gave me a small wasp nest that he had removed from his new house, I have been meaning to take some shots of it for ages but it had turned into a round tuit job...

So as I had the light tent out today for another project I decided to switch over to the macro lens and take some shots of the nest.

The nest was very delicate and each time it was moved it started to crumble. As I worked my way into the nest it revealed some dead wasps. Some of these had died whilst in the process of emerging from the comb whilst some can be seen still fully within the comb.

I would guess that the previous owners of my friend’s house had the nest exterminated and just left it in place. Looking at the nest it’s as if all the inhabitants were going about their daily life when suddenly they were frozen in time. You can see this reflected in some of the shots...  

Here are a few of the pictures; you can take a look at the full album here Wasp Nest Album

Wood Spirit

After a hectic few days up North with the out-laws I decided to have some chill out time in the garden. Whilst preparing some wood for a fire tonight I came across some silver birch that I had rescued from the local woodland where some major coppicing is taking place. I decided to have a go at carving my first Wood Spirit. I  carved it using my Mora Erik Frost 120. It looks a bit blocky in places and I'm not sure that it looks too much like a Wood Spirit but I guess you gotta start somewhere.