Monday 31 March 2014

Lackford Lakes

I took my parents to Lackford Lakes, just outside Bury St. Edmunds on Saturday.
I'd never visited myself, but had heard that it was very popular with bird watchers. There are guided walks around the lakes and a sailing centre restricted to one of the eleven or so lakes.
This early in the spring there isn't a lot of blossom out but the walks between hides dotted around the lakes through woodland and waterside paths were accompanied by a wonderful chorus of birdsong. 


Peacock Butterfly
I've been learning a lot about camera setup recently so I concentrated on birds in flight for a while and got some pleasing results. Black head gulls were the most prevalent bird on the lakes, which turned out to be a challenging object to follow in flight!


An egyptian goose sits as a little gull aggravates a pair of black headed gulls 
  

Oyster Catchers coming in to land. Pink footed and Greylag geese in the foreground.

A lapwing hides camouflaged in the centre of the frame
A wren exploring the scrub beside the water 


Saturday 1 March 2014

Red Kites Near Corby

With a luxurious amount of annual leave left in desperate need of being used due to fewer skate trips than originally planned last year, I booked a few four day weekends before the end of March so as not to forfeit the time at the beginning of the new financial year. As I have commitments on both Saturday & Sunday I thought I would spend some time today getting back to a bird I confess I have a bit of a thing for. 
I've seen red kites in great number in the hills above Lintzford & Shotley Bridge when visiting my brother in County Durham. Their reintroduction has in fact been a huge success in the north east and the local busses are branded with both the bird's name and likeness.
On a skate trip to Corby late last year, I was astonished when I saw a pair high in the sky on the left of the A6116 near Sudborough. They grappled and spun down to 10 feet before separating and gliding back up, up and out of site. I did force the car load of eager skaters to stop for five minutes so I could check them out further, but a skate was on and we were only five minutes from the park!
On this occasion, I planned my assault and after only three hours of searching two other reliable sites I found myself in the car on the back roads in the wooded hills around the same area I'd previously seen the birds. Don't trust the internet.
With half of an eye on the sky I caught a glimpse of a finger-like wing tip between two cottages and slowed to an almost stop and sure enough, the silhouette of a very large bird passed over the road and woods to my right. I found a parking spot, donned coat, hat & gloves and set off up a track beside Small Wood. I was glad of the gloves an hour or so later!
I heard cries in the trees well before seeing another kite, but the calls quickly led me to their exact location which was a large oak 20 feet within the thick woodland. As I approached slowly and with as little sound as possible, one flew right over my head and soared into the field on my right. I froze. The bird flew a few wide circles before heading back over/into the trees. After a lot of calling three birds appeared and circled me at what seemed to be only a few feet above my head for about ten minutes, all the while I could hear calling & replying to and from another kite, unseen in the distance somewhere. 
This forth bird eventually appeared and joined the group noisily. As I walked back to the car I spotted another perched at the very top of a tree lower in the valley. This one took to flight and joined the others in the trees after soaring over me. 






I was disappointed to find that the internet was correct in telling me that the Red Kite Centre at Stanwick Lakes had closed and there wasn't a bird in sight that wasn't sitting on water. I did take shelter from one of many strong showers sitting alone for a while in a hide by one of the lakes. A few grebe and tufted ducks dived in front of me. Various gulls and what I think were cormorants we just visible in the distance along with the odd canada goose and bevy of swans. Very peaceful but all too far for my meagre zoom lens. As I circled the small pond next to the car park I did spot a pair of oystercatchers silently sifting the sodden grass on the bank.





Banham Tigers....and some other stuff....but mostly Tigers

There'll be some of you that will say these photos are not wildlife photos, because they were taken in a zoo. To that I say you are entitled to your view. And that I got closer to these animals than I have to any in the wild, separated from the largest of the big cats by a pain of glass.
When a friend mentioned in conversation that she and her daughter had seen not only tigers, but cubs at Banham Zoo in Norfolk I jumped at the chance to see them myself one Saturday a few weeks back.
The Tiger is an animal I have always been struck dumb by. Their shier size and power, along with the thing that I expect attracts a lot of people to big cats, the sometimes unnerving characteristic likenesses to their own pet moggy.   
Banham Zoo is a small site in Norfolk, near Attleborough. They have a modest range of enclosures housing a range of creatures. Owls feature heavily on entrance to the park. A beautiful pair of Snowy Owls were my particular favourites. 





A small herd of Giraffe populate a large open enclosure and house with dual level viewing platforms inside and out. All were indoors eating contently.
Turning the corner in the path from the cheetahs, we were treated to a profile view of a full grown male tiger passing the large viewing pane in font of us as we approached the enclosure, devoid of any other spectators. My first site of a tiger always induces the same response; a sharp intake of breath and a prolonged dumbfounded silence. I could watch them forever. 
Although our journey to the zoo was punctuated by a number of heavy rain storms, once we entered and had meanderingly made our way to the tiger enclosure the sun was shining bright, flooding the lightly wooded areas within in great shards of yellow beams, producing quite pretty shadows and reflections. 
I sat and snapped away as first the adult female passed the glass and sauntered around the bloated pond towards the opposite viewing window. To my right, 2 cubs approached the other side of the pool playing boisterously. Followed finally by the adult male, a huge beast of a cat. 







These are Amur (or Siberian) Tigers, typically the largest of the tigers. All adult tigers are impressive but this male is a monster. The size of his head, framed as he lay in the house entrance made me gawp audibly as we arrived at the indoor section of the enclosure. He stared at us with deep eyes as I stared back, uneasy in a way, only ten feet from his gaze.
by this time one of the cubs had made a bed in the corner by the glass, this made for some more involuntary vocal sounds.





I was dragged away from the enclosure with the promise of return later in the day.
And so up the hill towards the Meercat, (disappointingly quiet) Otter and Red Panda enclosures. 
En route is a pond with various wildfowl and a large field with many sheep and an expansive colony of Prairie Dogs which squeak loudly at the slightest sight of danger.   

Geoffroy's Cat
The Meercats didn't disappoint with the usual chatter and stretching. The Red Panda seems an illusive creature. I've only ever seen these outside for a short while before retreating back to one of it's many nest boxes in the trees, where it stubbornly stays.




Our first visit to the Lemar enclosure, an open area where the animals are free to roam as you walk around a marked out route through the enclosure was met by a sign telling us the Lemars would be locked inside for a little while as food was being laid out. Our second was more of a success. We were me firstly by a small Red Lemar group sitting, motionless picking at the grass. We found the ring tailed variety playing and eating, further into the enclosure.











 Making my way to the exit after a final look at the tigers I popped into the education centre which also houses a small reptile and invertebrates collection. A good chance to practice some narrow depth of field shots.