I arrived at Yew View today to drizzle, mud, grey skies and a flooded river….. what I would do for a lovely frosty crisp morning… it really does not feel like December! There are still large amounts of berries and seeds around on site, yet the feeders are incredibly busy! I had been watching the niger feeders, in particular, on my phone app throughout the week, so I knew that there were increasing numbers of redpoll visiting, along with the goldfinch. I headed down with my camera to see if I could get a couple of shots. Position wise, the feeders are not in a good position for photography and, as the river is flooded, there was reflection from the water or sky… I had to wade through flood water and then up a bank and hide behind a post to try to get some photos! The light was so poor, I had to put the ISO to over 1000 to get a decent shutter speed, but I was determined to try to get at least a couple of shots of these beauties! I have only seen them once before when I had a single individual visit my feeders last winter for a few days.
Considering the rather challenging conditions, I was quite pleased with some of the shots…
The PTZ camera that I have had trained on this feeding station has shown that it is very popular, with small groups of redpoll now visiting several times a day. I lifted a couple of clips …
As I was hiding behind the post, a movement behind the feeders caught my eye… I peeped above the camera and was amazed to see the kingfisher, perched on a fairly distant tree, in the flood water, hunting! It dived into the flood water and came up with a fish! Moving the camera around, I managed to get a few shots before it disappeared. These are the first photos I have got on my DSLR! I am hoping to get some much better ones in 2106..
I have got some lovely Bushnell clips from a new lichen perch I put up at the wildlife pond. The male is hunting from here on a daily basis now. I need to get the hide up so I can photograph these stunners! (Make sure you select to watch these Bushnell clips in HD!)
As if that wasn’t enough, the cameras revealed a new species for the site! Caught on the camera by the new badger sett, a group of Red-legged partridge came past… such stunning little birds!
The dog crate feeding station continues to be a massive hit, mainly with the tit species… there can be over 20 in there at any one time… this is pretty typical of a scene…
The badgers are still active in the original sett… this one had another close look at the camera…
and the wet weather gave this beautiful fox, at the feeding station, a sparkly appearance in preparation for Christmas!
Finally, we managed to capture a Green woodpecker on the Tawny box cam. I often hear these birds at Yew View and they certainly bred this year somewhere on site, as I saw quite a few youngsters. They are pretty shy, so it is good to see one. I wish I had been at the PC when this one appeared as I would have been able to zoom in on it… another beautiful UK species…
I am already planning the perches down by the niger feeders for a spot of photography in the new year… we should be able to get some lovely shots of the redpoll, goldfinch and ,hopefully, some siskin… we just need some crisp, frosty and bright mornings…. I can’t remember the last time we had one of those…..