Tag: kingfisher

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Starting from number eleven there are five new photographs on…

Starting from number eleven there are five new photographs on the Photo Page.

We still need more photographs.

The fox was too distant in fading light to get a good picture. Peter.

The church is at Hartpury, Gloucestershire and shows a Bee Shelter (Bole), plenty of information on internet. Peter.

The horse’s, I would like to know what breed they are, also they occasionally wear tight grey covers over their heads with no apparent eye holes, wonder what these are for? Peter.

The two Horses look like cross breed Pie Balds, although the one at the back seems to be white and brown (Skew Bald)

The Kingfisher has been landing on the branch quite a lot today. I have seen it seven times. Last year I don’t think that I saw it seven times in total all year. A Willow tree had fallen into the Lake just behind the branch. A lot of the branches of the tree were covered by the leaves and I think that the Kingfisher had been fishing from the trees branches covered by the leaves and out of sight of the camera. Although I have never found the nesting site It is in the bank behind tree in the background.

Although Kingfishers are not seen very often, it would not because they avoid people or that they are nervous as a few of those fishing on the Lake last year had the Kingfisher land on their fishing rods. Only one person is holidaying at Denbury for the fishing this week. The other two cottages are being used by those that are only here for the wildlife, so I will be interested in what they manage to see.

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webcams

Starting from number one there are five new photographs on…

Starting from number one there are five new photographs on the Photo Page.

Just looked outside at the (almost empty!!) fatball feeder in the Crab Apple tree and was totally shocked to see a Woodpecker! That’s a first in our garden! I couldn’t believe it! There was also a very agile squirrel a few days ago. Julia.

I took these pictures on Monday afternoon during a very violent thunderstorm. I have never witnessed anything like this before, the funnel cloud came and went about four times, it did eventually touch down and was classed as a torando, but, only for a moment. It didn’t cause any damage. Jan (Herts).

Need more photographs.

Speaking today to one of this weeks Holiday Guests who was fishing I mentioned that I had not seen the Kingfisher this year other than once earlier February March time. She told me with two other of our Guests she saw the Kingfisher on the branch on Wednesday. I will for part of the day leave one of the webcams on the branch.

The Swallow wont be long in the leaving the nest. It only seems like yesterday that the first egg hatched. I will start to look for a new nest so that when they fledge we have another one to watch on the webcam.

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webcams

Starting from number six there are five new photographs on…

Starting from number six there are five new photographs on the Photo Page sent in by Bec.

I recently had a weekend away at Coombe Abbey hotel which is a fantastic old ex-Cistercian Monastery in Binley set in 500 acres of parkland it really is a fantastic building that you would never guess is now a hotel.

Gardens at Coombe Abbey. Bec.

Coombe Abbey. Bec.

The moat and gardens at Coombe Abbey. Bec.

Side view of Coombe Abbey. Bec.

Another picture of Coomber Abbey. Bec.

We have a Robin that is visiting us in our kitchen when ever we leave the kitchen door open. The visits started some weeks back when it came in and tried to make its exit through a closed kitchen window, when it all but knocked its self out. It did the same for a few days when we were sure that it would kill its self. Now when we leave the doore open we very often find the Robin sitting on one of the plants on the window ledge.

Another visitor that we have had is a Blackbird that we see fly off from the plants area in the porch outside the kitchen door. It is not now and then but every time that we open the door. It is as if it is a nesting site. Of course it could well be that it has found an area where it is able to keep warm. The Autumn and Winter is always a good time to put up nesting boxes, very often a bird will use them for shelter in these months and go on to nest in them in the Spring. Last years the way that a pair of Blackbirds were acting I was sure that they would have nested in the Winter. Blackbirds have been known to do so.

I have been leaving a webcam on the Lake in the hope of seeing the Kingfisher again. I have been busy today so I haven’t looked at it a lot. With the sun shining today as it was when it was perched on the tree a couple of days ago, there must have been a good chance of it being seen today. One of the biggest disappointments of this year was not seeing the Kingfisher on the webcams as we did the previous year. The Kingfishers definitely nested this year but it didn’t fish from the branch that we put in the year before. Most days that we went to the Lake we would see them darting about. Many of our Holiday Guests saw them especially those fishing the Lake. One Kingfisher even landed on a fishing rod with the fisherman holding on to the other end. The are to many spots that the Kingfisher can perch to fish from that makes it difficult to pinpoint once they decide to move from their usual perches. We have two pan tilt and zoom cameras on the lake now, but unfortunately catching them on the cameras has not been very successful this year as it was the years before.

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webcams

There are three more photographs on the photo page tonight…

There are three more photographs on the photo page tonight. The first one is a Horse walker. I have a couple of Photos of Bliss and Misty using it. They are not very good, but I will get them on the page hopefully tomorrow. The second photo is when Bliss and Misty were being led on head collars to make sure that they were safe, when first ridden in France, by the French riders, in the fenced area. The last photo is when Bliss Misty returned from their first ride in the woods with the lead Horse, that accompanied them. I had reason to speak with the Trainer this morning, the day after the ride in the woods Bliss and Misty went out with all of the other Yearlings. Their training is now starting.

Once that I have been shown how to install photographs onto the new photo page, I hope to be able to let you have any photographs that you would like shown, to be put onto the page. It will only be for photographs of Wildlife, maybe your gardens or flower and maybe even you pets. We will not under any circumstances put up photographs of yourselves or any other person. Don’t send me any photographs until I let you know you can, or I will have to delete them from my email, as they are liable to slow my computer

My Lads have been tidying the lake area for a few days. By the side of the lake is a stream that runs all the way along the lake. I always believed it is where the Kingfisher nests, as the banks of the stream are from six to four foot high. an ideal spot I thought. In fact the Kingfisher nests on the opposite side of the lake behind the Bird feeders that you can sometimes see on camera two. Over the years the boundary hedge has overgrown so much that the stream is hardly visible, so my Lads are cutting the overhanging branches, so that we are able to see what is going on in the stream. It should be a little more inviting for the Kingfisher and other wildlife.

With the stream having large banks either side we are going to test the flow of water, to see if we will be able to generate any power from the water. The stream doesn’t run that fast, but after rain it has a fair bit of power. I think it will be touch and go, but we will try. Another option would be to try the flow from the lake when it runs into the smaller pond. It would be good to be more self sufficient with our energy needs, and of course more environmentally friendly. We need the Farmhouse roof stripped and re tiled or we would have installed both Solar Panel for our hot water and power on the roof. The Farmhouse roof is south facing and very long, so it will be ideal. That is one of our projects for next year. I have also been thinking of installing a Wind Turbine for power. The only good place for that is in the field where I feed the Badgers. That is one reason that I haven’t gone ahead with doing it. The other reason is that I think that they are unsightly. What we have managed to do this year is to put in our own water supply. I will tell you about it, maybe tomorrow.

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Chris Speering from the Hawk ad Owl Trust visited the…

Chris Speering from the Hawk ad Owl Trust visited the Farm on Monday. All in all it was a very interesting meeting, and we learnt a lot from the couple of hours that he was here.

We may be lucky with the Kingfisher, for they do not always migrate. If there is plenty of food for them where they are, they quite often stay. For sure there is a lot of fish in the lake. One of our holiday quests fished a 10lb Carp from the lake last night, not that the Kingfisher would be very interested in that size for a meal. Or guest has seen the Kingfisher a lot whilst he has been fishing. He has been perching on the Bullrushes around the island, very close to where he was fishing.

Chris is involved with a release programme for three Tawney Owls. It is to happen very soon. It is only a maybe, as the broadband connection at the location is not very good, but if it can be arranged we may put a camera at the site. The Young Tawny Owls are encouraged back to a location, so that they can be helped on their initial release. Eventually they will not return and start to fend for themselves.

Chris is to make a report about Denbury and what we do, for the Hawk and Owl Trust. Hopefully this may open more opportunities for additional webcams on our site.

The Lock of the Lowe’s have changed the Red Squirrel and Pine martin camera that we sent to them. The close up camera is now in focus both day and night and is much better.

Bliss came in lame again this morning, I thought that one poultice would have drawn the infected area, and that she would have been sound this morning. The poultice was still on her foot. With the infected area partly open I was surprised to see her limping. We will try to draw the poison out by soaking her foot in hot salty water, this very often works as a poultice would, in open wounds.

One entry on the forum asked if the Badgers were taking longer to eat the feed I put out, or was I putting out more. I thought they were eating it quicker than ever. I have not bee increasing the feed that I put out, and I wont be, as they the way they are breeding they must be getter more than ample.

I wasn’t watching the Badger tonight, so I couldn’t say if the limping Badger was out or not tonight, although I have seen it recently.

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The Lock of the Lowe s fitted a new camera…

The Lock of the Lowe’s fitted a new camera today. A close up of where the Red Squirrel and Pine Martens can be seen. I had hoped that they may have got the Pan, Tilt and Zoom camera up and working, so that we could have seen the Osprey fledglings learning to catch fish from the Lock. With a bit of luck they may get it installed before the Ospreys migrate in a few weeks time.

I know why the Kingfisher perches on the branch now. Both last night and tonight I have seen some very large fish swimming nearby it. Going by the size of the branch the fish must be at least a foot and a half long, probably weighing more than 10lb. Mind you a fish that size would be able to swallow the Kingfisher. There were a lot of fish in that area, that a Kingfisher would make a meal of.

I didn’t post it on the forum, but some one mentioned that they prefer the cameras at Denbury and Lock of the Lowe’s, because that some of the other locations were distant and were not on that good of wildlife. We supply all of the cameras and we know what work does go into installing and keeping them going. Fixed cameras cant be altered at will, and would have been installed for a specific reason. One of the Rye Harbour cameras has a minor problem and cant be put right until the Gulls have finished nesting, or the Gulls may abandon the young. Alteration do take place from time to time to keep you all interested.

Karen mentioned that Springwatch were always looking for new locations. Our webcams have been offered to the BBC and will always be available to them. This year they put on very good web cams, but nothing that they could not have got from using our web cams, which would have saved them many thousands of pounds. In fact I reckon going by the content, that they got their ideas from us. To make matters worse we had some outside contractor, who was working for the BBC on the Springwatch production, emailing me telling that I was taking their ideas and that I was claiming to be the provider of the BBC webcams. He also assured me that the BBC would make me stop. I couldn’t even be bothered to answer his email. We were one of the first doing webcams and have done a few very firsts in the bargain.

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webcams

I found the nesting site of the Kingfisher today I…

I found the nesting site of the Kingfisher today, I went to the lake to try to get the focus adjusted on the fixed camera that I want to put on the branch that it lands on. As I was trying to adjust the camera, the Kingfisher flew right in front of me, into the area behind the feeders. After one of the holiday quests had told me that he had seen it fly into that area I was hopeful that it was the area of the nesting site. I stood very quietly in between trees in a very small copse, that that surrounds a spring fed pool. It wasn’t long before the metallic blue and orange flash past in front of my eyes, far to fast for me to follow where it had gone. After directing my eyes in various positions around the pool area, I finally saw it fly into a leafy area on a bank, to the back of the pool into a small hole. I watched for another five minutes or so and left so as not to disturb them when I saw one of the Kingfishers leave, for I had been told some while back that Kingfishers will abandon their nests, even with chicks in it, if they feel in danger. Today was only the forth time in fourteen years that I have seen the Kingfishers at Denbury. I see that most of you who have told on the forum, that it is the first Kingfisher that you have seen. We have been the first on a number of occasions of showing different wildlife. Are we the first with the Kingfisher?

Someone mentioned on the forum how big they thought Willow the foal was getting. Who ever you were, you weren’t wrong. I reckon that she is the biggest foal we have had for her age, with it has comes independence. Most of the time she hangs out with the two Fillies. When the Horses are let in of a morning and evening for their feed, we let the Fillies in with Breeze and Arnie. Willow tries to go with the Fillies into their stable area, and what a performance it is to get her to go with Lady for her feed. I am watching Bliss and Misty on the web cams grooming with each other as I am writing tonight diary. Hold on bliss has had enough of that. Both of the Fillies have had a growth spurts and are now nearly as big as Breeze who is 14.2hh. They are going to be getting on for 16hh when fully grown. The best part of all the youngsters is that they are kind. Although Misty has her moments with Bliss. I don’t know if any of you remembered a Colt foal a couple of years back that we showed the birth of on the web cams. From nearly the moment he was born, he was a kicker. We needed to watch what ever we were doing with him. I got a few kicks from him when I pushed him slightly to move him on. Within a days of being born, when I tried to help him find his mothers udder he let one go. You don’t get many like it, mind you, you wouldn’t want many either.

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I spoke today to the person who I mentioned a…

I spoke today to the person who I mentioned a week or so ago about the Water Vole. His name is Derek Gow and has a Web site www.watervoles.com. He breeds Water Vole in Devon and has done a number of release programs around the country. We didn’t get around to speaking about a release program at Denbury, but we did discuss the possibility of setting up cameras at the location were he breeds them. Derek is initially going to send some photographs of the site to give me a idea of the possibilities.

There may also be another camera on line soon from the Barn Owl Trust. I don’t know to much about it, other than they have a number of this years chicks, that have been rescued. I will let you know about it as soon as I know more myself.

I haven’t seen the ducklings on the lake for over a week. With the camera looking at the branch where the Kingfisher perches, I would have expected to have seen them swim past there at some time. I know that most of the rats have gone from around the lake, so it looks like that I am going to have to think again about what may be killing the Ducklings and Goslings. It could well be a Stoat or Weasel. I have not seen any remains of dead fish around the lake, so I don’t think that it is Mink or Otter that is having them. But I do need to find out.

We have still got one Ewe with two Lambs running around loose. They should have gone to market with those we sent off last Saturday. As much as we have tried we cannot catch them. Some while back they were at the same farm that we had to collect the lambs from a couple of weeks ago. I couldn’t catch them then. Some how they found their way back to Denbury and have been loose ever since. The Farmer who’s land is on the other side of the wood, will be be planting it with corm soon, for sure he wont want any sheep on his land then. Some how we need to catch them.

I hope you are not getting to bored with watching the branch in the water, waiting for the Kingfisher. I have fitted another camera up so that it can be seen on the dog cam, but for some reason I cannot get the focus set properly. I have been checking to see if the Kingfisher has perched on the branch today, I have not seen it as I did yesterday. I have seen it fly past the branch, so quick unless you know how fast they do fly, you would not realize that it was the Kingfisher. Got that wrong, I hope you saw it at 8.55pm just as I was writing that I hadn’t seen it all day, there it was.

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After filling the Bird feeders by the lake this evening…

After filling the Bird feeders by the lake this evening, I sat in the rowing boat that is on the bank of the lake. It is a really peaceful place and I do enjoy sitting there when I get time. A Buzzard was gliding above, hunting for food. I was a little surprised when a female Mallard flew in, landing near to the orange bags. She quacked and out from the reeds came the two surviving Ducklings. I had not realised that they would fly off and leave their young. It was good to see that they had survived for another day. I know that there are less Rats about. With a bit of luck they may make it.

I have been going to lake more often than normal as we have a couple in the holiday cottages, that fish. The man has spent most of the time here fishing. I always make it a point to see what people have caught when they have fished. He fished a nice 5 1/2lb Carps yesterday, that had been pierced by a Heron when it was younger. The man assures me that he has seen Carp of 8 to 9 lb. A couple of years back one person fished a Carp of just under 12lb. 15lb would be the largest fish that you would find in a lake of our size, that is about an acre. There is a pond in the same area of about a third of an acre.

Fortunately there are Fish Fry in the lake, I thought that most of them would have been washed away in the flood. Walking around the lake in the sun you see the Fry in the warm shallow water by the bank. As your shadow falls across the water where they are hovering thousands of the Fry dart away, returning quickly to the warm water after your shadow moves away. Every year it never ceases to amaze me, how many thousands of fry that there are in the lake. The warm weather bring most of the Fish to the top of the water, where you can see the different size and types of Fish, ranging through their ages.

One job we did manage to get done on the lake today, was to fix a tree branch into the pipe that we put into the lake a month or so back. We have put it there hoping that a Kingfisher may land on it. I am quite hopeful, as the man who is fishing has seen the Kingfisher flying in and out of the trees and bushes nearby where we have put the branch, It s very close to the Bird feeders by the lake that a Kingfisher was seen behind, a little while back. The siting was posted on the forum by one of you. I will pan the camera onto the branch now and then.

The main Rye Harbour web cam that is situated on an island has got a problem, and may not be able to be got going until the Terns have finished nesting, so that they are not disturbed. I know Barry is very disappointed and will try to get it working if he can. The installation of the camera is very complex, using solar panel to generate the electricity, and wireless transmission to carry the video signal nearly a 1000m.

The Osprey web cam was also down for a while today. By all accounts the electricity was turned off as a kite had got caught in the overhead electric cables nearby the Lock of the Lowe’s Visitors Centre.