2009 |
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ADRIAN'S PHOTO'S |
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January:
13th Went to Geldeston on an Anglian Water / Suffolk Wildlife Trust Otter training day with Penny Hemphill. It was a very good day with some very good Otter signs. Also saw a Marsh Harrier and a Water Vole.
14th Saw a Barn owl flying around just further down the road from our house.
17th Went to Abbey Farm at Leiston with Richard Woolnough to help with a SWT Badger training day. The rain was heavy to start with but after a slide talk etc the sun came out ready for an afternoon of badger tracking. We found plenty of good signs, footprints, dung pits and a Sett.
February:
17th Saw 2 Buzzards flying around at Semer.
18th Whilst traveling into Sudbury I noticed a dead Mink on the road.
19th Found another dead Mink within about a mile of the one yesterday.
20th Had a call from the Suffolk Wildlife Trust to visit a Badger lying dead over a Sett. On arrival it turned out that it had, I concluded, been hit by a car on the road within 50 meters away, and enlarged a rabbit burrow where it then curled up and died.
22nd Went to Lackford Visitor Center for a second SWT badger training day with Richard and Arthur Rivett. Good attendance and plenty of field signs which produced another very enjoyable day and hopefully some more Sett surveyors.
25th Attended North East Essex Badger committee meeting. They, as we have in Suffolk, have had a marked increase in badger road traffic casualties this month.
March:
3rd Whilst out on a walk in Haverhill I saw a weasel jumping around in some long grass with an irate Wren calling at it. Shortly after I found an unrecorded Badger Sett.
5th Watched a Barn Owl flying around the fields behind my house, from my bedroom window at approximately 1630
6th The Barn owl was out again around the same time hunting along the ditch lines of the fields. Also Saw a Buzzard flying over Earls Sett when I was there feeding them. The Branch I had set up in the hope of some new pictures this year, was still in place and looking more natural but easy to hide food!
7th Had a report of some cages around a Sett in the North East of the county, Luckily this turned out to be cages set for Rabbits, they were even set with carrots!
9th Whilst out on call in the early hours of the morning I saw a Barn Owl at Cornish Hall End and a Fox strolling down the road at Braintree in Essex.
10th Skylarks were singing well in the fields this morning.
11th As I walked down the road this morning with my dog, I suddenly became aware of a Barn Owl flying towards me along the ditch line of the road. I stopped still expecting the Owl to sense my dog but it just kept coming closer. It was a fantastic sunrise and the light would of been superb at lighting the Owl. Eventually it came to within about 20metres from me before tipping its head and staring right at me before crossing the road and flying down the other ditch and away from me.
12th Went out with Martin Hayward Smith to try and film some badgers for a new TV program but after about an hour of waiting patiently we heard gunshot and a badger came running back into the safety of its sett! We then could see a vehicle driving around the fields with a red beam of light and for the next 2 hours the gunshot killed any chance of getting any film. In the dim light a badger just out of range could be seen clearing spoil out of its entrance hole but that was the only views we would get.
15th Returned to the sett in a hope to try our luck at filming the badgers again. After a promising start (a badger coming out at 1930 and sitting by its entrance having a really good belly scratch) all went quiet until 2200 hrs when a lone badger came out for just a few minutes to feed, before leaving the area. Despite the lack of activity on the Badger front I have had a fascinating couple of evenings listening to and looking at pictures taken by Martin, who's amazing CV has included working in Kenya with George Adamson of Born Free. In more recent years he has filmed in Yellowstone National Park, Polar bears south of the Arctic circle, and filmed for various TV programs such as Jimmy's farm, Survival, Spring Watch and Trawler men to name but a few!
16th After a phone call from Suffolk Police I found two dead Sow Badgers in the same location which could have a drastic effect on the local sett. The trouble is, I cant find it! It may mean that any dependant cubs will come out of their Sett looking for their mother and food and eventually starve or be killed also. Had an email from a member of public who gets regular photo's of badgers in his garden, reporting a possible sett blockage, and the smell of creosote.
19th Whilst out walking my dog down along a ditch line between two fields I became aware of some very loud croaking. It turned out to be coming from an 8inch land drainage pipe going into the ditch. Obviously the frogs thought the acoustics sounded more effective! Had an update regarding the possible sett blockage saying that no badgers had been recorded on camera since the 15th (the day before the sett was blocked!)
20th Visited the area where the possible sett blockage had taken place and decided that it certainly looked as if the sett had been blocked, a hole in the fence had also been blocked and then covered in creosote. I then reported the offence under "The Protection of Badgers Act 1992" to Suffolk Police and English Nature"
21st I received a phone call from Suffolk Police relating to the sett blockage. They were going to liaise with English Nature and visit together.
Saw my first Brimstone butterfly of the year up near Haverhill. and a Tortoiseshell butterfly at Codham. The warm weather seems to have brought out the butterflies as I have seen a couple of Peacock butterflies earlier in the week.
Visited another site where a sett had been clearly "dug" and then what looks like a tractor has driven around the edge of the digging to collapse it. The sett fortunately doesn't look in use at present unlike one a few yards away. Will have to keep an eye on this one in the future. Also the land in the same area has had what looks like illegal deer shooting as there was a large area covered in blood and then in the brambles we found the guts and fur of what looks like a large deer. The Police had been informed of a vehicle parked up suspiciously the night before but had not turned out to investigate. Instead had said "it is probably just someone Hare coursing" Like that is perfectly legal... NOT!
23rd The area outside the land drainage ditch has three large clumps of spawn so obviously the sound effects of the pipe have paid off! Called Suffolk Police but no news on Sett blockage.
25th Attended the NEEBG committee meeting. Called Police to eventually be told they would be attending site tomorrow.
26th Police and DEFRA / English Nature attended the site of a possible Sett blockage and will be investigating further.
27th Found a Fox lying dead beside the road whilst out walking my dog this morning, I have smelt it in this area several mornings but never seen it alive. There are now four clumps of spawn in the ditch.
30th Had good views of the local Barn owl flying behind our garden at 1930hrs just a shame I don't know where it roosts or nests. Called for an update on the Sett blockage but still no new information.
31st Its been a bad year so far for Badger road casualties with 30 this month alone recorded!
April:
12th Went out with Wayne to Minsmere and had good views Black Caps and Garden Warblers which were a first for the year. Afterwards we visited Barham Pits and managed s few pictures of Orange Tip butterflies.
15th Attended Suffolk Badger group meeting.
18th Eventually went over to Havergate Island after we had been double booked and therefore had to wait 2 hours later to get the crossing. However this resulted in Wayne and I having the Island to ourselves for the last hour. Managed better Hare shots than last year but still no boxing (had camera set all wrong for the one and only view of a pair)
20th Saw my first Water Shrew at a local church moat.
21st Revisited the moat and managed to get a blurred shot of the water shrew. Light conditions are very dark and the Shrew is incredibly quick!
26th On returning from feeding Earls badgers I watched a Barn owl at Ashbocking hunting the road side verge.
27th Saw a Turtle dove in Coddenham on the way into work.
28th Watched the Water Shrews again at the Church moat.
29th Attended NEEBG committee meeting and saw a Tawny Owl on way back through Crowfield.
30th Saw another Turtle Dove again going into work and found 5 Slow worms on a site in Essex.
May:
2nd Heard a Cuckoo at Bures today.
3rd Went to visit the site where the sett had been blocked as there had been some reported activity. Also saw some Green Veined White butterflies.
6th Saw quite a few Large Red Damselflies at Raydon today. These are one of the first Damselflies to be seen in the year.
11th Returned to photograph the Damselflies
13th Returned to photograph the Damselflies
18th Watched a Water Vole at the church Moat but saw no signs of the Shrews
21st All of a sudden there are large numbers of Banded Demoiselles along the river banks. Got a few pictures of Turtle Doves at a grain store at Nedging.
22nd Saw my first Dragonfly today which was a Broad Bodied Chaser.
25th As I was traveling home just before a storm I noticed lots of butterflies flying up from the road as I drove down a little lane. On stopping I could see dozens of Painted Lady butterflies chasing each other around a horse chestnut tree and then descending back down before settling back on the road.
June:
2nd Tried photographing a Brown Argos butterfly
6th Went to Minsmere with Wayne and photographed Reed Warblers and attempted to photograph the Marsh Harriers but the light was wrong for these. Later on we sat and got a few shots of the Dartford Warblers but it was a little too windy really.
14th At 0040hrs I had a phone call from Suffolk Police who called me to an injured badger at Raydon. As I arrived I could see the near motionless body of a badger in the flashing blue lit road. After unpacking my cage and realizing a grasper would not be needed, I quickly put the badger (breathing very heavy) into the cage and started to load it into my vehicle. As I turned towards my vehicle the policeman said "we've got another one!" "what alive?" I asked? How unusual is that? Two injured badgers within a few miles of each other and within a few minutes of being found. Now I had a situation on my hands as the second one was reportedly thrashing around in the road. I decided to call on friends from the NEEBG (North East Essex Badger Group) to help me. Renee on the Hotline (07751 572175) made contact with Judy, and assisted by her husband, soon arrived equipped with a second cage. I had calmed the poor badger a little by covering it with a blanket as it had been trying to pull itself up a steep bank but its hind legs seemed to be dragging and it kept rolling over. It was very alert and mobile at the front end and was obviously stressed when we walked passed it. Eventually both badgers headed off to the pre warned vets.
Unfortunately the first badger died on arrival but the second was still very alert. I was concerned that the badger may have spinal injuries and so we made a decision to get the badger sedated and x-ray'd. After two doses of sedative and 2 hrs later we were eventually able to restrain the badger enough to X-ray. These showed no breaks which was really good but once we were able to examine her better we realized that two large territorial wounds were badly infected with maggots. (probably going into her spine area) From examining her teeth we noted that she was quite elderly and she was very underweight (6.95 kg's) so the decision was made that if the areas were treated it would probably be too great an area for her to recover in her condition and for what future? She was then euthanased. It was quite disheartening to put in the effort with no successful outcome but at least we tried, it was 0500hrs and the sun was shinning.
At 1400hrs I attended the NEEBG AGM where we had guest speaker Darren Tansley giving us a talk on Otters and Water Vole which was good.
20th Met up with Martin Hayward-Smith who filmed 2 Badgers at Earls sett but sadly no cubs.
22nd Met up again with Martin and unfortunately only the one badger showed this time.
25th Photographed Skipper, Meadow Brown, and Ringlet butterflies.
28th Went to Minsmere to try and photograph a few dragonfly and had some good views of two Stoat who were busy feeding their hidden family.