WonderfulWildlifeUK

A couple of photos by Alan Dawson from yesterday. from Cholsey Wildlife https://cholseywildlife.blogspot.com/2018/11/two-from-yesterday.html

As many of you know there has been a lot of debate about feeding swans and other waterfowl bread. We have always maintained that feeding them bread is fine, Today we received a this statement from The Queen’s Swan Marker, David Barber, MVO, endorsed by Professor Christopher Perrins of the Edward Grey Institute of Field Ornithology at Oxford University. “There has been a great deal of press coverage in recent months regarding the ‘Ban the Bread’ campaign which is confusing many members of the public who like to feed swans. Supporters of the campaign claim that bread should not be fed to swans on the grounds that it is bad for them. This is not correct. Swans have been fed bread for many hundreds of years without causing any ill effects. While bread may not be the best dietary option for swans compared to their natural food such as river weed, it has become a very important source of energy for them, supplementing their natural diet and helping them to survive the cold winter months wh

Main image:  By Shaun Waycott, Avon Wildlife Trust Project manager at Feed Bristol read more from Avon Wildlife Trust blogs http://www.avonwildlifetrust.org.uk/blog/wildblog/2018/11/29/say-it-wildflowers-christmas

We have seen the same story play out time and time again in the North East, as developers buy up our scant remaining green space and build, build, build absent consideration for the environmental impact of their actions. Normally, such developments are difficult to dispute: the benefits of housing overruling the needs of any particular […] from James Common https://commonbynature.co.uk/2018/11/29/take-a-stand-for-gosforth-park-nature-reserve/

Wet ’n windy, 13°, breezy SSE. A somewhat drab day with almost constant light rain being driven by a fresh breeze. Subsequently not a lot seen on the walk out. A few hundred Fieldfare along with c50 Redwing , 20+ Blackbird and 12 Song Thrush out at Lollingdon feeding along various hedgerows. A few Yellowhammer , Reed Bunting , Meadow Pipit and Pied Wagtail in nearby fields and the occasional Tit flock encountered. from Cholsey Wildlife https://cholseywildlife.blogspot.com/2018/11/wet-n-windy.html

Our ‘Bushnell Boys’ have continued their quest to capture the wildlife in our school grounds. We have been using some Bushnell trail cameras in our Wild Learning Area with some great results (see our previous blog posts). The boys wanted to build a platform on which to feed the visitors, particularly a couple of buzzards who have been coming down to feast. We have been collecting the meaty remains of school dinners and putting them out. The boys had rescued some old PE equipment that was being thrown out and we decided to use that to help us create a raised platform. First, they unscrewed the top off and fixed a pallet on top instead. We needed somewhere to put the food, so we used a piece of artificial turf. Then we had the idea of screwing some branches down on top. We thought this would be somewhere for the buzzard to land and also it would hold the turf down on the surface. Finally, we screwed a long arm on, so we could mount the Bushnell. We put the 60cm lens on s

I awoke at dawn on Sunday and could hear a Song Thrush in song not too far away. Later in the day it appeared in the garden and hopefully will winter here.  A Red Kite swooped into the garden this morning and took what remained of yesterday’s Wood Pigeon from the Crow that was still eating it at the time.  Some Cormorant action on the river by Cholsey Marsh yesterday.  Photo courtesy Alan Dawson. from Cholsey Wildlife https://cholseywildlife.blogspot.com/2018/11/garden-river.html

Mainly cloudy, 8°, light N. Over the years a pair of Crow that are resident in the area around the garden are often seen chasing the Wood Pigeon from the garden and I often thought what if one was caught. Today was a little different and one was caught. I believe it was the male Crow that actually caught and killed a Wood Pigeon in the garden. Once the Pigeon was sufficiently plucked the female Crow joined the male and they proceeded to eat what they could of the Pigeon. The following photos and video may seem a bit gruesome but that’s nature. Thank you to Loren for the video. from Cholsey Wildlife https://cholseywildlife.blogspot.com/2018/11/crow-takes-wood-pigeon.html

Before yesterday commenced, I had only seen three Red-necked Grebes in my lifetime. Two as distant apparitions amid undulating heat haze on a vast swath of Estonian marshland and the other, as an equally uninspiring spec on the horizon here in the UK. The latter rising and falling with the tide around half a mile […] from James Common https://commonbynature.co.uk/2018/11/25/a-once-in-a-lifetime-encounter/

Winter visitor. Waxwings are winter visitors to Britain, migrating here from their breeding grounds in the boreal forest belt that stretches from Scandinavia, through Russia and across parts of North America. The numbers that reach the UK depend on the availability of berries on the Continent. In years where berry-crops fail, birds are forced to […] from James Common https://commonbynature.co.uk/2018/11/24/top-10-facts-waxwing/

A murky morning with a damp mist, 8°, light E. A marked decrease in the number of Thrushes out at Lollingdon with only a couple of hundred seen. Majority Fieldfare , 40+ Redwing and 5 Mistle Thrush . 50+ Fieldfare , 5 Corn Bunting , 2 Yellowhammer and a Reed Bunting on the hill and a Kestrel , 3 Jay and 3 Goldcrest also seen nearby. A Little Egret flushed by a dog walker from Cholsey brook and settled briefly in a tree before dropping down in to the brook further on. A Grey Wagtail seen by Alan Dawson in the same location and further sightings of the Little Egret . A few snatched shots of the Little Egret before it disappeared. from Cholsey Wildlife https://cholseywildlife.blogspot.com/2018/11/little-egret.html

I am getting very excited about the Tawny Box project at Yew View! If you follow my blog, then you’ll know that this pair have nested for the last 2 years in this location and this year I designed a new nest box and built it with the help of friend, Dave. I have built this box to house two internal cameras, placed perpendicular to each other. I started with the camera I used last year; a Vivotek that I have used a lot in these boxes. It is a great little camera, but it has it has its limitations. My initial set up had the Vivotek in one position and a little Hikvision mini dome camera in the second position. I was so pleased with the image from this cam that, last week, I decided to swap the Vivotek out for another Hikvision. I am really pleased I did as I am now really happy with all three camera angles and footage in this box. I become quite obsessed with getting it just right as, once they settle in there, I can’t fiddle with them any more. This week’s footage is the best I have