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ZEISS DTI thermal imaging cameras. For more discoveries at night, and during the day.

Upton Warren (13 Viewers)

Considering the light conditions they are good photos. I particulary like the Teal and the Lapwing shot definietly captures the freezing temperatures.

BTW the fish in the Herons beak is a Perch.

John

In hindsight I made a judgement error yesterday. Whilst getting down to the Moors pre-sunrise had the benefits of watching the roost dissipate, witnessing a prolonged but ultimately unsuccessful attack by a Peregrine on a Lapwing and seeing another large Dace become a Heron's breakfast (all before 08:00), by the time there was any even remotely usable light I was absolutely frozen solid!
Here are a few shots of the usual suspects. First off the Heron and his breakfast.
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This Canada Goose that landed on the ice (expecting water) made a complete balls of the process then wandered off all aloof as if nothing had happened, only to fall through the ice and get stuck for 10 minutes or so!
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There were lots of birds looking very cold earlier on with this Lapwing next to the clump of Purple Loosestrife still showing frost on his mantle at 09:00!
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It was only by about 09:30 that the light became friendly and by this time I was feeling the chill so I finished off having a go at the obligingly close Curlews...
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and Teal.
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Species numbers to follow (when I get my notebook out of my the Landie).
 
Oh Blimey yes, I can see the green stripes now - thanks for the feedback and correction, John! Actually that might explain why it was somewhat slower to sink this fish than the even larger Dace I witnessed being swallowed a couple of weeks ago.
Here are the species numbers from yesterday (06:30 to 09:50):
Little Grebe 2,
GCG 7,
Cormorant 24,
Mute Swan 2,
Shoveler 20,
Shelduck 2,
Teal 87,
Tufted Duck 21,
Canada Goose 111,
Greylag Goose 18,
Mallard c61,
Coot 97,
Moorhen 5
Jackdaw 4,
Carrion Crow 3,
Snipe 7,
Curlew 18,
Lapwing >200,
Grey Heron 5,
Peregrine,
Buzzard,
Sparrowhawk (♂),
Reed Bunting 7
Siskin 3,
Lesser Redpoll 2,
Redwing 4,
Fieldfare 1,
Blackbird 17,
Song Thrush 1,
Bullfinch 2,
Chaffinch 1,
LTT 9,
Wren 2,
Dunnock 3,
Greta Tit 3,
Blue Tit 6,
Robin 3,
BHG >80,
LBBG 1.
It was too quick a glimpse to confirm, but I think I had a House Sparrow (♀) on top of the large (for sale/sold) house near Lifestyles - I'm not claiming it, just keep your eyes peeled.

For the hell of it I'll include a couple of very grim shots of the unsuccessful Peregrine (at distance in very early morning gloom) and one of the stranded Canada... ooh the indignity!
 

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Thanks John. I did a lot of reading when I was 'out of the game' recently, and it was suggested that two settings (one camera and one lens) that I had always used weren't actually doing me any favours Image Quality (IQ)-wise. It appears that those changes and the introduction of a free-standing noise reduction software, that I now use if I have time, are improving things.
I hope so anyway. The Curlew picture isn't the best that I took yesterday but I used it because of the Lapwing background (the others show the black plastic even more) and the fact that its orbital ring (is that that the right term, or have I just referred to its arse?) is by far the most prominent of all the birds in the flock.
 
Thanks Peter. I tell you what, if you like the ripples, I'll have a go at another image of the bird that shows them and their reflection rather well. But first, it's Sunday and something's about to open... B :)
 
Spent a very cold afternoon around the Moors. Surprisingly the main pool was less iced over than I expected, being confined to the south west marsh and parts of the scrape.
Plenty of passerines around: including treecreeper in the north east wood as well a foraging chaffinches there. Also a flock of 40 Fieldfare and a redpoll flew over while several song thrush and redwing fed on the ground or picked off the last few berries. Several tit flocks were scattered around, holding the odd goldcrest. There was also a noticeable increase in blackbirds all over the reserve.
Also green and great spotted woodpecker fed around the Secret Garden.
I didn't go to the East hide but I was told there were plenty of snipe and a kingfisher seen from there.
Species count on water:
GCG 8, Little grebe, cormorant 20+, mute swan pr, Greylags 20+, Shelduck, shoveler 15+, Teal 30+, Pochard male, tufted 20+, Snipe no count but many around including in the sluice basin, several large gulls dropped in late on, which included 20 LBBG and 5 herrings.
The Flashes was very quiet, with most of the 1st Flash ice free, the rest was frozen.
400 BHG roosted on the sailing pool late flew towards the Flashes as we left.
B :)John
ps the hide is coming along nicely.
 
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Further to John's post above, this morning's counts were as follows:

MOORS POOL
1 Little Grebe, 6 GC Grebe, male Pochard (different bird to yesterday according to Dave J), 2 Grey Heron, 1 Canada Goose, 21 Greylag Geese, 1 Shelduck, 12 Shoveler, 37 Teal, 53 Mallard, 27 Tufted Duck, 140 Lapwing, 16 Curlew, 7+ Snipe (onlyc6 visible at any one time on the East Island and 1 by the sluice from the West Hide), 2 Mute Swan, 1+ calling Water Rail, 1 LBB Gull, 2 Herring Gull, 54 BH Gull, 31 Cormorant, 106 Coot, 9 Moorhen, 2 Peregrine.

SAILING POOL
9 Mallard, 1 GC Grebe, 2 adult GBB Gulls over.

FLASHES
1 Jack Snipe, 2 Common Snipe, 1 Grey Heron, 35 Teal, 5 Mallard, 2 Moorhen, Buzzard perched on guide wires of transmitter mast.

Year list now stands at 78.
 
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Interestingly there seems to be a lack of diving ducks at Upton Pochard especially, it is quite interesting to note that in my local park (Trittiford) pochard have increased from 5 up to 9 over the last few days and i have also seen an increase of Tufted from one to five.
 
Interestingly there seems to be a lack of diving ducks at Upton Pochard especially, it is quite interesting to note that in my local park (Trittiford) pochard have increased from 5 up to 9 over the last few days and i have also seen an increase of Tufted from one to five.

Tufted numbers are certainly starting to grow at the Moors Pool - Dave Jackson had thity first thing on Sunday.

With this current cold snap i have put a load of seed out at the Flashes feeding table - the buntings took to it straight away.
 
Random stuff

The 1st Pic is the new view from the path going towards the 1st Flash hide.
The large willow has been pollarded - this has been done firstly for safety reasons . The recent high winds had rendered some of its large limbs unsafe, as this is a 'crack willow' it was very likely to fall down without any warning onto the dam and path. This has the effect of 'opening' up this end of the Flashes. It will also help the previously shaded blackthorn thrive.

The 2nd pic shows the current status of the the new hide. It shouldn't be too long.

Hopefully not sounding patronising : but for anyone that doesn't know what 'pollarding' is. It is a method of tree management, whereby the trunk / trunks in this case are cut off from head height 6 to 8 foot usually. It not only prolongs the life of the tree but it also provides nesting sites within its trunk. Within a year there will probably be 10 foot growth of vertical shoots. Some people think that cutting a tree down is the end of its life, but rest assured this is far from the case. A lot of this management is currently taking place all over the reserve, the reason for this is that we have had 20 years where almost none have been managed in this way. It is a tried and tested management tool on all 'wetlands' and now that we have the manpower, it will be reinstated into the management of the reserve.

B :)John
 

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Moors Pool

In addition to the 5 Wigeon there were 2 male & 1 fem Pochard.

Common Snipe numbers were well into double figures with at least 6 feeding on the grass bank in front of the east hide. The fact that at times they were within feet of the hide together with this morning's light gave outstanding views of this often under-rated wader.
 

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In addition to the 5 Wigeon there were 2 male & 1 fem Pochard.

Common Snipe numbers were well into double figures with at least 6 feeding on the grass bank in front of the east hide. The fact that at times they were within feet of the hide together with this morning's light gave outstanding views of this often under-rated wader.

great pics Alan, you can see the difference between mine and your camera quality, but then thats what you pay for.:t: John
 

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