A long over-due update from me on wildlife wanderings with Luc!
Recent weeks and months have seen a step-change in Luc's interest in nature. He has really started to notice things, be inspired, captivated - all promising signs. I have tried not to push it as I want to facilitate rather than force it on him!
I bought him some 6x binoculars a few weeks back which he has shown some interest in looking though, though it is obviously a hard thing to master.
Much more successful, understandably, have been opportunities for him to see things without optical aids. Herons are good - nice and obvious, interesting behaviour...
Spurred on by some recent successes I took Luc to RSPB's Vane Farm reserve - not with a great expectation that he would be interested in individual birds (or birds at all) more for the experience. He'd never been into a hide before and peered out of the window, for example.
Overall, the day was a great success. Highlights included pond-dipping (Daddy caught a nice big stickleback which went down well)
We were having fun balancing along the top of a fence (Luc balancing, Daddy not!) when Luc spotted (before I had) a lovely Common Darter dragonfly on the fence ahead of him. It was warm and active but Luc managed to lie down on his tummy and get a very close view:
We also got nice views of a frog, though what it was doing on a sunny day in the middle of a gravel path I'm not sure!
Yesterday (back home) a squirrel spent ages perched on top of a neighbouring block of flats (scared there by a cat?) and, after being shown it by me, Luc spent the next couple of hours periodically checking and announcing "squirrel still there daddy!". Then this morning, on the way our to the car, he saw a squirrel on a wall and told me about it. It dived down into a garden and he wanted to go and find it to see it again. Encouraging signs!!!
Today's adventure saw Luc and me off on a twilight Woodcock survey for the BTO. Luc enjoyed the walk in but, as usual, wasn't so keen on the standing around bit. This was a 75 minute vantage point survey - by definition requiring standing around - and under the circumstances it went pretty well!
I'm not sure I'd really thought through what would probably happen, but if I had gone to the trouble of conceiving some expectations, this would certainly have exceeded them. Some grizzling, frantic finger-sucking and much walking up and down on the spot and - amazingly - he fell asleep. In the middle of a wood...
I'd gone prepared with a range of options, including a des res collapsible cot (thanks Lynn) but in the end it was the trusty Baby Bjorn sling that did the trick. He loves that sling...
Oh - and we DID see Woodcock. Lots of sightings, as the males flew around doing their trademark grunt-grunt-whistle display flight. This means that they are breeding in the wood (my old Landrick wood, for those of you that know it). Ancient birch and oak woodland hidden away on the edge of Dunblane.
It would be a one-in-a-million fluke to find a nest - they are such secretive birds - but it's nice to know that there are Woodcock in here year round. In winter, they are different birds, enjoying the relative 'warmth' of Scotland. Amazingly these birds leave in spring, heading off to central Europe or Russia, and are replaced with UK breeders. It seems inefficient, doesn't it?! Take a look at this amazing map of satellite-tagged birds: http://www.woodcockwatch.com/
We encountered a new nocturnal friend on the walk home, to add to Luc's growing collection (but note that he always seems to have his eyes firmly shut when I find something interesting!).
Dunblane is surprising rich in wildlife and we suspect that at least one creature is new to science. Dunblane's answer to the Loch Ness monster perhaps? The animal in the video below was spotted recently and is thought to be a close relative of the dinosaur Torosaurus (left). If confirmed as a new species, we plan to name it Lucosaurus.
Oh - and in other news, and to check that you read my blog posts all the way to the bottom... Look what I picked up on one of my trail cameras over the weekend... Happy days! :-) I could literally throw a stone from our back garden to this spot where this video was taken.
As you know, my intention in focusing more locally was to try and derive pleasure from what I could see on short wanders with Luc, rather than pining for the more remote parts of Scotland or more exotic wildlife. I had in mind, for example, the pleasure of following local blue tits through the nesting season, perhaps with the odd dipper and grey wagtail as unusual highlights. Here's a little dipper video from the main river that may amuse you:
My patch had already surprised me, with the unexpected discovery of
things such as resident trout, passing otters and spawning frogs. My
trout are hard to see in daylight. Not so the trout in the main river,
for whatever reason. Here's a little video:
So - my patch was already proving to be rewarding. This morning brought another surprise...
Each morning I walk the short distance down to the bridge to retrieve my trail cameras to try and reduce the likelihood of them being stolen. This morning I was taken aback by a familiar but unexpected bird song. I paused to check again, in case I was imagining it, but no - there was indeed a singing WOOD WARBLER on my patch, and within 50 yards of the house.
This migratory species does breed within 5-10 miles of the house, but it has been steadily declining since we moved up here and it is certainly not a bird I would expect to see on my patch. I scurried home to get my camera and managed to hear it singing from our drive, making it a new and most unexpected garden tick!
It was drizzly (which may be what grounded this, presumably migrating, bird) meaning that the light wasn't great for photography. Anyone who knows small 'leaf warblers' like Chiffchaff, Willow Warbler or Goldcrest will know that they never sit still and are hard enough to follow in binoculars, let along with a long telephoto lens... Oh, and I was already late for work and we needed to leave imminently so that Helen wouldn't be late for her breast-feeding support group meeting. These things rather stacked up against me in my quest for my first ever photo of a Wood Warbler.
All things considered, therefore, I am pleased to have managed these two reasonable shots (click on them for larger versions).
This pretty little species is in national decline, and on the 'Red List', sadly. Info here.
Despite being arboreal, Wood Warblers (along with both Willow Warbler and Chiffchaff) nest on the ground in dainty domed nests (photo here). Quite why, I don't know.
I hope to find both Willow Warbler and Blackcap nests on the patch this year. It will be considerably easier once they have chicks to feed and are busily going backwards and forwards.
In other news... it has rained properly today for the first time in ages. With the main river in spate, I am hopeful that an otter may come foraging up my stream. The cameras are primed. Fingers crossed!
Well... a lot has changed! Meet Luc Thomas Darvill - born in the early hours of 10th March.
A couple of weeks early, but after an initial challenge with an infection, he is now home, well, and growing fast.
This coming Sunday he will be 8 weeks old!
You might remember from the last blog post that I had been busily man-nesting both inside and outside the house. The local 'patch' had been spring cleaned, and the next job was to build bird boxes.
Well, the building of the boxes went well, following instructions on the BTO website. 9mm exterior grade plywood, a pencil, rule, jigsaw (not the 10,000 piece coffee table type...) and a hole saw drill attachment for the hole. Me being the rugged type... these were all things that I had (except the wood).
So, the boxes had been made. However, the weather-proofing wood stain had not quite happened at the
point that Helen went into labour. Contractions were, initially, 8
minutes apart. I suggested that she paint a box in between each
contraction, but that didn't go down well...
So - Grandpa to the rescue! With Pa's help, the boxes were stained and hammered to promising looking trees in 'the patch'. More on these later...
Once the initial shock of it all subsided, we got back on track and outdoors, using a (soon-to-be-upgraded) sling. A few tentative hill walks in the area went well, and Luc saw his first Pine Marten poo (left).
We also spent some time in the patch, looking at brown trout in the stream. On one occasion with BOTH ferrets! This is well and truly Tibs territory, but he seemed happy to share and to demonstrate his special crossing place to Milly.
The stream, it turns out, is full of little trout. You would never know it in daylight - they hide under the banks and under stones. But if you go at night with a decent torch, all is revealed as they are out in open water. Possibly to do with avoiding the two types of predator? Kingfisher/heron in daylight (avoid being visible) and otter at night (avoid being cornered?).
Luc has now smelt his first otter poo, having had it shoved under his nose. The otters are up and down the little stream and I've found a number of good sprainting sites. I suspect it is most used when the main river is in spate, which is unfortunate as it's not in spate at the moment, just as I want the otters to put on a good show!
I say that because I dusted down my four (expensive HD) trail cameras and had one last go at fixing them. And... much to my embarrassment I discovered that they work FINE (so long as you format the memory cards in a PC and not a Mac). Doh... But, a major bonus to have them back in action.
The prime spot for otter sprainting is always under bridges, where the poo can't get washed away by the rain. With a nice little bridge within 50 yards of the house, this should be the ideal spot. BUT - there were no large stones under the bridge. A few hours work with a very large metal bar later... and some huge boulders and concrete blocks have been duly levered into position.
The next job was to attach some brackets to the inside walls of the bridge to attach the trail cameras to. I don't have a cordless drill... but I DO have a petrol generator! :-D Both drill and generator were rated at 640 Watts. Result! Remarkably no dog walkers stuck their heads under the bridge to find out what all of the noise was about! Needless to say, smelly, noisy generator + drill made this a daddy only activity.
So far... no otters, but the cameras are working and have captured their first mammal!
The cameras are put out every night and collected every morning, with Luc joining me in the sling. Early by my standards... but not before the school kids have passed by. I sincerely hope that Dunblane school kids aren't adventurous enough to find the cameras, nor dishonest enough to steal them. Fingers crossed for this, and also for the appearance of an otter!
In the mean time we have been entertained by other damp animals.
Since early in the pregnancy I have been greatly looking forward to catching newts in the pond with 'Elsie'. It was a delight therefore to stumble across one sitting (can newts sit?) in the road on one of our evening strolls.
So, Luc has already met a newt, while he is still minute! It was duly deposited in our pond to boost the already-healthy breeding population.
Later on the self-same walk we..., well... the video speaks for itself:
And what of the bird nests? Well, I'm checking them weekly and filling in the BTO's Nest Record Scheme recording cards. So far nests are being built in three of the 16 boxes. Typically, the most advanced nest is in the 'bishop banjos' box that was cobbled together from all of the remaining fragments of wood once the 15 'proper' boxes had been made. I'll post photos once some eggs have been laid. So far this has been a 'daddy only' exercise, but the boxes aren't all tha high and the ladder is good and strong... Not sure.
Elsewhere, on my cycle home from work, I have discovered a fine blackbird's nest, with two tiny chicks and an egg that was in the process of hatching. Another one for the BTO's nest survey!
Looking into it involves lying in nettles and brambles at the top of a 15 foot cliff and peering over into the ivy. OR, lying comfortably on a camping 'roll mat', but very nearly slipping over the edge due to the lack of friction! It turns out that thorns make for very good safety anchors. Some flesh will have to be sacrificed. However, this is definitely a daddy only activity!!!
Elsie is due on the 22nd March and man nesting is in full swing.
I have put up shelves throughout the house, organised the roof and done a litter pick on my local green 'patch' (in preparation for making camps, fishing and general father-child bonding).
The litter pick has been a protracted affair, starting over Christmas/New Year and rumbling on. The final hurdle was moving the piles to near a road so that the 'nice man' from the council could come and take them away. I have just been laid low with flu (real flu, not man flu) and this was a job that I was keen to 'tick off' this weekend now that I am beginning to feel human again.
It was very satisfying seeing the difference that I had made - a once rather grotty litter-filled valley transformed into a pretty little local 'nature reserve'.
Thankfully the locals seemed to be grateful and didn't protest when I started piling up stuff outside their houses ready for collection. An added bonus during the process was a visit from my little boy, Tibs. I knew that this was part of his territory, having met him down here once before. On this occasion he was very sweet company and took great pride in showing me the branch that he uses to cross the stream.
Having cleaned up this patch, the next job is to get up nest boxes (asap) before the birds start nesting. I found time today to buy some plywood from Wickes, so hopefully I can get these made during this week and put them up at the weekend. Part of the plan, hopefully, is to participate in the BTO's Nest Recording Scheme (monitoring what nests, when they lay eggs, what hatches etc). This little valley has breeding blackcap and willow warbler, so perhaps I'll even find their nests...
Oh dear. Things were going pretty well, but have just taken a rather disturbing turn. Part of the baby-in-tow plan was for a focus on my local patch, and then along came local patch year-listing via Patchwork Challenge (@PatchBirding) and January local pedestrian listing via Footit (@footit1) - PERFECT! A great focus for local birding, with a competitive edge. Just my scene. Combined with @BirdTrack to ensure that my sightings were put to good scientific use, it all seemed to be working out rather well. My good friend Chris Pendlebury (@UForthBirder) was was also up for the challenge - so I had some camaraderie with a bit of friendly local rivalry to boot. We both had the first six days of January off and used it productively, working our way to the top of the national footit leader board (see blog post here). This week, going back to work for @BTO_Scotland, was always going to present a challenge for birding. The short January days up here in Scotland mean that pre or post-work birding are almost impossible. I can get out on my PWC 'patch' at lunchtime (which includes the Stirling University loch), but my smaller footit patch is a 30 minute cycle away. Oh well. I would just have to wait until the weekend for further #footit additions. Or so I thought. This morning, cycling in to work, I passed a major Dunblane birding hotspot (a little duck pond). A quick scan, just to check, and... COOT! Mega! In 6 solid days of local birding neither of us had seen one. What to do?! The rules of footit are strict - "All counts must be done on foot on a return journey from your home". I was on my bike on the way in to work. I had two choices: 1. The sensible option. Get the news out to Chris via Rare Bird Alert (or text), cycle in to work, and hope that it was still there tomorrow morning, or... 2. Cycle the mile home, don running gear, sprint a mile for a coot, sprint the mile back again, then cycle in to work. What a ridiculous idea. A momentary pause... a hurried apologetic phone call to work ("Sorry, I'll be late in to work, I've had an incident with a coot")... and I was off!
Our two cats looked very perplexed as I dashed back in through the door, stripped off, threw things out of my rucksac, sprinted up and down the stairs and then out of the door. I'm afraid that I am no Mo Farah, but tired legs after 6 solid days of footit walking did their best to propel me coot-wards. Wheezing, in through the gate, elbows out to wade through the hoards of tesco-value-bread-wielding children*... Was it still there... had I dipped...? Then... Success! Success surpassed only by the joy in hearing a meadow pipit fly overhead a few days previously. And here, in all of it's grainy and pixelated glory, is camera phone evidence for any doubters. Yes folks, it's true, I really DID see a coot.
All that remained was the small matter of running home, cycling in to work (it was now raining, heavily), and explaining myself to perplexed colleagues. But all the time with a smile on my face. Surely there is no better illustration of the joys of patch birding (or the folly of man?) than this heart-warming tale?
*no children were harmed in the ticking of this coot
