Publish and be damned...

This is a little extra update that I began working on before Christmas, but didn't get to complete until now. It is one that I was thinking I would probably not publish cos of its brevity and somewhat restricted subject matter. But then I thought, what the heck! I may as well let you be the judge. Go ahead, I can take the criticism, honestly. 

A few days ago, I cannot remember exactly when it was, because I seem to have done so much in the past weeks that my brain is frazzled, but let's say it was last Thursday, 'cos that's my best guess: Anyhow, last Thursday(ish) I had occasion to visit West Kent College in Tonbridge. Knowing that the Haysden Country Park is close-by, I decided to throw the bike in the back of the car and cycle from the college to the park.

I only had an hour to spare and that's not much more than 60 minutes (see...not lost it completely), so it had to be a very quick skirt around just one part of the park. In fact, what am I saying...it was just one corner of the first lake! Still, here are the photos that I did take...

Water off a duck's back?

Alright then, water off a Greylag Gooses back if you prefer.

Then suddenly a group of about thirty flew in...

Not sure what species all those were and my photography skills were such that there probably isn't enough detail here to tell. It was impressive to see though.

That unfortunately was all I had time for. Before I knew it, it was time to knock myself out riding my bike back to the college. I did spot this little grey squirrel in the car park though...

"Don't crickets have funny knees?"

NOOOOooooo! What is this government we elected doing? 'There is no other way' we are told..'The welfare cuts are essential.' Yeah that's right you bunch of two-faced hypocrites, take from those who can least afford it and tell them to get over it, when at the same time you are wasting millions of pounds on a hair-brained scheme such as culling grey squirrels. 

Wake up to the facts! Grey's are not doing the apocalyptic damage you claim. For God's sake...man introduced them as they considered them to be 'fashionable' and it's man that must fess-up to being the one who has blood on his hands regarding the demise of the reds, now the government will give millions to farmers and land owners to cull the grey squirrels 'using whatever method they prefer.' This isn't about the reds at all. This is about the very same thing that drives almost every move this lot make, filthy lucre! In the words of Arlo Guthrie...'Kill...kill...kill!'

Sorry! I'm better now, really. I found my chill pills and necked the whole bottle. I am calmer than a sleepy sloth now...

Shall we crack on with a blog update? After all, it's what I came here for and I hope you did too...

Not a great deal of detail on this image of a sawfly larva now that I have restricted the resolution and it is actually a huge crop from the original too. However, I wanted to try and show the amazing mouth parts. I found this one right in the middle of a moult and was fortunate enough to be able to hang around and take a series of shots as it tried to free itself from the old 'skin'...

'Pycnomerus fuliginosus'....."pardon?"...."Pycnomerus fuliginosus", it's a small beetle that is also known as an Ironclad Beetle or a Cylindrical Bark Beetle." So what?" I hear you cry...............................................go on then, I'm waiting!
I'll tell you what...no, better still, an image that nicely illustrates what a joy it was for me to recently spot one of these intriguing beasties...

These two pictures show the recorded finds of this beetle in my area (West Kent) as well as the neighbouring county of East Kent. You can see, there aren't any...that's 'so what'.

Before I get too carried away, I guess I should share a picture or two of this tiny beetle...

What made this such a great find for me was that this particular creature belongs in the Antipodes. At least, that's where it originates from. An import from Australia, to put it plainly. Of course I am always aware that like so many other species, this is probably under-recorded, here's beetle expert Mark Telfer who I submitted my find to for confirmation of ID...

"I’m sure you’re right that it is P. fuliginosus. It has become well established and is quite a familiar sight to me. However, it hasn’t spread all that far – I’ve personally only seen it in VCs 3, 11, 13, 17 and 24 (S Devon, S Hants, W Sussex, Surrey and Bucks). I know it also occurs in Northern Ireland. I would be surprised if it is not established in Kent but I don’t know for sure."

 Moving right along...don't crickets have funny knees?........................ Well? 

I paused for you to ponder, to hypothesise, even a gentle explicate if that's what floats your boat. By the way, don't you hate, at least dislike, all those phrases like 'Float your boat'-'Blue-sky thinking'-'Push the envelope'- Tick the boxes'...Grrr!  Wish I hadn't used one myself now. Shall I erase it? Nah...if it comes outta my head, it goes in the blog! So then, a cricket with funny knees? Certainly...

Oh Feck! That's an earwig isn't it...let me try that again...

C'mon, you gotta admit that this Speckled Bush Cricket has odd knees? What are those 'fried-egg' shaped things all about I wonder.

Whilst we are...procrastinating about knees and genuflection in general, that is what we were doing wasn't it? I know I was. I was sitting here, hand on my forehead in contemplation of just whether it would be possible for a cricket to indulge in true genuflection, by bending its right knee to the ground. Probably not and even more than that, I doubt they are religious either?


Erm, oh yes...what do you think these little blighters are?

I can't even recall what plant they were on now and it was only a few days ago that I found them, maybe hazel? I was asking myself there by the way, not you and so don't feel obliged to answer, unless you know of course. I think they must be plant bugs rather than aphids or anything like that but who knows? I sure don't!

You see...this is how my brain lets me down, what has the above photo got to do with knees? Nowt is the one word answer. I...distracted myself there and my original thought pattern disappeared faster than a f**t in a fan factory...as they say in these parts. Let me try and drag it back kicking and screaming to the forefront of my overtired mind. I was about to say this...

"Did you know that ladybirds/bugs bleed from their knees?"

Yes, it's true. Startle a ladybird (not sure how I startled this one or even if it was me that did so) and it will ooze a foul substance from its knees. This process, that is supposed to deter any predator is called reflex bleeding. The 'Hemolymph' (the fluid in the cavities and body tissues of insects which transports nutrients) is both toxic and frankly, disgusting.

I have been photographing hoppers whilst out and about with the camera and here are just some that I have collected over the past few weeks...

Now that I see them here, I think there may be two versions of one of the pictures? Oh well, put it down to my poor vision? I am always seeing double.

Joking aside (yes, that was a joke) my eyesight can't be too bad or I would never have been able to find this extremely small springtail...

Almost certainly the smallest collembola I have yet photographed. I couldn't begin to hazard a guess at an identity at this tender age but I daresay there are people who will know.

Wanna see something you don't see everyday? Oh goody, 'cos I was going to post it next anyway...

These slender and slow moving insects are called stilt bugs. They belong in the Berytidae family. I think this could be Metatropis rufescens. I have only ever found two individuals and so assume they are not too common locally.

Edit: Oh no it isn't! Please see comments for correct ID (Thanks Maria) This is in fact a similar bug of a different family: Reduviidae  At least this means I probably have never found one of these before...

Well I think it's time for me to add the very last picture for this update and it brings us right back where we started, with a grey squirrel. I photographed this one at a local park a few days ago...

Don't just sit there....run, run...they are out to get you little squirrel!

Until the next time...

Where have all the croci gone?

Although weather-wise it doesn't feel as though winter has ever fully arrived, there are already signs of spring. I'm not stupid...well, stupid enough then, to think that we are out of the woods yet though. As I write, today is the last day of January and although February is a short month, dramas can still
unfold...'when winter comes howling in' as the song goes.
I found this quote that I liked: 'February, and the air's so balmy snowdrops and crocuses might be fooled into early blooming. Then, the inevitable blizzard will come, blighting our harbingers of spring...' 

Well this year the crocuses have already bloomed in January, but more of that later.

Wishing to find little projects to see me through the darkest days, I set about cleaning out the garden nest boxes and decided to install a little black and white video camera in one of them in the hope of watching blue-tits nesting come springtime...

You can see the white wiring installed to the top left of the left-hand photo. The right photo shows the little camera inside the box.

The wiring is then linked to a monitor inside my studio...

And this is the view I get of the nest-box...

No guarantee that this will be the chosen nest-box of course but fingers crossed-it has been used in previous years. 

  

After a dodgy start Thursday 29th January turned into a sunny but cold winter's day and so, eager to take advantage of the rare good weather, I loaded the car with my camera gear, plenty of warm clothing and a flask of hot coffee and headed for Tonbridge. 

My destination was the castle at the top end of town. By the time I arrived at around 11am we had blue skies...

The castle itself looked majestic set against the blue sky...

There were plenty of pigeons along the footpaths,eagerly waiting to be fed...

And a robin that was obviously used to people and seemed quite friendly...

A female blackbird searching for scraps amongst the leaf-litter...

The best fun was watching the squirrels though. They were busy feeding on whatever they could source, probably seeking out their caches too and it was fantastic just to sit in the sunshine on one of the wooden park benches and observe them...

At one spot where I was watching them, I saw one particular grey that seemed to be spending quite a bit of time amongst the crocus...

It dawned on me eventually that it was actually picking and eating the crocus flowers...

I suppose I should have realised that grey squirrels being mainly herbivorous would eat not only nuts and seeds but also berries, and flower buds. I read up on this behaviour when I got home and found that when food is scarce, they will also eat insects, birds eggs, small rodents and even nestlings.

It turns out that crocus flowers are a real favourite with grey squirrels...

That was my very pleasant couple of hours spent at the castle this week and I headed for the car park with painfully cold hands, but a sense of satisfaction and enjoyment that fully compensated for any discomfort.

I resolved to re-visit on a warmer day and try for some more shots of the squirrels, but this time to try and take my time and capture some of them more animated...

Until the next time...

A visit to Wildwood...

Jan 11th 2014 - Wildwood: Herne Bay Kent.

A Little Egret (Egretta garzetta)

After an early frost, Saturday 11th turned into a blue-sky bonanza! Amazing weather for mid-January and I was excited to at last be visiting the animal park I had passed many times but never looked around.
Travelling through Biddenden towards Pluckley, I made a point of looking for the wild egrets that I had seen once before but not managed to photograph-sure enough, there were a pair a way off in a field full of sheep. 
With my lens at full stretch, I could just about capture enough detail. Even better, I was able to confirm that the large raptors I had heard and seen on a couple of occasions were as I had suspected, red kite. Edit:My thanks to Maria Justamond for the following information: Hate to say this (please do delete this section before 'approving it) but your 'red kite' photo is actually a buzzard. Wrong wing and tail shape, as well as wrong colouring for a kite. No doubt you've seen the kite, but that isn't a photo of it. Sorry.

Only wrong on just the three counts then Maria. I have to say that I did wonder about the tail shape and also head colour but just thought it must be a red kite and didn't even consider buzzard. Disappointing but so pleased you put me right...the only excuse I can muster is that...'I haven't had much experience with birds!'

I have left the link at the end of this update to a report in a local newspaper about these birds. The photo below isn't one that I could say I am proud of as far as quality and detail go, but I felt it worthy of inclusion.

Buzzard (see my edit)

Red Kite for comparison (not my photo)

Arriving at Wildwood just after opening time (10am) I was a little disappointed at how, messy the entrance was-I suppose I was expecting something more impressive, when actually, it involved driving through a kind of mini-trading estate. The road was pot-holed and uneven and the Wildwood car park matched.

At reception however, I found the staff friendly and helpful, having parted with my £9.50 entrance fee, I was given a slip of paper that detailed feeding times for the day, along with a map and a couple of other leaflets.Declining their offer to become a 'member' for...'Just £3.50 per month' (I took details and said I'd think about it) I was pointed in the direction of the animals.

Being winter, there were a good number of animals that I wouldn't see as they'd be hibernating or sleeping, hiding away from the cold etc. I calculated that I could expect to maybe find about half the actual total...

I thought I'd begin with this creature because Wildwood advertise themselves as being 'The home of British wildlife, past and present' and this as you probably already know is an elk. I didn't realise that elk ever roamed the British Isles-I knew that there is an extinct species called the Irish Elk but this is apparently the Eurasian Elk and so I guess they did once inhabit the U.K. 

What is an elk anyhow? Isn't it another name for a moose? Or is a moose a larger animal? 
I guess I should take the time to find out about these things.


There were other deer at the park:

I'm not sure what this big stag was trying to tell me but I'm fairly sure it wasn't good news? Maybe he'd had his fill of photographers for the week and just wanted to be left alone with his harem?

I know that by the time I was at the enclosure where the deer are held, the head count of unruly little brats...erm...sorry, I mean, well behaved, interested children was increasing dramatically and if he wasn't getting fed up with them, I was! 
I know these places have to catch children's attention early on to inspire them in later life but most seemed to me to be more interested in trying to frighten the animals, or engage in shouting matches.

Still, I managed to keep my cool, even when the bright young thing standing next to me was trying to see how much water he could transfer from the puddle between us to my legs by stamping as hard as he could!
These are red deer by the way.



Next up were the red foxes...

I had been looking forward to seeing and photographing the red squirrel but found that, as with so many of the smaller animals, they were confined in cages that had a very close mesh wire around them, that wasn't conducive to getting clear/clean photos. They are such superb little animals though and I was really taken with them and their striking ear tufts and rufous coats. I shall make it my challenge to find and photograph more at some stage through 2014 for sure.

There were also a number of friendly, wild grey's foraging in several areas outside of the red squirrel compound...

Another animal that I was hoping to photograph was the grey heron. My home town of Cranbrook takes its name from this bird. Well, okay 'crane' but it's thought more likely, or at least debatable that it is the heron, as the area has always been known for having good numbers of the birds.

I had a wonderful half an hour photographing the heron-I wish the head of the in-flight photo had been just a tad more in focus but then, I am always critical of my work.
These are impressive creatures with a wingspan of around 6ft. Probably the largest bird you are likely to see in your garden here in Kent.
As you can see in the photo on the right here, this heron is on its nest. It is not unusual apparently for heron's to lay eggs in early February.

The numbers of grey heron breeding in the U.K. has been steadily rising; although they do suffer in bad/cold winters, when ponds and lakes remain frozen, cutting off their food supply.

It's thought that people who try to protect their fish ponds from a marauding heron by placing a decoy, are in fact just encouraging them to visit.

There are crane at Wildwood but I didn't manage to see one on the day. This is a stork. Another bird once found wild in the British Isles but now sadly only in places like Wildwood.


And so I think I actually saw around 30 species on my visit. I didn't photograph lots of them just because the surroundings looked so unnatural but all the same, a great place to visit and I really enjoyed my time there.

Ideally for me, I would have liked to see larger cages for some of the animals and for instance, I disliked the way the wolves constantly patrolled their perimeter fence-just pacing back and forth. I know that Wildwood do a lot of good conservation-wise and all care deeply about their animals. I would like to visit again come summer, but for now, I'll leave you with a photo of a wild boar-I was shocked at just how large these beasts are.

Until the next time then...

Red Kite Story (Link)
The Wildwood Trust (Link)