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In Our Nature CIC

Happy New Year

Well, considering my last blog was titled ‘I’m back’ all the way back in February, I wouldn’t take this blog very serious if it involves speaking about my goals for 2024, as they never seem to materialise lol..

As soon as the breeding season hits, my work load just skyrockets and I rarely get the time to do photography and sound recording anymore, let alone blog. We all need money though and without it I couldn’t do all these wonderful things anyway. Gear is so expensive these days and with constant new innovations, there’s always something to spend money on..

Photography


Below, seems like a lot of photos but most of these images were taken on just a handful of trips and most from the comfort of my garden for the latter half of the year.

Skomer Island was certainly highlight, which it always is, but every trip to the coast is uplifting.
Otherwise, I spent my usual free time over the summer months monitoring over 20 pairs of Nightjar and Long-Eared Owls, both for personal and licensed work. Overall though I spent more time searching new areas than I did re-visiting old ones. For instance I spent a fair few hours in search of Club-tailed Dragonflies along the River Usk, (with no luck might I add) but if you don’t look, you don’t find, and I’m not afraid of going home empty handed anymore. A recent trip to Whiteford point was a nice refreshing example of that for me, as I left the camera at home. It’s nice to be free of that pressure of ‘getting nice images’ and just enjoying yourself, being outdoors and taking it all in. Strip yourself back and leave the camera at home, it’ll do you the world of good. Oh, and buy yourself a pair of binoculars if you’re still relying on other people finding the good stuff for you ;)

New Home & Garden

Amongst everything else, the new house has taken priority above all this year, with so much that needs doing. The Garden being the biggest project left to complete, with every single bit of wood, completely rotten, so it needs to go. Some how though, I did find the time to dig a pond, which actually resulted in me getting a mega garden tick in the form of an Osprey!! lol. Would upload the phone video but internet is terrible here. So here are some funny progress pics instead and a screen grab of the Osprey.

Sound Recording

My sound recording journey this year really paints more of a picture of the seasons than any of my photographs do really. Even though I still wish I had more time for it, with sound, you don’t just need free time, you need good weather, so it’s even harder to find those windows of opportunity. Low wind is my friend though, no matter what the temp, even if it's wet, if it’s windy, it’s hard to work around with a parabolic dish.

The first recording of spring migrants for me this year was this Tree Pipit, at a time were there really wasn’t very many in the county yet, this guy was pumping it out on a clearfel.

Skipping ahead, it’s always nice to hear the sound of mammals. They’re a difficult subject to record as you may have one in front of you but there’s no guaranty you’ll get any vocals, so with mammals like this Water Shrew, you just have to make the most of the opportunity you’re given. This was during a Lapwing Survey on the Gwent Levels.

Whilst in full swing of the busy season, spring migration can turn up anything but I don’t think anybody was expecting a few Great Reed Warblers, and this has got to be one of my favourites of the year, even though I didn’t get a very good image, the sound recording was far more impressive and it’s not very often you’ll get a nice singing male performing like this in the Uk. Another first for me from Hamm Wall Nature Reserve. Does this beat the River Warbler from last year? I’ll post that recording below so you can compare ;)

This was always going to be a length blog… Below, an annual trip to hear the Nightingales at highnam woods is turning out to be a little bitter-sweat, as whilst I absolutely love hearing them, it’s so annoying that the woods are so close to the road and there really is no escaping that sound. If there’s one thing i’d love todo in 2024, it’s find a better location to record these fast declining species.

A few of licensed Long-eared Owl work this year

I think I’ll leave it there lol, trying to cram in what should have been several blogs into one but I hope you’ve enjoyed listening to at-least some of it. If any, listen to this garden warbler with a good pair of headphones. They’ve got to be one of my favourite songsters. That tonality just carries itself and needs no accompany.

In Our Nature CIC

Just a final plug for my business, ION is still doing really well and has been so busy this year, running weekly guided walks since April. The project ‘Take A Moment’ was granted in April and is running to April 2024! So if you haven’t got on the band wagon yet, check out our What’s On Page. We’ll be running plenty more specialist Saturday events too, with Fungi, Otters, Tree ID, Spring Flowers, Bird Song and many more that have been quite popular so far. Here’s some pictures of our events, mostly of the back of my head lol. Quite proud of the amount we’ve achieved this year, with the new house, ontop of all my ecology work in the private sector, Bats, Birds, Reptiles and Amphibian work. It’s been a crazy one, but all worth it.

Happy New Year all, hope you all have a fantastic 2024, especially if 2023 has been a difficult one for you. Now get outdoors and enjoy the planet before we screw it up even more!! The clock is ticking.

Pre-spring

I’ve always thought that spring was my favourite season, and it probably is. But I’ve got to admit, Spring wouldn’t be quite the same if it weren’t for those little signs in the winter period that mark the start of new beginnings. The more I learn, the earlier these signs are, which is really making be appreciate the colder months more. Between that, and climate change, Winters don’t feel nearly as long for me as they used to.. Daffodils have been sprouting in my Garden since early January and on the warmer days I’ve seen plenty of nest building, frog spawning and flowers emerging. One flower I always seem to miss though is actually from a Hazel Tree, as they are very small and being colourblind (with Red) I find them hard to spot unless I’m quite close up.

You’ll notice a lot more landscape shots than usual and that’s because I’m lending a lens from a friend (16-35mm) which is the widest lens I’ve ever used so I’m quite enjoying it. I’ve never really been bothered about landscapes, mostly because I’ve always used crop-sensor bodies which don’t exploit the full width of the lens.

In Our Nature CIC

Be sure to check out our event page as we start to dish out this years outdoor walks: Starting with a Bird Song ID walk and a Noticing Nature Walk, which was one of our most popular walk types last year.

Breeding Season

What a month so far! No idea how I’m managing to fit all this in but it’s been such a special spring and despite a delay in the breeding season, things have burst into life, warm temps, lots of emerging insects, moths, dragonflies and just in time for our breeding birds to feed their chicks. I was beginning to worry about my Nightjar this year as Moth counts have been super low, which has resulted in them delaying their egg laying. Some have only just paired up which is crazy and overall I’m seeing less than half the pairs compared to the previous year. The bracken has come up quite fast as always though, so their habitat is looking perfect for egg laying. This month I’ve lead a few walks, one for In Our Nature CIC which was an introduction to Bird Song, with a perfect sized group. We aim todo another by the end of June to continue our progress. It’s great to see people show an interest in learning more about the natural world, as it really does help us find our place in the world. The other walk was my annual Nightjar walk for Gwent Ornithological Society, which was well attended with 20 people, but so many more people expressed their interest in another Nightjar walk as they weren’t able to attend the first, so we’ve arranged todo another on June 18th. Details of which to be found on the GOS website.

I’m not a twitcher, but it’s always nice to see or hear things I’ve never seen before, so every year I try to add a few more to the list of experiences. One big one has been hearing a Nightingale, as we don’t get them here in Wales and the closest know location is Highnam Woods in Gloucester. Two attempts, one in April (too early) and one in June (too late), so next year I must make more of an effort in May. It’s just difficult to enjoy spring as breeding bird survey season is the busiest time of year for me.

As you’ll see in the pics below I’ve still been quite busy. My nightjar have seen some drama, with one of my males injuring his nose. Still don’t even know if he’s survived his injury but he was paired up so I hope he does.

Recordings

For the minority sound recorders reading this, I’ve been beta testing a microphone configuration, using two Schoeps CCM 2’s (Loan from Schoeps) and my own Schoeps CCM 4 inside a Telinga/Rycote dish system. I’m always striving to improve the sound quality of my gear and with this setup, I really feel like I’ve hit the limits of what’s actually possible. The CCM 4 is the most accurate sounding microphone I’ve ever used, and in combination with two CCM 2’s outside of the dish, it really makes for a powerful setup in the right hands. I say in the right hands, because using the CCM 4 inside the dish, hand held, is quite difficult, as the handling noise compared to many of the more affordable Telinga Setups is no comparison. It just shows that in order to get the most accurate recording as far as sound quality is concerned, it comes at a cost. For me though, this cost is well worth it, as it’s forced me to approach my recordings differently. Most of the recordings below are still hand held, but for static subjects I’ve taken to using a monopod when possible, as it just gives me that extra stability and far less handling noise for longer time periods.

One of my favourite experiences using this new setup was actually at the River Warbler ‘twitch’ at RSPB Ham Wall Nature Reserve over the weekend. It’s a magical reserve that I’ve blogged about many times. It’s potentially my favourite reserve of all time, full of spectacular species, most of which are quite rare breeders anywhere else in the Uk. The River Warbler was the first in the country in almost 11 years I believe, so it’s a super rare bird and a first for me, but I was less eager to see it, and more excited to hear this incredible sound! They are very similar looking to a Grasshopper Warbler in terms of shape and size, but generally quite dark, with most of their more interesting features on the breast and under-tail coverts, but like I said, It’s all about that sound for me! and there’s nothing quite like it. Savi’s Warbler is more electric, Grasshopper Warbler is more like a Grasshopper but this sound is clearly a sound that is designed to carry over fast flowing water and is so much louder than any other bird I’ve he

In Our Nature CIC

Be sure to check out my business In Our Nature CIC as we roll out free online workshops and downloadable resources, as part of our Heritage Lottery funded project My Local Patch.

We have a few dates for the diary, which were intended on being outdoor workshops originally but we’re having to adapt like many other businesses and provide our workshops online. It’s all new for us so bare with us as we digitise all our material. It’s the perfect time to celebrate our local patches, and be thankful for the things we do have on our doorstep during these difficult times.

Naturally I’ve diverted a lot of my time over to In Our Nature, which is another reason why I’ve focused so much on sound recording the last year, to increase my sound library to produce content that will be beneficial for educational purposes and therapeutic, as the sounds of nature really do have a positive impact on peoples mental health. That sense of freedom, roaming your favourite forest straight after a long lockdown is one of the biggest releases and I cannot wait to be able to travel again for that reason alone. For now I’ve been exploiting local patches, getting up that extra bit early to avoid the sounds of traffic, which isn’t always achievable but I’ve done my best. Local Marsh Tit’s were a real nice surprise, especially as they appeared to be paired up and singing. Generally though I’m just happy to start hearing more birds singing.

One interesting songster came in the form of this Chaffinch, which gave a little ‘brrrrrrr’ type trill at the start, as if it were warming up the vocals before giving it the full shebang.

Nocmig

I haven’t posted any updates on my nocturnal migration progress for a while, but I’m still at it!
So much to talk about I don’t even know where to start, but I hope to reveal some mystery files soon once I’ve got them approved but so far, a few good movements of Song Thrush, small numbers of Redwing, but the Mallards, Moorhens, Coots and Oystercatchers have began. I know as soon as I start to get Oystercatchers going over the house it’s game on.

I’ll end with some random doorstep photos, in what has been a variable and unpredictable few months of weather so far this year.