Attenborough Nature Reserve

On Thursday the 19th I met with wildlife photographer and film-maker Jack Perks at Attenborough Nature Reserve in Nottingham. 

We spent the day experimenting with my GoPro and using the various hides to photograph the local wildlife, including Kingfishers & Bitterns (we didn't have much luck with the Bitterns!) It was a great experience to spend the day with Jack, talking about our collective interest in nature. I managed to capture a few images that I was pleased with over the course of the day, and I even spotted a perched kingfisher along the river!

We used the first few hours working with the different species around the visitors centre, including Mallards, Canada Geese and Tufted Duck. The robins around the reserve have become very confident around humans, allowing us to hand feed them, but also get some unclose photos.

We spend the afternoon visiting the hides around the reserve. We watched Great Crested Grebes fishing, Canada Geese fighting and also saw 4 oyster catchers! I normally only see them in Cornwall!

I had never seen a kingfisher before, so it was really exciting when I spotted this one perched alongside the river! Jack taught me the call of a kingfisher so hopefully I'll be able to spot them again in the future! Overall, it was a really enjoyable day which I would recommend to anyone interested in nature or wildlife photography.

Garden Bird Comparisons - Rural & Sub-urban!

If you've been following my blog recently you will know that I took part in the Big Garden Bird Watch  on the weekend of the 24th of January, which is run by the RSPB. I collected all my data and made some graphs to compare the different species which visited over the hour duration. 

I wanted to take it one step further, so I collaborated with one of my friends who lives in a sub-urban environment. I got them to record their garden visitors over the same duration, at the same time in the day to ensure the fairest test possible. They also used the same types of bird feed as me, so as not to be biased towards a certain species. I then collected all the data from both locations (rural and sub-urban) and compared them using tables and graphs. What I found was very interesting…

As you would expect (or maybe you wouldn't) the rural setting (my garden) received a higher number of visitors over the hour, reaching 88 overall, with the sub-urban setting getting 50 visitors over the duration. This was what I expected, as rural environments generally have a higher population density of wildlife. The pie chart below clearly shows the difference between the number of visitors, comparing the two locations.

I did not want to stop there. I used excel to create a radial graph to display all of the collected data, revealing a very interesting thing. As you can see, the suburbs (represented by the red line) is very restricted within the 0-10 section, with most species barely making it out of the 5 zone. This is dramatically juxtaposed with the rural results (represented by the blue line), where there is a very clear spike with the Wood pigeon numbers and the Sparrow numbers. After a while considering why this was...

In a sub-urban setting, everything is relatively similar. The gardens are near identical, and their are rarely any major features (such as a river, reed bed or woodland). This restrictive habitat provides a useful habitat for wildlife, but it does not specifically focus on catering for a specific species (like a river caters for kingfishers, and a reed bed caters for bearded tits).

However, a rural setting is much more likely to provide a habitat for specific species. For example, there is a coniferous woodland near our house, hence why the wood pigeon population is so high. Our garden is also bordered with a mature hedgerow, providing a safe haven for sparrows, hence why the sparrow population is so high. 

The rural environment is therefore a lot more unreliable. If you do not know the specific landscape features (river, woodland, farmland) it is much harder to predict the species. However, the suburbs are more predictable, as they are all (relatively speaking) the same, providing a suitable environment for more scavenger type birds such as pigeons, magpies and jackdaws, along with the traditional garden birds.

Finally, I made a percentage graph. I personally think that these graphs display the information in the best way. It is quite hard to get your head round at first, but for example: Even though only 2 feral pigeons were seen, 100% of those two pigeons were seen in the suburbs. 

This graph shows that there are 4 species which were in the rural setting but not in the suburbs, and 4 that were seen in the suburbs but not in the rural setting. These therefore cancel each other out (in a sense). We are then left with 7 species common to both locations, and as you can see there is a very equal distribution between the two location on average. 

In conclusion, we can therefore state:

• Both locations have the same diversity of species.
• The rural setting is more suited to a specific species.
• The sub-urban setting has a more evenly distributed species population.

Big Garden Birdwatch 2015

As I'm sure many of you know, over the weekend it was the Big Garden Birdwatch 2015 which is ran by the RSPB. 

It is the world's largest wildlife survey, and it takes pace every year, providing millions of sets of data. This allows us to see whether species are declining, rising or staying the same. This year was the first year I have taken part! I spent 1 hour, from 8 till 9, recording the birds visiting the garden, and then recording them. For the BGBW you have to record the highest amount of birds you see at any one time. I did this and submitted the results, however I also conducted my own survey, counting the total number of birds visiting over the whole hour. Here are my results:

As you can see over 40% of the visits were by wood pigeons! They are easily my most common bird, due to the fact that there is a coniferous woodland at the end of the garden which provides a roosting area for loads of pigeons, probably over 100. It was therefore pretty inevitable not to get this biased result!

I then made a bar chart to compare the visits between the smaller garden birds & the less common visitors. The blue tit was my most common visitor to the bird feeders with 9 different individuals visiting over the hour. I had to take an educated guess whether they were the same or different individuals, by taking into account the direction they came from and then left in, and also there size and general build. I had 5 visits from both the Robin and the Blackbird, and 3 from the Great Tit and Collard Dove. The Carrion Crow, Magpie and Gull individuals were spotted in the trees around my garden, or flying overhead. Last but not least, the Dunnock with one visit. Below are a few photos taken during the birdwatch, and also the hours shortly after!

During the hour after the Birdwatch:

 If you joined in the BGBW I hope you enjoyed it as much as me! I look forward to next year, and to see if my results change...

CORNWALL 2014

Cornwall is one of my favourite places….ever. 

I have been going camping there since I was young, and my grandparents even went there when they were little. The last summer I spent just over 2 weeks there, going swimming everyday and taking evening walks along the beach! The field where we camp is literally a 5 minute stroll to the beach, and a 10 minute walk to the beach shop which make very nice pasties! 

The wildlife around the campsite and coast is incredible. I think this is because of the huge range of habitats, including wildflower meadows, rock pools and lagoons. 

Whilst on a walk with Pippin, I noticed this lady meditating. I don't know why but it made me so relaxed. I love the photograph above as it is so simple, but can tell 1000 words.

I am working on making a short episode on the wildlife in Cornwall. I got footage of sea anemones to corn buntings. I wanted the episode to look professional… let me know what you think.

Here are a few of the photos I took over the 2 weeks :)

We had to make an enclosure out of wind breakers so that Pippin couldn't escape! She managed to get out a few times which she found really exciting, thankfully she didn't cause too much mischief. The beach we visit is called Porthcothan beach, and is often completely empty. We often see grey seals swimming around the rocks, and have even swam with them once! Unfortunately I didn't have my underwater GoPro so couldn't get any shots.

As you can see in the photo below, our caravan has an amazing view of the wildflower fields and the ocean. The hedgerows are alive with butterflies and bees in the summer, and I use a net to catch them and count the different species.

I spotted this bird perched on a branch whist taking photos of butterflies. I think it may be a corn bunting which would be very exciting and they are quite rare. It's a shame about there dramatic decline over the past few years. However, wildflower meadows like those around the campsite are excellent to improve the biodiversity of the area as the more insects, the more birds, the more mammals!

I went on a wildlife boat trip in Padstow in which I spotted Grey seals (as above), razorbills, oyster catchers and so many more bird species! We also spotted a HUGE jellyfish.

I use a net and bucket to go rock pooling and investigate the species which are around the coast. As the tide rises and connects the rock pools to the open ocean you never quite know what your going to find! Some of the species I recorded where snake-locks anemones, strawberry anemones and shrimps.

In the shallow waters around the coast there are literally hundreds of common blue jellyfish. I collected a few of them in a bucket to take some photos of to study.

I especially liked doing the time-lapse of the tide rising into the rock pools. When I visit next I'm going to try and do an underwater time-lapse of the rock pools, maybe seeing the movement of snails and jellyfish!

I look forward to next year already!

5,000 VIEWS ON MY BLOG!

My blog has reached 5,000 views! I have been thinking of lots of new ideas to mark this milestone, and one of those ideas was to install a bird feeding station into my garden. 

As it's winter and the birds are very brave, as there is little food around, I have decided to put the feeding station directly outside out french doors. This will hopefully allow me to get some nice close up shots of the visiting birds. Within minutes of installation I had spotted a female blackbird, a blue tit, a great tit, a coal tit, a robin and a wren on (and around) the feeders! I also spotted a few fieldfares among the trees. 

The sunset the other nice was spectacular. Whilst taking a few shots, I almost felt like I was on an evening game trip in the African bush! I wondered if I could try to create a shot that illustrated this African vision even more… I set the camera to manual focus, and then blurred the image ever so slightly. This created a really nice image, almost representing the haze you would experience in an area such as Africa. I was really pleased with the final image.

The next morning also had a really photogenic aspect to it, with the frozen due on the grass and the leaves. I spent a few minutes capturing some images around the garden, whilst watching the birds on my new feeding station.

I love how the sun is highlighting the edges of the frost in this picture. The robin below spent the morning perched on the top of the bird feeding pole… and if any other birds, especially robins, came nearby it would fight them off and then hop back onto its sentry perch!

I have to admit, I have been quite lazy with bird feeders recently, mainly because of school work and other commitments. However, I have made sure to break the ice on the pond every morning as the water is vital to the birds and other local wildlife. I was amazed about how quickly the birds discovered these new bird feeders, and even started to form a hierarchy! 

Lindor Chocolate Bird bath!

For christmas I received a huge lindor truffle full of little lindor truffles! The clear plastic sphere which formed the big truffle gave me an idea. I used one of the half-sphere segments to create a modern, and very unique, type of bird bath. It was pretty simple to assemble. I used a chain from another previous bird feeder to attach to either side of the bowl. 

I really like the way you can see an inverted image of the surrounding in the bowl. As the bowl is transparent, I will also be able to see the birds drinking and washing in it underwater! I have also thought of using my GoPro somehow to film the birds from under the water, by positioning it at the bottom of the bowl.

I also received another suet bird feeder for christmas, and I am planning on putting that up tomorrow. Gosh, the birds aren't going to be hungry this winter!

HARVEST MOUSE HOME FOR HOLIDAYS!

I have taken home on of the harvest mice which are kept at our school in the biology department.

 I will be keeping he/she for 3 weeks, and will therefore have loads of opportunities to photograph and film this little creature! I have made its enclosure as natural as possible, using straw, wheat and small twigs, whilst also providing seeds and nuts for it to feed on. 

 

I have been experimenting with different types of lighting, as I didn't want to use a flash as it could damage or distress the animal. In this photo above, I have used a Orange A3 piece of card as a backdrop to extentuate the orange tones of both the what and the harvest mouse. I am going to continue to experiment with different camera shots over the holidays, in amongst all my revision for my GCSE mocks coming up. 

If you have any ideas/advise,  please contact me: wildlifeonfilm@gmail.com.

 

Autumnwatch Adventure!!

Well, what can say! The past three days have been incredible. 

Last week, I got an email saying one of the producers of Autumn watch had seen my 'My Autumn' video on my youtube channel. They asked if they could feature some of the clips on this years Autumn watch series. I obviously said yes! And so it began...

I later got asked if I could like to travel up to RSPB Leighton Moss just south of the Lake District, and I too said yes! My seal birth video got shown on the opening night (Tuesday 28th) of Autumn watch. A massive 2.7 MILLION people saw my clip, according to the BBC's statistics! To know that millions of people have now seen this spectacular event (the grey seal birth) is amazing, and it's even better knowing that it was my footage! Below is a still of the birth, seconds after the event. If you want to watch all the footage, click here. My footage is 57 minutes into the program.

Michela and Martin loved the clip! Martin said 'what an amazing thing to see, to actually capture on camera' followed by Michela saying 'thank you very much Billy for that.' I'm so pleased they like it, even if Martin did find it a little 'shocking'!

I spent the day looking around the RSPB reserve with my mum, and I managed to get quite a few nice shots. Pheasants were originally introduced from China by the romans, but I still love to photograph there amazing colours.

They have such elaborate characters. I really don't see why people take these magnificent animals for granted, and even purposely breed them to shoot. This individual was very confident!

The birds around the reserve were so tame, probably due to so many visits from the public. The huge variety of birds amazed me! At one point, there was a chaffinch, a great tit, a blue tit, a dunnock, a robin and a nuthatch in one tree, all the the same time! This is why reserves like Leighton Moss are so important, providing a safe haven for all different types of animals.

I don't get nuthatches on my patch, so it was a real treat to get some shots of this little chap! I think the bird below is a Dunnock, but do correct me if I'm wrong.

Me and my mum visited lots of the different hides around the reserve. At one point we saw a marsh harrier being mobbed by two crows. It was a really interesting thing to watch, as I really enjoy spectating animal behaviour between different species. 

We even spotted 3 Red deer emerging from the reed beds. It was a shame that we didn't get to see any otters or bearded tits, but it was still great to be able to see all the other wildlife. I have found out that it is possible for me to get a train all the way to Silverdale (which is very close to the reserve)! Knowing this, I am positive that I will be visiting again soon in the future.

If you watched the show, you would have seen this tawny owl. Martin was doing some live experiments with him about how they managed to fly so silently. We got to meet the owl before the Unsprung show. Whilst we were watching the main shown, I could hear all the editing and production teams contacting the presenters and cameraman on walkie-talkies. It was really exciting, and reassured  me that it is definitely the profession I want to persue. 

Here's me and my mum in the crews dining tent. Whilst we were having diner we were amongst all the crew, including the producers, the cameramen and some of the presenters. 

I'm sure most of you know who Georgia Locock is. It was great to meet her briefly, and we are hopefully going to make arrangements to meet up again in the future. Visit her blog: http://georgiaswildlifewatch.wordpress.com

I met Nick Baker after Unsprung, and even shared a car with him on the way back to the RSPB visitors centre. I managed to give him my blog details too! 

It was a long day, but it was a very exciting experience. I am going to try so stay in contact with some of the great people I met. Remember to keep tune into BBC 2 at 8 O'Clock tomorrow for the main show, and then Unsprung straight after!