Another heavily overcast day, and I only had a short gap between meetings at lunchtime. Just enough time to head to the edge of the campus where I stopped by a small plot fenced off for future building work. It's lined by some light woodland; and seems to be home to a pair of kestrels.
The light was dreadful and I cranked up to ISO 1000 and then 1250, under exposed to generate some semblance of shutter speed, and steadied the camera against the criss-cross wire fencing. The female kestrel
The male kestrel
Female again
Male again
Coming in to land
Heading for the woods
Perching on a brick store Camera note: all shots taken with the Canon 40D and EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L USM IS lens.
It feels like it's been quite a while since I had a really good afternoon with the kestrels, but the sun was bright today and I had a good feeling that my luck would be in. Sure enough a female was out hunting in the valley. Or rather, she was hunting all over Sheepcote Valley and led me a merry dance as I followed her around. Good exercise though!
During one of her hovers she attracted the casual attention of some gulls. They didn't mob. It was more a case of investigating and moving on. In this shot the gull is a little closer to the camera (but not too much), but it gives a rough approximation of the difference in size.
There are a few more shots from today in the Kestrels 2009 album. You need to go to the end of the album for today's shots.
The other reason I headed to this location was that last time I was there I saw a stoat. The moment was too fleeting to photograph it, but I have a fair idea of its home territory and went to have another look today. I saw a movement, probably the stoat, but even more fleeting than the previous time. So I can't really claim a sighting, just enough of a hint to encourage me to go back when I have the chance. I suspect I'll need to sit and wait... and wait. Or set the camera up on a tripod with a radio trigger and hide myself away. But I'm sure it's there. Camera note: all shots taken with the Canon 40D and EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L USM IS lens.
We are being blessed by a late burst of summer. The temperature is mild, the skies blue (most of the time), and the autumnal colours are vibrant. Autumn colour
The day had in fact begun with greying overcast skies, and a touch of rain in the air, so it was welcome bonus to find the sun out at lunchtime. The cattle were out in the fields, and at least one young male was feeling rather frisky. Cattle
Others were behaving rather more sedately, sheltering in the shade of the trees.
In the distance a kestrel cut across the edge of the woods.
I followed. It settled in the tree and then rose again to hover. I debated whether to move across to get closer or to watch and wait. I waited. And I was rewarded when the kestrel tired of its hunting patch and swept across the fields to the wooded area on the far side of the valley. Kestrel
I followed him for a while, knowing that in doing so I was heading in precisely the opposite direction to where I should have been going. But a lunchtime kestrel is a lunchtime bonus that is hard to forgo.
And this is the video from last night, when Bold was investigating the torch and trail cam. Quality is not good, but you can see her now quite distinctive limp (which I think must be permanent).
Camera note: all shots taken with the Canon 40D and EF 400mm f/5.6L USM lens.
After all the recent mobbing posts by UKWildlife, I came across my own version of the game today. This time it was a kestrel being mobbed by a... kestrel. I was a long way off and so the photos aren't up to much but you'll get the picture.
And if that wasn't enough, a few minutes later a kestrel turned on a crow...
Not a wise move... Camera note: all shots taken with the Canon 40D and EF 400mm f/5.6L USM lens.
The sun disappeared shortly before we made it out this afternoon. We headed for Castle Hill, a local nature reserve which is an archetypical downland landscape of rolling hills dotted with fields.
You can sometimes see buzzards overhead, but none were about today. You can always see kestrels, though it can be difficult to get close to them. Kestrel in flight
On our way in we had spotted some kestrel feathers on the ground, and nearby rather more feathers from another bird. It looked as though there had been some sort of scrap between them (with the kestrel coming off rather better). There were also what looked like pellets on the ground, but I'm hopeless at identifying these and I could be completely wrong about what they are. There were two or three within a small area, near the kestrel's feathers. Kestrel feather
Pellet?
Down in the valley we came across a small group of ponies. These are quite unusual on the Downs. We often see horses in fields (with and without riders), but I've never seen free-grazing ponies before. Ponies
Far more common are cattle, though you need to be wary round these creatures especially when they decide to stampede towards the nearest watering trough. Cattle 'stampede'
And of course, the Sussex Downs wouldn't be the Downs without sheep. These are by Balsdean Farm, part of a village area that was abandoned during the last war (it was used by the military for artillery practice at the time), and apart from a couple of post war barns (now disused) has all but vanished. Sheep at Balsdean
Finally, there were the pigeons. Flocks of them rising from the fields, circling and then settling down again. Click to enlarge Camera note: all shots taken with the Canon 40D and EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L USM IS, except the landscape which was taken with the EF17-40mm f/4L USM lens.
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OK, so ...
The female kestrel
The male kestrel
Female again
Male again
Coming in to land
Heading for the woods
Perching on a brick store
WIDGETIZE