Skip navigation.

Everything is Permuted

Tales of a South Downs fox... and other ramblings

Posts tagged with "sparrowhawk"

Distant Raptors - It's just a hobby

Monday, 30. March 2009, 23:12:06

, , , ...

Yes they're back after their winter holidays. I saw a pair fly over the garden on Sunday. As ever they were too far off for more than a quick reference shot, but nice to see them back over the Sussex skies.

hobbyHobby

They weren't the only raptors about. A pair of sparrowhawks circled overhead, until the local gulls ganged up on them and sent them packing.

sparrowhawksA pair of sparrowhawks

This morning provided yet another opportunity for a ridiculously long shot. This time, it was a pair of buzzards coming in to land in a field. This is one of them.

buzzardBuzzard coming in to land

To complete the set I have managed one rather better shot recently (not forgetting the owl), which takes me back to Saturday when I grabbed a shot of a passing kestrel.

kestrelKestrel
Nature Blog Network
Camera note: all shots taken with the EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L USM IS lens.

10 comments

Saturday sea birds

Sunday, 8. February 2009, 00:59:07

, , , ...

After the gloom of yesterday, the weather changed again and the skies were bright, blue and inviting. Out in the garden this morning a sparrowhawk was circling.

sparrowhawkSparrowhawk

The weather held good until after lunch, and I debated whether to go searching for kestrels on the Downs or to head for the sea and the visiting fulmars. The sea birds won out, and I made my way to Rottingdean Beach.
Rottingdean Beach

The tide was out, and the gulls were gathered in small mixed flocks.

gullsVarious gulls

A pair of black-backed gulls flew over, and a lone curlew came in to the shore.

curlewCurlew

There were also a few oystercatchers and plovers about, but the stars of Rottingdean at the moment are the fulmars which skim the cliff tops...

fulmarFulmar

Perch in hollows...

fulmar

Squabble noisily among themselves...

fulmar

And patrol their territory with impressive dedication...

fulmar

There are several more shots in the Fulmar album. As for the fox, I spent the best part of an hour watching for him this evening, and caught a glimpse as he stood at the rear of the garden. He stayed in the shadows though, so once again there's no photo. But I'm in for the long game... and hoping for some slightly warmer nights. I have my limits when the temperature drops to around freezing and the pond ices over.
Nature Blog Network
Camera note: all shots were taken with the EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L USM IS lens.

12 comments

Rapt!

Sunday, 18. January 2009, 00:13:55

, ,

Sometimes you don't have to go too far to find something worth photographing. These first shots were taken in the garden this morning. The small birds were active on the feeders, and the wood pigeons were strutting as though they owned the place. The gulls were lazily circling overhead. Until, that is, an intruder crossed the sky. The small birds vanished and the gulls called urgently. I looked up. It took me a few moments to find the cause of the disruption to the avian routines, but sure enough a sparrowhawk was out hunting.

Occasionally they'll swoop low into garden, or chase a starling, but most times - as today - the gulls will see them off.
Gull chasing a sparrowhawk

Unlike the sparrowhawk, I rarely see kestrels over the gardens. Different prey means different territory. The sparrowhawk goes after birds, and gardens are like magnets. Kestrels prefer small rodents, and the long grass of the fields suits them rather better. In the afternoon I headed over to the Downs, and once again a male and female were out hunting. The light had deteriorated by then, but I was able to watch the female of the pair for about half an hour as she made repeated passes over the fields.
Kestrel swooping

Female kestrel perching

Finally, a brief fox (non)up-date. Nicked-ear is still around, still being flighty, and still avoiding the camera. Hopefully that will change as the year progresses, but it has given me the opportunity to go back over some old photos for my 'fox of the day' page, which is currently featuring pictures taken in January 2008 (when I was still calling nicked-ear the 'shy' vixen... seems I might have to start calling her that again). Here she is from January 24th, last year.
The shy vixen (nicked-ear), January 2008
Nature Blog Network
Camera note: sparrowhawk and kestrel photos taken with the Canon EOS 40D and EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L USM IS lens. The vixen was photographed with the Canon EOS 400D and Sigma 105mm F2.8 EX DG macro lens.

8 comments

Chichester, Sussex (part 2) - Swan Lake on Ice

Monday, 5. January 2009, 00:33:09

, , , ...

We were staying just outside Chichester and the day started well. Several roe deer were out in the field opposite while we enjoyed a 'full english' in the warmth of the hotel dining room. I also spotted what I think must have been a little egret fly over. That, or a swan. We were too distant to identify anything properly, and they were gone by the time we made it outside. I did grab a very snatched - distant - shot of a sparrowhawk as it swooped in front of the trees.
Sparrowhawk at full speed

On the Saturday evening we'd seen a sign for a local Falconry Centre. We searched, but without success. A woman in the local petrol station, where we stopped to ask having driven twice up and down the same road, said she thought it had closed a while ago. A shame, but it put us back on course for the planned part of the visit to Chichester Marina. As it turned out, the light was dire, and I was once again forced to shoot at ISO 1000 with an aperture generally wide open to get anything approaching sufficient shutter speed. Plus it was bitterly cold. Even flight shots were awkward as the greyness washed out all the colour. It was my first trip over to the marina, but it won't be the last. There's an amazing array birds, and even on a short trip (we weren't going to stay out for long in those temperatures) I was more than pleased with what I saw.

We started out at a small hide near the marina entrance. It overlooks some reed beds, and almost immediately a heron flew in close.
Heron

A buzzard passed overhead.
Buzzard

Curlews seem to have emerged from nowhere to be among my more common sightings. A large flock flew overhead, and then a little while later when I was photographing the Brent Geese I saw another one.
Curlew and Brent geese

The geese were out in number, behaving more like starlings than anything else (this one works best enlarged).
Brent Geese

We had more sightings of herons, but the real star turned out to be an ice skating swan. We came across the swan on the small canal which runs alongside the Marina. It was mostly frozen over, and this beauty was caught on the ice, unable to gain sufficient 'thrust' for a take off. I'll let the sequence speak for itself.








There was a happy ending though. Someone popped out from one of the house boats with some bread, freed up the ice a bit and the swan made it to water where it was rewarded with a few tidbits.

I'll close with a view along the canal. If you look closely I swear those coots are wearing skates. :smurf:


There are a few more shots of the heron and geese in the January Birds album. And for those who may have been wondering, my Fox of the Day page is back up and running.
Nature Blog Network
Camera note: all shots taken with the EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L USM IS lens.

22 comments

Pattern Recognition

Saturday, 18. October 2008, 22:44:25

,

It feels like it's been a long week, and work commitments have meant that I've missed much of the excellent autumn weather. To make up for it, last weekend I headed off to the Downs and found a kestrel. Today was spent in the garden clearing fallen leaves, sorting out the pond, and keeping my eyes on the sky overhead.

There were gulls and pigeons (of course), and small flocks of starlings. The jackdaws were massing, and an occasional magpie flew overhead. A general pattern developed, which meant I didn't have to concentrate too hard on the overhead activity to know when things changed. And they did. Twice.

Late morning I glanced up and noticed three large birds flying toward the garden. And they weren't usual visitors. The size, and formation didn't fit the pattern. I kept watching. As they approached I could see they weren't any of the usual passers-by. Not quite a first, but certainly the first time I've seen them here.

Cormorants, about three miles inland, but heading out in the direction of the coast.

The afternoon was much as the morning, with gulls, jackdaws and the occasional pigeon (no cormorants though!). I got on with clearing the leaves. Then I noticed something change in the way the gulls were flocking, something about their ever more intense calling and circling. I glanced up. Gliding gently down the length of the garden, at a very moderate height (just above the trees), was a sparrowhawk; hunting, but not finding, prey.

Sparrowhawk approaching





Both sequences were brief. The cormorants were overhead for 23 seconds, the sparrowhawk for about 20 seconds (though it circled a short distance away for another minute before being seen off by the gulls). Not as brief as recent fox sightings though. But I did manage a shot of the vixen last night (Friday).

Camera note: all shots taken with the EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L USM IS lens.

10 comments

1 2 3 4 Next »

Showing posts 1 - 5 of 17.

Download Opera, the fastest and most secure browser

Campaign