Wildlife Photography across the Water: Where have the birds all gone?

Thursday, 1 September 2011

Where have the birds all gone?

A few weeks ago, I was mentioning that the birds were eating us out of house and home, getting rid of more than 6 fat balls each day, plus half a tall feeder of seed.

Well fortunately for the wallet, the rate of depletion is virtually nothing.

But sadly, virtually no birds in the garden, except for plenty of blackbirds grabbing worms from the damp morning lawn.

So whats going on?

Lets wind the clock back to early Spring. One of the great benefits of train commuting through the Warwickshire countryside is having plenty of me time to think about things, listen to music, read and observe the countryside. It is this latter activity that probably takes most of my attention.

Back in Spring, the trees were laden with blossom - Elderbflower, Blakthorn - great clouds of fine white flowers more dense that I have ever seen before. Thats not all - other fruit and berry bearing bushes are totally laden down in these parts.

With plenty of seeds, thistles and other natural food sources, the wildlife has left the offerings from my patch and filling out with what nature has supplied for a short window.

So if you were wondering where everything has gone - don't worry, it will be back soon, and you will have to start spending on bird feed again.

For many other birds, they are much further away.

One of the Rutland Ospreys has been fitted with a tracker and can be seen here. Follow the Dyfi Ospreys on Twitter to see how their progress is going amd the BTO are following five Cuckoos here and we can see that they are now already in sub Saharan Africa.

Meanwhile, across at Worcester Catheral, Bobbin the female Peregrine has returned after spending six months away from her regular haunt. Follow her at Worcester Peregrines on Facebook

Let us know if you have any favourite wildlife that you follw the fortunes of.

Martin

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Bio's

David Courtenay, a self taught wildlife and nature photographer, has been capturing images for over 30 years. He has had a passion for wildlife since early childhood and remembers being glued to the television whenever Survival, Wildlife on One and other natural history documentaries were shown. In the 2006 he swapped his established career for the life of a wildlife photographer, such a move demands a measure of uncompromising passion and commitment.

David has travelled extensively throughout Europe as well as spending more than 7 months in India working with local guides and trackers in search of Bengal Tiger, Asian One horned Rhino and Asian Elephant. He has also photographed Wildlife in Australia, Malaysia, Thailand, Sumatra, Africa, Canada and America. Working closely with Conservation companies he tries to raise funds to help Wildlife that has been put on the endangered list by poaching and habitation loss

Martin Dyer has had a passion for avian wildlife since childhood, particularly raptors. Photography was also another keen interest and it was with the specific availability and control of the whole process that digital offers that Martin was then able to combine the two in 2003. Based in the UK, Martin is a regular visitor to Scotland, specifically the Isle of Mull to watch the Eagles resident there. Other trips to Europe and around the UK are usually part of Martin’s agenda in a typical year.

However, as a firm believer on making the most of the local patch, Martin has spent a lot of time and hard work creating a wildlife garden which is reaping the rewards with many new species and varieties of wildlife. A keen member of a number of wildlife photographic groups, Martin is keen to expand his portfolio into other areas of wildlife, and has already established a wide portfolio of images of fungi.