Coppicing between the storms

The weather has been a bit stormy recently, with wind and rain making working in the woods at best unattractive and at worst risky, but there have been a few glimpses of the sun in between.

I've been making reasonable progress on the coppicing, considering how little time I've actually been up there cutting:

There was even a bit of frost one morning!

Back over near our camp, we've started filling the bird feeder regularly again. The birds empty it over the course of 48 hours, so when they notice me arrive they usually turn up and wait for me to fill it:

Then as soon as I'm done they get in there as fast as they can...

The visitors included Coal tits...

Great tits...

Blue tits...

and sometimes several of them at once!

Of course, the small birds spill some of the seeds, which provides food for the Pheasants. A male and female turned up, and given how tame they were I suspect they may have been around last winter as well.

Finally, over near where I was coppicing, Tracy and I spotted a Buzzard down in a field, possibly finishing off a meal:

It was quite a long way off, and I tried getting closer for a better shot...

but sadly was noticed...

Anyway, I'm hoping to get some more Buzzard photos, as they've been around the woods a lot more over the past few months, and I've seen a pair of them soaring overhead.

Hoping for some drier weather in the coming weeks to get back up there to do some more work and photography...

Mike

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Great Tits nesting in an iron pipe!

Birds nest in the strangest places... Check this video out, showing a Great Tit going to feed its chicks inside an iron pipe we left leaning against our log store in the woods:

Here's a few still pictures too, showing the parent waiting near the nest to check the nearby humans aren't a threat:

About to enter the nest, with a beak full of food:

And finally, coming back out, ready to go and collect more food:

Nice to see them doing well, when you're near the pipe you can hear the chicks chirping.

Mike

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Spring 2012 is here!

The wild plum tree at the top of Sweep Wood is flowering, so Spring is definitely here!

Just next to it, Dog's Mercury is carpeting the ground:

Elder is also coming into leaf:

As is the Honeysuckle that's winding its way up the coppice regrowth:

Looks like we're in line for some more Foxgloves in the same area again this summer too:

Deeper inside the wood, Lords and Ladies plants are well advanced:

and Bluebells are making progress, though the flowers are some weeks away yet...

There are some flowers out already though, like this Primrose:

and the first few Wood Anemones are opening:

It's going to be interesting to see what happens to the bare patches where we had logs stored until last summer amongst the regrowth - they're going to be a year behind the rest of the area:

Likewise there's different stuff growing where we'd had small fires to burn up brash, thus sterilising small patches of ground. Moss has been the first to move in:

The trees are busy too, though no leaves yet. There's buds opening on the Willow in the Wayleave:

and the Hazel trees are covered with Catkins:

We found the remains of an egg (possibly from a Pigeon?), but I suspect it must be from months ago by the look of it.

Plenty of other bird activity though, with several Robins:

a Song Thrush, which is rare in our woods, though where we saw it was near gardens in Sweep Wood. They're actually on the RSPB Red List at the moment...

Best of all, we saw a Great Tit making a nest in a hollow in an old Cherry tree on a field boundary - we knew to look there, as one nested there last year too:

And finally, here's a nice video Tracy got near home in Rye, of a Little Egret:

That's all for now...

Mike

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The birds and the bees

Yes, literally. Let's start with the birds:

We saw this Great Tit hanging around a Cherry tree we'd left during last winter's coppicing:

It was only after taking the photo and zooming in we saw the caterpillar in its mouth, so then we waited to see where the nest was. It's amazing how small a space they appear to need:

Anyway, onto the bees. The foxgloves are now in flower, so I thought it would be a great opportunity to photograph the bees feeding there. The trick is to watch the bee go into a flower, and during the few seconds it spends in there you get into position and get focus lock, fully depressing the shutter release just as the bee appears. It works best with flash, even in full daylight:

though without flash you get a nice motion blur on the wings:

There's loads of other insect life around enjoying the warm weather, such as this damselfly

Not surprising really, when you see what a jungle the top of Sweep Wood has become. We might need to go along with a scythe soon and clear the path!

Lower down the hill, where we cut the coppice recently, the bluebells have now faded and are being replaced by goosegrass, or 'sticky grass' as I used to call it when I was younger:

Finally, here's a few photos from the bottom of Sweep Wood, showing it not long after we finished cutting, then when the bluebells were out, and then yesterday:

Mike

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