Welsh Wild Stuff

Following up on my previous Vole encounter , i tried again , equipped with an apple and camera i settled down to try an get some eye level images of these energetic mammals.

Rule 1 when sitting and waiting – Check out what your sat on , as last time i sat on a Red Ants nest ! the little red sods get everywhere . So this time after checking around i settled down to wait with a half apple at the base of the reeds opposite. Surprisingly it took only twenty minutes for a large adult to turn up and then promptly pick up the apple and shoot off .

I resorted to plan B and only had to wait about another hour before two younger voles turned up and stayed around for a bit , before disappearing with a plop when a large brown rat ambled past.

Back a few weeks ago while watching these voles another aquatic mammal turned up – a water shrew , first time i’d ever seen one , it was a bit dark but i managed to get a quick shot of it parting the duckweed and peering into the reen.

untitled shoot-009

untitled shoot-036 untitled shoot-078 untitled shoot-090 untitled shoot-066

September 15, 2014September 15, 2014 by timpad Categories: UncategorizedTags: Water Vole 6 Comments

Tales of the Riverbank

Earlier this year , around may , i’d tried to photograph Water Voles with no luck . Last month i tried again with better results , it taken quite a few outings to get to understand some of their behaviour , Starting with watching them munching through apples on floating rafts , then looking for areas that had some light at a particular time of day and then getting the voles to appear at that spot .

I wanted to try to see them in a more natural environment and with a bit of patience found an area where i could get closer to water level and their level.

One day i had put half an apple in the shallow water opposite where i was positioned , it sank under the duck weed out of sight ,i thought that it was wasted, but the vole still found it , its sense of smell must be amazing ! you can also see them become aware of you if the wind changes and blows off you onto them ,they normally retreat into the reeds.

untitled shoot-074 untitled shoot-029 untitled shoot-046 untitled shoot-007

September 3, 2014 by timpad Categories: UncategorizedTags: Water Vole 4 Comments

Not a Grass Snake !

Some days turn out differently than you thought they would , i had gone out with a friend – Keith, on a tip off about a large Grass Snake. It had been seen near to the roadside on the Blackwood to Tredegar road.

I didn’t think we would even find it, but as we parked up and walked back down the road i spotted a large snake coiled in the grass , there was no movement and i thought that it might be dead , so i gently touched the snakes back with a thin stick . I wasn’t dead and it wasn’t a Grass snake either, its head came up out of the grass about eight inches and looked at us , giving an opportunity to take some photo’s and try to figure out what is was ! after a short while it slowly worked itself down a hole pushing up the turf as it did so , it takes a long time to get four feet of snake down a small hole .Your first thoughts are – ” is it poisonous ” and ” will it bite me ” – when in doubt take one step backwards , get phone out and call someone who knows about these things.

Keith had an Ecologist friend who came out straight away and after looking at the photo’s was ” fairly ” sure it was a Rat or Corn snake – not poisonous – but as it was right next to the path on a main road , it really needed to be taken away.

Thats when the next Twist in the story started , Keith’s Friend called his Friend Who said ” stay there all of you – i’ll get the cameraman, it’ll make a great story for the series ”

That person turned out to be Dr Rhys jones http://www.rhysjones.info/ – Who Eventually turned up with cameraman in tow. I think it will be shown on TV later this year.

I only went out to look for a snake !

untitled shoot-002

untitled shoot-024 untitled shoot-006

July 14, 2014July 14, 2014 by timpad Categories: UncategorizedTags: Corn snake, Dr Rhys Jones, Grass Snake 2 Comments

Just by Chance

While out walking a few days ago , i remembered a Badger sett that i’d not visited for a number of years , as it wasn’t very far away i decided to have a look. the approach is difficult as its through wooded quarry spoil with steep slopes and slippery rocks.

It took a few minutes to relocate the area of the sett and looking over the edge of the steep slope i saw the holes with fresh earth and bedding strewn around them – and a Badger !

I watched for an hour , when eventually three Badgers were outside the Sett, they left together after twenty minutes to forage in the fields and woods above the quarry.

I went back the next evening and set up a bit earlier down wind of the Sett in some cover no more than three meters from the nearest hole after throwing down a few peanuts to keep them in the immediate area for a while.

i did hope they would have had young, but so far i’ve seen nothing to suggest there are any here.

untitled shoot-001 untitled shoot-008 untitled shoot-013 untitled shoot-015

June 17, 2014 by timpad Categories: UncategorizedTags: Badger sett, steep slopes 2 Comments

Under your Nose

I spend a lot of time travelling to places photographing wildlife , sometimes with no results. Looking out at the bird feeders this morning i noticed the Bank Voles scurrying around underneath them feeding on the left-overs scattered by the feeding birds. All this going on only a few feet from my window. This was an opportunity too good to miss and after only a few minutes i had some decent stuff, the only problem i found was , i was too close to focus on the Voles at one point. Sometimes it pays to look a bit closer at whats right under your Nose not what might be round the next corner , well for a bit anyway !!