Redwell Wildlife Diary
I've created this diary blog in order to let you see for yourselves the varied wildlife that we have around Redwell. Where possible, I have stated the time of year of the image or video, however, I have many video's and images which I'll put up from time to time. We hope you enjoy them.
Diary
18th July
00:24 - Single owl flies in and lands on the stump perch in front of the nest box.
It sits looking for a few seconds before jumping up onto the perch that sticks out at the side of the box.
Then it flies up to the branch that is higher and to the right of the box, looks around for a few seconds before turning and jumping back down on to the stump perch.
It seems to notice something on the ground and flies away to investigate.
This behaviour, from flying in to leaving is not the normal behaviour from other visits…. It was like it was experiencing the tree and box for the first time.
Maybe this is a new visitor…..
01:06 - Owl flies onto branch above camera down the Ride from the North.
01:07 - another owl arrives from the same direction and lands on the branch in front of the camera,
as it lands the first owl (Female?) flies across from the upper branch to the nest box. They both look around and turn around.
01:08 the (female) owl flies from the box to the side of the other owl.
01:09 - The second owl flies off followed shortly after.
01:11 - Can just make out a couple of eyes blinking in the trees ion the background,
then the owl jumps across to the small stump perch in front of the nest box and the second owl jumps across to the main camera branch.
The one on the stumpy perch jumps up to the nest box.
01:12 - the second owl flies off up the ride to the North.
01:13 - the nest box owl jumps back down to the stumpy perch.
01:14 - the last owl flies off in the same direction as the first one.
This visit was typical of the behaviour of the owls which normally visit.
A nice showing tonight.
05:13 - Hare appears from the hedgerow near the camera, sits, then proceeds to jog straight up the Ride to the North
05:46 - Kingfisher arrives from the red bridge direction with a big (for him) fish in its mouth.
He bobs up and down a bit before flying off with the fish which fits nicely in the length of its beak.
Difficult to tell in the light, but it looked like a male. It flew off to the north and over the caravans!
06:35 - Juvenile Robing arrives on the Kingfisher perch, stuck around for a minute then flew away.
12:31 - Heron flies onto FP2 and suns itself
12:59 it walks off the FP2 and around to FP1 - It walks off again at 13:15.
It enters the water between the two pegs and after five minutes, it flies off towards Kens.
17:19 - Heron onto FP2
18:30 Heron walks round to FP1.
18:38 - Heron walks off towards the static
17th July
05:15 - Male Kingfisher lands on perch from kens direction and flies off straight away
07:08 - Heron flies from below Kingfisher perch and lands on Fishing peg number1 (FP1).
07:10 - Heron flies off towards Chicken Island
10:01 - Two Herons fly towards the caravans. One flies up and over and the other lands on FP2
10:26 - Heron flies off as people come down to the water.
11:21 - Heron lands on FP1 from Chicken island and starts to groom itself
12:28 the heron flies off to Chicken island again.
18:05 - Heron arrives on FP2 and quickly flies to FP1.
18:08 Flies off once more towards Chicken island.
16th July
05:35 - heron flies onto second fishing peg - possibly the day before!
05:06 - Male Kingfisher arrives on the perch from kens direction. A quick dive and returns with the tiniest fish you’ve ever seen!, then he’s off again!.
15th July
10:15 - Heron flies onto 2nd fishing peg..... 10:19 - Heron walks onto the first peg
10:21 - heron flies off
10:22 - heron lands next to kingfisher peg
10:39 - heron walks back onto fishing peg one... 10:41 - heron flies off
22:15 - heron on first fishing peg
14th July
02:49 - Owl came in from Kens direction and landed on the branch opposite the nest box.
Second owl flies up to perch in front of the nest box from East Ride.
13th July
11:16 - Heron walks onto the first fishing peg. Moorhen in the background
Hangs around til 11:23 then flies off towards the bridge.
15:37 - Heron back out on the same fishing peg - flew away to wards chicken island at 15:42
12th July
06:48 - Carp jumping after flies
11th July
Wren on Kingfisher perch.
Changed the cameras around again today - Hot work - only went in the water with one leg! - another set of trainers thrown away!….. I’ve swapped the kingfisher cam for a normal cctv cam and put the zoom cam onto the three fishing pegs..... Hopefully to see the heron’s antics and maybe trace where exactly the kingfisher perches when it’s over here.
10th July
06:45 - Two juvenile Robins compete for kingfisher perch
09:50 - Blue damselflies duel
12:49 - Heron flies in from Chicken island on to the first fishing peg!
8th July
14:23 - Heron on number one fishing peg
20:20 - Heron flies down all the fishing pegs to peg one over twenty minutes or so.
21:04 - Heron emerges from the willow behind the kingfisher image and takes off
6th July
21:51 - Hare races up the Ride to wards the Lodge
3rd July
06:05 - Kingfisher appeared from chicken island way and after a short minute, flew off towards Kens
07:01 - Kingfisher flew back from Kens direction and landed on main perch. After a couple of minutes he spots something in the distance and stands upright to look. After 6 minutes he flew off towards the second fishing peg.
The Tawny Owl seems to have stopped coming to the nest at the moment. You can still hear them every evening when sitting out on the decking though, lovely sound! :))
30th June
09:35 - Kingfisher on perch - arrives from the lower perch... did a dive and flew off to towards the East.
11:03 - Kingfisher arrived on perch from the lower perch.... flew away onto the leg support of peg two
13:20 - Kingfisher comes in from the chicken island.... He flies off to the lower branch
18:56 - Kingfisher jumps up from the lower perch.... flies off towards the chicken island
28th June
05:00 - Kingfisher on perch - arrives from Kens direction. Turns a few times, then dives and returns with a fish.
He eats it then flies off to towards the other perch at 05:04
05:06 - He returns -turns and flies off a minute later.
27th June
07:05 - Looks like a male Kingfisher arrives on perch - stayed a two or three minutes.
07:19 - 07:21 - Kingfisher on perch
09:15 - Kingfisher on perch
21:05 - Kingfisher on perch - went fishing for a fry and came back to the perch - preens for a while, then flies off to the second fishing peg bush.
24th June
06:25 - Male kingfisher landed on the perch.
06:51 - Kingfisher on perch with a very small fry. Stayed one minute.
22nd June
07:26 Kingfisher lands on perch, dives a couple of times and turns around on the perch a couple of times. Stretches its wings and flies off at 07:50 - 25 minutes on the perch....quite happy with that as I also managed some photographs from indoors!
Video below shows a long distance view (and therefore the image is not great) of one of his dives and his killing of the fry by banging its head against the perch, which he does several times just to be sure like,
before he swallows the fry head first!
I have now moved the camera "up close" and with any luck we should have some decent images shortly!
21st June
22:32 - Owl flies down the Ride from the North and lands above thinnest box, like last time and repeats the whole performance… jumps down to sit on the lip of the opening for a minute or so before jumping down to the stump and then flying off after looking around a while.
18th June
Had a bit of a problem over the last few days with the fixings on the Owl Nest Box. So I decided to take it down and modify it.
So, I used the opportunity to put up a new nest box for the owls. According to a well respected wildlife “guru”, Tawny Owls like a bit more room in their nest boxes than they usually have when using a shop bought nest box. Therefore, I built a new one from recycled materials and made it about two inches wider and just a little deeper, the "drop" I left more or less the same whilst increasing the height of the opening a little. I then made a door to facilitate easier cleaning and possible ringing opportunities later. I also sited the box about 3 feet lower than I originally had it. It was always too high for easy cctv servicing and cleaning.
So I managed to get the box back up on evening of the 16th of June. There were no owls around on that evening or on the 17th.
However at 22:20 this evening an owl landed on the box opening. It came down the Ride from the north and swooped up to the branch above where the old box used to be. So I think we can say it is one of the two/three owls that has been using the previous box. After a minute, it hopped down from above (off camera) it stayed there for a couple of minutes before again hopping down onto the stump which is now just below the nest box. It flew off a couple of minutes later towards the branch camera, which has also been re-sited.
17th June
We have a couple of Hare on the park which are seen often in the mornings as are the Roe Deer in the adjacent fields as well as some rabbits. The Sparrowhawk is often seen around the caravans with feeders out and the Kestrel can be seen hovering at any time. We have up to 5 Buzzards at any one time..... listening to them calling directs you to them easily enough. One the feeders we have all the usual tits at the moment as well as Long-Tailed Tits, Woodpecker, Bullfinch, Dunnocks, Chaffinch,Goldfinch, Tree Sparrows, House Sparrows , etc...... plus the occasional Greenfinch which is a bit of a treat nowadays!
14th June
20:19 - A couple of hours ago, the Owl nest box nearly dropped to the floor as one of the fastenings gave way. Whilst looking to see what actually happened to the box, this happened.....
9th June
05:17 - Single Roe Deer walks from South to North across the Mire towards the wood. Hung around in the field for a good five minutes before disappearing again to the south.
8th June
I've been busy over the past few days since I last posted..... busy watching and photographing and here's the results
We have had a bit of a "find" on site..... I spotted a "Pied Flycatcher" outside my caravan window a few days ago. Not that I know what A Pied Flycatcher (PF) looked like! but I just saw something in the tree opposite my window that was different to what I normally see. So I grabbed my camera and took a picture, over exposing because I was shooting at a silhouette in the trees. There wasn't much of an image but what I could make out was the fact that it had large patches of white on its wings. Searching through the birds books, I soon found out that it could only be a PF! I quickly got my stuff together and went outside to see if it was still around. I listened to the "song" of the PF on my iPad and soon located the PF by ear. Unfortunately, the PF loves the canopy and tracking the little fella was a nightmare..... but after a few hours I had "mapped out" his favourite trees and perches. Within a couple of hours I had at least some "decent" images of a bird I had never seen before.
I had a photograph of the PF on a bird nest box but it doesn't seem to have used the box this year.
I have been at work for the past few days so I'm gonna try and relocate the PF and update you.....
It's that time of year and the Mallards are creating again. Unfortunately, the Mallards have a hard time surviving but here are a couple of images of the latest batch.....
Another species that I have not had too much success in photographing in the past is the Willow Warbler. This bird is "MOBILE"..... it never stops moving through the trees in search of flies and bugs! However, I did manage a few images....
We also have a resident Wren on site (one of many!) that is usually a bit "in your face" .... the young have just fledged so I caught up with them and here are a few images.
A beautiful thing to behold is the minute Wren and its offspring..... they are so tiny! Basically just the top half of your thumb!
A nice suprise was this Bat.... can't tell what type, that was seen against the tree trunk, just below the Owl nest box. He was flying around just before midnight for a good few minutes. It's amazing how agile they are.
A poor picture, but it was off the CCTV night footage and it was the only way it would show up against the tree trunk!
30th May
02:49 - Owl flies in from the north and lands on the branch above the box….then turns to look at the box for a minute before jumping down to sit on the box. Again a minute later after looking into the box, it jumps up to the branch above the box. It moves around the branch a bit before flying off at 02:58
28th May
02:35 - Two owls fly in together from the East, one landing on the camera branch and the other landing on the opening. After a minute or so the Female (presumably) flies from the nest box to land right in front of the camera, just a few feet nearer than the other owl (presumably the male). Then the Male jumps/flies up to the box opening. After sitting there for a minute, the one on the box flies off and the other on the branch takes off after it a split second later. Interesting….Photo.
26th May
23:04 - Owl flies in from the Field to the West and lands on a branch in a tree behind the nest box tree. He sits there for two minutes and then swoops down and rises to the branch above the nest box, stays a few seconds and then jumps down to the nest box opening. The owl flies off at 23:08.
25th May
22:08 - Owl flies in from the North down the Ride and lands on the branch above the nest box. One minute later it drops onto the lip of the box. A couple of minutes later he hops across to a lower branch on the left. He stays again for a good minute or so before flying off to the South, towards the camera and down.
24th May
02:13 - Owl lands on Nest box camera branch, flying in from the East. It sits for thirty seconds or so looking at the box then flies up and sits on the ledge. After a minute or so it turns and flies to a higher branch to the left of the box. 02:16 it flies off up the Ride towards the lodge.
07:50 - Grey wagtail on kingfisher perch
16th May
09:00 - I was going through the cctv footage from last night when something caught my eye outside the window. I saw a bird in the tree in front of the lounge, hopping from branch to branch.... but there was something different about it. I grabbed the camera and took an image through the window, over exposing by quite a bit to compensate for the fact that the bird was just a silhouette! The resulting image showed a large white patch on its flank. Looking through the guides showed me that it could only be a Pied Flycatcher!!! What on earth was a Pied Flycatcher, I certainly had not even heard of one before, nether mind seen one! I quickly got myself geared up and went outside to see if I could locate it again and possibly get a good image of it. I located it straight away as it was still in the trees around the Lodge. I identified its "song" and it was relatively easy to follow after that. After a couple of hours, following it through the area with my binoculars, I had located several perches where it liked to sing from. After another couple of hours I had a few decent images.
Unfortunately, I was going away for a couple of weeks, so I couldn't follow it up. I did however publish my "find" on the local websites.
Amongst the many comments I received, there was one from a local chap who had been studying these birds just a couple of miles away and he's been doing it since 1966! He thought I had taken the bird box image on one of his 100 nest boxes he has out and wanted to know which one.
He was amazed when I told him that it was one of my 50 Boxes and where it was, as it has now extended his research area. Needless to say, I now have to go out and re-locate the bird (if its still here)and see if one of the possible two birds is ringed so he can follow the information.
So watch this space...... I will update later.
15th May
01:02 - Owl hops onto a branch below and left of the owl box - stands and looks at the nest box for a minute or so before flying up to the box and peering inside. After another minute looking inside, she flew off.
05:40 - Roe Deer trots through the Hide Cam scene.
11th May
22:31 - Owl flies down the Ride and lands on the Owl box. Perches for a couple of minutes and looks around and inside the box before flying off.
9th May
05:18 - Hare grazing in front of Hide cam.
8th May
05:11 - Kingfisher on Island cam..... Came in from the West, landed faving the camera and turned to face the Lodge. Stayed for 30 seconds and then flew off towards the East.
07:48 - Hare passes through the Hide cam scene....
7th May
05-53 - Hare on the Ride beneath the nest box tree
21:34 - Owl flies in from the North, down the ride and lands on the branch above the nest box....only stopped for a minute.
22:03 - Hare runs through the hide cam scene from North to South.
22:47 - Fox runs through the hide cam scene from South to North
5th May
22:02 - Owl flies to the box from the branches to the left of the nest box tree camera…..could have been there for a while! - by 22:04 she flies down to the ground towards the East.
4th May
21:35 Owl flies down the Ride and lands on the opening to the nest box.
21:37 - Owl flies to sit in front of the nest box Tree camera - sits for 30 seconds or so then dives off to the Hedgerow below. - check flying in footage
05:10 - Roe Deer walks across the field from the woods to the South.
05:03 - Hare passes by, close in front of the hide cam and runs off to the South.
3rd May
05:10 - Roe Deer walks across the field from the woods to the South.
05:03 - Hare passes by, close in front of the hide cam and runs off to the South.
2nd May
00:13 - Owl lands in front of camera in nest box tree.
00:15 - Owl flies over to the nest box - looks inside for a minute then flies down to the East.
1st May
A wet day all day!
21:22 - Owl flies past the Hide camera towards the Owl nest box
21:25 - Owl came in fast down the Ride and banked sharply to land in the opening. Stayed looking in and around for two minutes then flew down to the ground.
30th April
00:46 - Fox trots past the Hide camera travelling from South to North, up the fence line. Definitely on a mission!
02:15 - Owl lands on the tree in front of the static, on its usual branch - Stays there looking around for 5 minutes or so and flies off at 02:21 towards the Bridge to the East
05:34 - Kingfisher on island perch flies in from the Lodge. Dives for a fry. And flies off towards the static at 05:35
29th April
04:36 - Hare Grazing in front of the Hide Cam
06:17 - Female Roe Deer walking through the scene
21:31 - Owl flies up from below and sits on the opening of the box.
21:32 - Owl flies to a branch to the left of the box.
21:33 - Owl flies off to the East
22:12 - Owl arrives on branch in front of camera, seemingly from down below….. it sits for a minute and then flies off to the North, up the Ride
28th April
00:16 - Owl flies in from the North and lands on the branch above the nest box. It sits there for two or three minute before flying off to the South East.
02:31 - Owl flies in like earlier but after a minute it jumps down to the Nest box opening. To look inside. It stays there for about 30 seconds before flying off up the Ride to the North.
02:51 Hedgehog Strolls past the Hide Cam
21:36 - Two owls arrive at the nest box tree…..the first lands in front of the camera seeming to come in from the East and then thirty seconds later the second owl lands at the edge of the nest box and comes in down the Ride, from the North.
21:38 - The first owl flies off to the East quickly followed by the one on the box.
23:30 - Owl comes in down the Ride from the North and lands on the branch above the nest box. It sits there for a minute looking towards the box before jumping down onto it.
23:32 - after looking into the box and around and about for a minute, the owl flies off to the North, up the Ride.
27th April
02:31 - Owl flies down the Ride and lands on the branch above the nest box, turns and faces the box. It sits on the opening for a few seconds, looking in…… Then turns and flies back up the Ride to the North.
01:38 - Two bats just off the ground in front of the hide.
06:12 - Roe deer comes in from the right (north) and exits to the left (south) - where he stops to eat at a shrub.... as he does quite often!
22:32 - Owl flies in as yesterday, down the Ride from the North and lands on the same branch above the box…..and again turns to face the box. Tonight, it faces and looks at the box for two minutes but doesn’t go onto the box. It flies off up the Ride to the North.
26th April
Hare in front of the Hide cam at 05:44.
21:41- Owl eyes can be seen in the background below and to the west of the nest box. Then the come closer but go off camera. The a few seconds later an owl hops onto a branch to the extreme left of the picture, level with the box. Again, seconds later , it hops closer to the box and sits looking at the box for a minute or so.
21:43 it flies across to the opening and looks into the box and turning to look about.
21:44 - Owl flies off to the East.
24th April 2022
05:21 - Hare in front of the Hide cam -going from south to west
05:51 - Kingfisher on Goose branch - from West with fish - leaves toward house
08:00 - Goose nest - passing Geese with chicks
20:47 - Roe deer in front of the Hide cam, eating that shrub.
21:44- Roe Deer in front of hide cam again - walks past, eats, shrub, walks on.
28th March
A regular visitor to the area but not usually so up close as strutting along the Ride!
Hare during the night on the ride cam
25th March, 2022
This Kestrel had a bit of a shock when he went to look in the Owl box, as the female was still inside!
22nd April
Another good day but v windy
21:29 - Owl flies in from the North and lands straight onto the opening. Stays for minute and a half and then flies off to. The East.
21st April 2022
Nice warm day but windy
21:21 - Owl flies onto nest box - it looks tall in the opening - 21:23 flies off towards opening after looking inside and looking around outside.
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Video Vault
Here's a couple from a few years ago. The first was with my Nikon D500 Camera, using the movie function for the first time,
as you can tell from the shaky image!
The second was one of the first recordings of the foxes coming to Redwell, using a "trail cam".
