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

This update goes back to the 20th of July....

5th Aug

05:22 - Male Kingfisher flies in from CI  and two minutes later, flies over to bush next to FP2

05:31 Heron on Causeway Fishing Peg

4th Aug

17:20 - Kingfisher flies up from Lower perch.  - 17:49 - it dives and returns but with no catch - flies off towards CI at 17:50

3rd Aug

05:10 - Male Kingfisher arrives from Kens direction - 05:12 - flies off towards the lower perch.

2nd Aug 

05:49 - Male Kingfisher flies in from CI - 06:08 - He drops down to lower perch.

31st July

13:07 - Heron walks onto FP3, 13:14 - Heron walks onto fishing platform. He then preens himself and flies off the peg at 13:54

29th July

22:20 - Owl flies in from up the Ride to the North and lands on the upper branch on screen. It swoops across to the side perch on the box. Then on to the box edge. Turns around a coupe of times before jumping down onto the stump.

17:54 - Heron arrives on FP1 from FP2 down the path - 18:11 - Heron flies over towards the bridge. 

28th July

05:15 - Kingfisher flies in from CI - 05:21 Kingfisher dives but does not come back to the perch until 05:32 where it jumps up from the lower perch - 05:40 - Kingfisher flies off towards the fishing peg.

06:08 - Heron walks onto FP1 - 06:10 - walks off onto path onto FP3 at 06:16 - 06:26 - Heron flies off towards Kens.

08:33 - Fledgeling Wren on perch

26th July

11:17 - Fledgeling Wren on Kingfisher perch.

21:08 - Heron on FP1 - 21:30 it looks like he’s gone under the fishing peg platform.

21:59 - Heron back on FP1 - 22:01 flies off towards CI

25th July

05:19 - Kingfisher flies onto perch from CI - 05:22 flies off towards second fishing peg.

07:03 - Heron lands on FP1 - 07:11 heron flies off towards CI

08:27 - Male Kingfisher plans on perch from CI - Kingfisher dives to water and lifts and lands on the lower perch.

08:32 - Kingfisher flies up from lower perch - 08:54 - Kingfisher flies off towards the FP2

24th July

07:43 - Kingfisher flew in from CI - 07:44 jumps onto lower perch - 07:48 flies back up to camera perch - 07:49 - flies off towards CI

10:21 - Kingfisher flies in from CI - 10:23 - returns same way.

23rd July

20:13 - Kingfisher on perch arrived from CI. - stayed 5 mins and flew off back to CI

22nd July

04:51 - K flew in from CI - 01:02 - flew down to lower perch. 05:07 flew back up from lower perch. 05:25 - flew off towards CI.

18:12 - Male Kingfisher came in from Chicken Island - dives and catches a fish and back to the perch. 18:21 K  flies in and sits on top of the FP1 camera!

18:24 - K flies towards the bush next to FP2

21st July

 04:51 - Hare bursts out of the hedgerow and runs up the Ride. 

08:15 - Kingfisher came in from Kens Direction again but this time with a toddler in his beak….. He dove for a fish and looked like he was going to come back to the perch but on the way back he diverted to the bush next to fishing peg two.

08:34 - Heron flies onto FP2. - 08:40 - heron flies off towards the bridge.

09:09 - Heron walks down into the water from our path next to the Kingfisher camera….. how he got there from the bridge area, IDK!…. unless it was two different Herons. 

The Heron swims around the area for a few minutes - he flies off in the direction of the bridge at 09:16

18:36 - Brief showing of Kingfisher.

18:52 - Kingfisher flies up from lower branch. A long “sit” this evening! - 19:15 he flies off towards Kens.

21:18 - Heron walks onto FP1 - 21:21 - Heron flew over the bridge towards Kens.

20th July

09:56 - Kingfisher arrives on the perch…. Came in rom Kens direction. Hangs around  for four or five minutes then flies to the same bush as yesterday…. Between 1 and 3 FP. Spent the day one mower ands trimmer so not much wildlife around.

19th July

18:35 - Kingfisher lands on Perch and grooms itself for nearly ten minutes

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 trot 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 Robin 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! :))

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.

**********************************

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".

This is probably one of the two Tawny Owls whose nesting experience we have been following over the past 30 days since the first eggs were laid. (Photo taken from my balcony, about twenty feet away from the perch.)

read Tawny Owl Nest Box Diary 2022 (Jan to April - part 1) to bring you up to date 
 

This will be a diary of their experiences until they branch or fledge (hopefully!), updated daily (almost)....

10th/11the April

Another dry but sometimes cloudy and cold day - Infra red light active at 19:16

20:43 - Female leaves the nest box…..As she leaves the nest box and goes where she has started to go, that is the canopy, there seems to be another pair of eyes following in her footsteps…..Unfortunately it’s all off camera!

21:00 - female flies back to nest box. She comes onto the Ride but very near to the box, through the trees. Then settles.

21:11 - male flies in from the wood to the west and lands on the long branch….

21:13 - Female leaves the nest and swoops to join the male on the long branch…Yet again, she snatches the food from the male and yet again he does a runner, sharpish!

21:14 - she stays there for 30 seconds or so then swoops down off the long branch towards the Ride tree camera and heads straight for the woods to the West.

21:15 - The male arrives at the nest. Stays around a couple of minutes before heading off to the East, down the Ride.

21:19 - the Female arrives back on the nest and within seconds she’s back on the eggs and settled.

00:01 - Owl arrives above the nest Box - 00:02 - Flies off to the East

01:45 - Female leaves the nest again….and flies North up the Ride.

01:53 - Female flies down the Ride through the trees to land on the box and settle on the eggs again.

05:05 - Female leaves the nest - swoops down hard and fast and low….heading up the Ride to the North

05:15 - Female flies back in from the North.

06:52 - lost the infra red.

11th/12th April

Another semi sunny day - but still cold….

Infra red came on at 18:22

20:28 the female starts to get fidgety and starts looking up to the camera.

20:29 - Unusually, the male comes in from the West and lands on a branch to the left of the box and then hops onto the lip and drops straight down with the prey to the female. He has the rat in his mouth.

20:31 - the male flies off to the East, down the Ride.

20:35 - the female finishes the food. (Rat)

23:36 - Female leaves nest, two eggs still visible. As usual, she turns North and heads up the Ride climbing into the canopy of the Ride camera tree again. 

23:54 - Female reverses her course and returns from the North to the nest, she jumps straight in and settles.

03:42 - Female leaves the nest once more and repeats her flight from last time, landing in the canopy.

03:51 - Female returns and settles again.

Infra red light goes out at 07:08.  Another more or less dry night and not as cold as the last few nights.

12th/13th April.

A rainy day forecast, all day, quite heavy from 15:00 onwards, but temperatures just into the double figures, and just below 10 at midnight.

20:53 - Male brings in a mouse for the Female. Sits atop the next box for a few seconds before dropping down and swapping the food. He stays in the box with the female for a good minute or so before climbing out.

20:54 - Male flies down the Ride to the East.

20:55 - Female finally swallows the Mouse.

00:01 - Female leaves the nest box, leaving two eggs still on the floor of the box. She heads off North, down the Ride flies past the long branch near the lodge and soars up to the canopy. As she has been doing these past two or three nights. 

00:11 - Owl appears from around the same area as the female landed but this one came from lower down and flew to the long branch near the lodge.

00:12 - The owl swoops down the Ride and lands on the box.

00:15 - Owl flies off to the East, down the Ride.

00:28 - Female lands on the box again from the North. She eventually drops on the eggs 30 seconds later.

04:55: Female seems aware of the male being around.

04:57 Male lands on the long branch near the Lodge, coming in from the West through the trees.

04:58 - Female leaves the box and swoops up the Ride to land on the long branch. The male offers her what looks like a mole and she snatches it for him. The male flies straight to the Ride camera tree and lands just above the camera. 

04:59 - The female jumps across the gap and lands in the same tree as the male. A few seconds later, the male swoops up the Ride to the North going at speed.

05:16 - Female lands on the box, flying in from the North, down the Ride again.

05:17 - The eggs show some sign that the chicks might be coming!

The Patch of white is where some of the shell has come away.....

05:18 - She drops down onto the eggs

07:56: 22 she seems to go from settled to animated.

07:57:41 - first glimpse of egg with a hole in it. But thats not the one she seems to be working on….

Extreme close up so the definition is not great but the open egg is easy to see...

07:57:15 - first glimpse of chick but still in the shell.

07:58:45 - she seems to settle on them for a while.

13th/14th April

20:52 - Male arrives on the box.

20:54 - Male flies off to the East down the Ride.

20:55 - Female leaves the nest - showing two eggs!….

Well I don’t know what’s happening in there!  Those two eggs look remarkable whole! - and yet we saw the footage yesterday, unless what we saw was some kind of optical illusion!  All we can do it carry on waiting and see what happens.

21:09 - Male arrives on the branch in front of the camera on the nest box - seems to be carrying a mole….picture!

21:11 - Male flies over to the nest box but the female isn’t here…..                

21:13 - Male drops into the box with the mole. He’s never done that before when the female is not there. He stands looking at the eggs, turning his head to the left then the right as if he’s offering the chicks the food. I’m presuming that he might be able to hear them. After a while, he eats the mole then rises to the top of the box and flies off up the Ride to the North. (see video below)

21:19 - Female flies in from the N. West through the trees and lands on the box. Drops down to the eggs and settles again.

22:56 - Owl comes flying in fast from the North and lands on the long branch.

22:58 - Owl flies off towards the nest box tree.

23:00 - Owl flies onto the branch where the camera is in the nest box tree - Female is aware he’s there.

23:03 - Owl flies off to the South, towards the field next door.

00:19 - Female leaves the nest. She flies off to the North and heads through the trees

00:26 - Female flies back and settles on the eggs.

03:05 - Female leaves the nest box and heads North but through the trees

03:18 - Female returns as before….

04:23 - Female leaves, again!…..but this time heads up into the canopy up the ride to the North

04:33 - She returns to the box from the North….. and settles

Hopefully at some stage she has eaten during the night....

14th/15th April.

A lot warmer day today with lots of sun and little breeze.

20:29 - Male flies in from the west through the trees right by the nest box, carrying prey..... yet another rat. Male drops into box for the food passover. He stays in the box with her for nearly a couple of minutes. Then climbs out and stands on the edge of the box for another couple of minutes. Both of these behaviours is a little unusual for him as he usually dashes off straight away after a quick pass over of food.

20:34 - Male flies down to the ground then disappears….

21:04 - Female leaves the nest box and Leaves two eggs still! She flies off up the Ride and into the trees.

21:14 - She returns to the nest from the North and quickly settles on the eggs.

21:30 - Female leaves the nest box again…. Flying up the Ride to the North but keeps going past the Lodge and veers off to the West, heading for the woods.

21:39 - She returns to the nest , breaking into the Ride from the West through the trees. Looks out from the opening for 30 seconds before dropping and settling onto the eggs.

22:13 - Female is off again! - There is a lot of calling tonight which can be heard from the Lodge, so maybe this is unsettling her. Unusually, she sits on the edge of the box looking around for nearly 30 seconds before flying off at 22:14. She doesn’t fly past the Lodge this time so she’s headed through the trees, near the Nest Box and over to the woods again.

22:23 - She’s back. Once again through the trees just up from the nest box and again seems to be flying in from the wood. She’s straight into the box, pulls the eggs towards her and settles again.

23:18 - Male arrives with another rat, coming in from the North East, over the water. Female is aware that he’s around for a minute before he gets there. He tries to do a shallow pass over of the food to the female, but fails and drops into the box. Male tried to get out of the box a couple of times but failed. He rested for 30 seconds or so and tried again….. making it this time!

23:20 - Male flies off. Female had eaten the food before the male had flown off.

03:23 - Male flies in from the West through the trees and lands on the long branch near the Lodge with food. 30 seconds later, the female looks agitated, looking up to the opening. 

Female is fiddling with the eggs and looking up to the opening

03:27 - Fiddling with eggs again and then at

03:28 - She leaves the nest and flies to the long branch where she takes a rodent from him. He jumps up to a higher branch out of sight and after a few seconds she flies across to the Ride camera tree.

03:46 - Female arrives back at the nest box from the trees. Drops down and quickly settles. 

05:08 - Female leaves the box again for the fifth time! - Flying towards the N.W. up the ride.

05:16 - Female is back, drops into the box, spins round in a circle whilst messing with the eggs and then settles…..

She settle down for the day, spinning occasionally..... Three meals for the Female today. She must have been hungry....

15th/16th April

Another nice day - quite warm and no wind.

21:08  - Female leaves the nest…..Only one egg now!  Sometime in the late afternoon or early evening, she got rid of another egg.

She flies up the Ride to the North and rises to the canopy of the Ride camera tree.

21:18 - Male pops up onto the branch in front of the nest box tree camera. After a minute of looking at the nest box,  he flies over to land on the opening and stares down at the single egg in the bottom. After 30 seconds or so, he drops down and stares at the egg with his head moving from side to side, then he moves the egg a little and stares again at the egg for a while. I’ve never seen the male do this before. The male did this two days ago, but not for as long.

21:25 he climbs out and sits on the opening for a few seconds before jumping up onto a higher branch.

21:27 Male flies away to the North.

21:30 - Female arrives back at the nest box. Stares down at the egg for a few seconds then settles.

21:35 - Female leaves again going up the Ride.

21:40 - Female is back at the nest box, again down the Ride. She settles straight away.

Exactly on ​​​​​Midnight.....

Nice little diversion for a couple of minutes!

00:33 - Female is off again. She flies as if heading up the Ride to the North as she has done all night, but I cant see her coming up the Ride on the other cameras. So I can only presume she is heading over to the woods to the west.

00:41 - Female arrives back on the box. Again, she comes in from the north but not down the Ride. She must be coming in through the trees.

01:30 - She is off again - again to the North.

01:43 - She’s back, again from the North.

01:45 - She’s off again! Heading North.

01:47 - She’s back from the same general direction.

01:50 - She climbs up to the opening, stays there for 30 seconds looking around, then turns and drops back down.

03:16 - She is off again, to the North.

03:23 - Female is back.

04:14 - Male appears, sitting in a tree near the Ride camera tree.

04:15 - Male appears in front of the Camera on the nest box tree, looking around.

04:17 - Male flies off to the South.

04:36 - Female flies off and lands on the long branch near to the Lodge.

04:37 - Male lands on the nest box. Seems to have just appeared from low down.

04:37 - Female flies off the long branch through the trees to the West

04:39 - Male stays on the box opening and looks around before Swooping off up the Ride at speed and to the North.

04:52 - Females headlights can be seen in the Ride camera tree. Then she flies over to the nest box. Drops down and settles.

05:10 - Female leaves the nest and flies off to the North and into/past the Ride camera tree.

05:14 - Female lands on the Box. Turns round a couple of times and looks in for a few seconds before flying off. Then flies back to the box, jumps down and settles.

I suppose we will have to wait and see what the days brings - but personally I have a feeling that in the next 24 hours the last egg will disappear...... Time will tell.

16th /17th April

20:56 - The female leaves the nest box and reveals that she has disposed of one egg (the third)  during the day…. Disappointing to say the least!.....

She leaves the nest box! Heading North up the drive….

21:09 - Female returns and settles!

23:55 - Female leaves the nest box - heading North

00:09 - Female returns from the North….. She jumps straight down into the box.

0024 - Male arrives on the long branch…..

00:26 - Owl is walking up and down the Long branch…..

00:28 - Owl disappears….

00:29 - Male shows up on the branch in front of the nest box camera. 

00:31 - Owl flies away…..

01:55 - Female leaves the nest box and flies North, then through or into the trees.

02:06 - Female is back.

04:24 - Female leaves.

04:36 - Female arrives back, through the trees again.

04:39 - Male arrives on the long branch near the Lodge waits for a minute for the female to join him. She doesn’t, so he flies to the branch above the nest box and a few seconds later drops onto the box and down to pass over the prey.

Male struggles to get out of the box and has to rest for thirty seconds or so before attempting again. 

04:42 - he gets to the top and flies off to the South, towards the field.

17th/18th April.

Not too bad a day today - quite warm and sunny.

20:51 - Female leaves the nest and flies North to or through the trees.

21:01 - Female arrives back and sits on the ledge for a minute before dropping down. It’s started to rain.

23:13 - Male arrives on the nest box camera branch from the West and he’s carrying a mole. He doesn’t drop down into the box but does a shallow passover of the Mole.

23:14 - Male leaves and flies onto the long branch near the Lodge.

23:21 - He flies off through the trees to the West.

01:20 - Female leaves the Nest Box and flies off towards the North, presumably into the trees again, or through them.

01:40 - Female arrives back from the North.

04:24 - Female leaves the nest box again and flies to the North.

04:33 - Female arrives from the North again. 

18th/19th April.

A very nice and warm day today…

17:44 - (quite early, as its going to be daylight for another three and a half hours yet) the Female climbed up to the edge of the opening and revealed that there were NO EGGS left in the box.

Immediately going back over the footage, it very much looks like she cleared the egg away at around 09:00 in the morning. Waiting all day for darkness to come.

18:09 - She drops back down into the box.

18:25 - She’s back up on the opening again. - She’s causing quite a stir with the local birds….Corvids especially.

She sits there looking round until 18:40 when she flies off towards the woods to the West.

20:01 - (Still light) an owl flies up to the box from low down but can’t tell which direction. Again, local blackbirds are flitting around the nest box where it is perched.

20:33 - Just as the sun drops behind the hills, the owl jumps up to the branch above the box.

20:37 - She flies up the Ride but through the branches to another tree where she perches.

22:32 - Male shows up on the Nest box camera branch with a smallish rat. He sits there for a couple of minutes before flying up to the opening.

22:34 - From now til 22:38 he sits on the box opening looking around and at times looking down into the box.

22:38 - He drops down into the box and sits looking at the place where the eggs used to be, still with the rat in his mouth.

22:40 - Still with the prey in his mouth, he climbs up to the edge of the box and sits for a while before flying off to the South West. I think he has just landed on a branch off camera.

It appears that no-one told him there were no eggs anymore!.

03:19 - Owl flies in from the West and lands near to the Nest Box tree Camera. It looks around in all directions and looks at the box a few times.

03:21 - Owl flies off to the East.

19th/20th April.

21:47 - Owl arrives on the branch above the nest box. A place where the male usually sits with prey before going to the box. Two minutes later it jumps down to the box and sits on the opening.

Is this our Male?…. is it our female?…. or is it the other owl that we’ve seen on a few occasions?  

It is difficult to tell with nothing for scale but I think this is Female.

21:49 - Owl seems to be attracted to something on the floor and flies dow.towards the hedgerow.

20th/21st April.

21:10 Owl arrives from the West coming up through the nest box tree to settle on the nest box opening. It looks from the size like it could possibly be a female.

21:12 - Owl flies away but it’s hard to tell which direction? 

21st April.

We feel very different now at the end of this blog than we did at the start of it!  To say we are disappointed is an understatement. We were so looking forward to seeing the chick's antics as they grew, eventually leaving the box and "branching" out into the tree before they fledged.

Whilst we weren't, by any means, expecting to have all four chicks to entertain us, we always thought that we would lose a couple of chicks on the way as either food became a bit harder to find or the "runt" of the chicks fell by the wayside.....

..... but to loose all four is a bit of a blow, even for us!  

So perhaps we should spare a thought for the mum and dad for a few seconds..... We know that everyone just says "thats nature for you", but I will always remember, that after the female had "lost" an egg, when the male next came in with food, when he dropped down into the box for the passover, he stayed there for a longer period of time than he normally did and had his arm around her for quite a while before leaving to hunt again. Check out the video.

Now who says they dont have feelings! - remember unlike many of us humans..... these beautiful wild creatures mate for life.

I will keep monitoring the nest box camera and the camera in the nest box tree as I do throughout the year and if anything develops I will update this,  or post another blog.   

In the mean time the other cameras will be re-located to other areas to monitor the Kingfishers; Kestrels; Moorhens; Ducks and Geese and we'll obviously keep our eyes open for the Hares, the Deer and any other critters that are around

So keep looking at the blog landing page for any other storylines!

About four or five years ago the Tawny Owls we had on the Park really started to make their presence known by becoming a lot more vocal and we were picking them up hunting on the cctv cameras placed around the Park. Their "Twit Twoo" call is, as you are probably aware, quite distinctive and difficult to ignore when they are sitting in trees, only yards away.

In the winter of 2018/2019, we took part in the British Trust for Ornithology's "Tawny Owl Calling Survey". The survey required that we listen out for the owls as and when we could, between September and March, listening for 20 minutes between sunset and midnight. It soon became clear that we had several Tawny Owls in the area. This wasn't exactly new to us as we already knew we had a pair of Tawny Owls who nested in a tree hole about half a mile away from the park as the crow (or owl) flies.

The photographs below are of one of the adults and the young owls, after they had branched (fledged) into the tree.

Local Tawny Owl near tree nest roughly half a mile from the Park

So at Christmas that year, we decided to get a Tawny Owls Nest Box. We identified a suitable tree on the park and placed the box about 20 feet off the ground and installed a CCTV camera on the tree looking at the box and another in the box itself.

Over the next few years, we have seen an owl inspect the box, both outside and inside, but they never decided to choose the box to nest in....... until this year! 

The first we knew about it was on the 16th of January when the CCTV camera we had on the tree picked out two owls (see the image below)..... one on the branch in front of the camera and one on the box. They only stayed around for a few minutes. Unfortunately, in the Autumn of 2021, the camera inside the box had failed and we had not replaced the camera.  So, hoping we might be lucky this year, we quickly purchased and fitted a new camera

This paid off when the very next day we saw the female in the bottom of the nest box.

The following two minute video shows the female inside the box, sizing it up for nesting. Apologies for the shaky video which was taken off the CCTV monitor by hand on the phone.

On the 29th of January, both owls were on the tree making out but not going to the box because a Squirrel had moved in!

After the owls flew away, I went over to the box and banged on the side with a long pole to scare the squirrel away, which it did.  However, he came back after about 30 minutes.  This exercise was carried out about nine times during the evening and I finally went to bed thinking I had won...... but the next morning, he was there again!  We spent the day scaring him away again and by the end of the day he had disappeared......finally!

We thought the Owls had given up on the box as they weren't around for a couple of weeks. The squirrel had obviously brought in quite a bit of small twigs and leaves and I wasn't too sure that it suited the owl as she seemed to be trying to settle into the litter.  So over the next few days I removed some of the branches and leaves. Each time she visited she seemed to be trying to move the litter out of the way, so I removed almost all of the twigs and leaves. She kept coming back and she seemed to be a lot more satisfied that there was barely anything left in the box.

On the 26th of February, we caught an image on the CCTV where both owls were on or in the box for the first time. It seems that they were both now giving it an inspection.

According to the BTO, Tawny owls lay their first egg around the middle of march, so there was still a chance that they could choose our box to lay their eggs. Tawny owls usually have a few places where they could nest so you can never be sure that they will use the same box in consecutive years.

The female kept returning to the nest box several times a night and on the 7th of March we had the following image....

It was really looking promising now as the male was starting to bring food at the box. The female still wasn't there full time, but she was visiting very frequently.

Finally on the 12th of March..... AN EGG!!!

Then on the 14th..... Two eggs!

and on the 17th....three eggs!

Two or three eggs seems to be the average for Tawny Owls However, on the 20th of March.... four eggs!

She is sat on them almost all the time and only leaves the nest for 10 minutes or so. The male now brings her food daily and passes it over to her. The image below was on the 21st of March which brings us up to date.

Please Note.....

I shall be updating the blog daily and/or whenever there is an "event" worth noting.  Fingers crossed that all goes well in the next few weeks. The chicks should start to hatch around the 12th of April and be "branching" out around the 12th of May.

Safe to say that even though the box has been up for a few years, as this is the first time we have had the owls nesting, in no way do I consider myself an expert on Tawny Owls and their behaviour!.... I'm learning as I go along!   So please, if you feel that I have made any errors in this  (or any other) Blog, or you wish to offer advice, then please feel free to message me through the contact page.

I apologise right now for the quality of the video recording. This is something I don't normally do! but hopefully, given time, I will improve.

Activity on the evening and night of 22nd and the morning of 23rd March 

Not much activity today..... presume most days will be like this until we have chicks that need feeding.

female left the box at 19:21 and returned at 19:31...... She left again at 21:48 and returned at 21:58..... She left again at 03:03.

While she was away, I think the male arrived, perching next to the box from 03:05 to 03:07, then flew off. Never looking in the box.

The female arrived back ten minutes later at 03:17

She last left the box at 04:59 and returned at 05:06

I have no idea whether leaving the box for these short breaks is "normal" behaviour or not.

There was no footage of the female being fed by the male at any time since the previous morning. I can only presume she fed herself while she was out and about.

I'm going to put out more cameras to see if I can get a better picture of where they are going when leaving the area.

During the day I moved one of the cameras to see the approach to the nest box - to try to establish from which direction they were bringing in the food.

23rd/24th March

The evening saw the male come in with food at 18:58 and do a food swap in the box - flying off again at 19:01 spending time on the sill. 

at 03:21 the female left the box for twenty minutes, returning at 03:41

05:27 saw the male return with food for the female -

another swap over with the food in the box with the female.....here, the male drops from the top to the bottom of the box to pass the food.

and he left one minute later, flying off to the north.

24th/25th March

The evening started off at 17:40 when a female Kestrel inspected the Owl box with the female Tawny inside. She soon made an exit!

I had only just completed this Kestrel box yesterday...... I think I need to get it put up quickly!

It's a very interesting time of year.....

Later that evening....

19:07 - female Tawny leaves the box and flies North... returning at 19:16

01:48 Male arrives onto the tree from the West. - unusually, sits on the camera branch for 8 minutes and then flies off to the North.

04:06 - Male arrives with food on the branch above the nest box - a minute later, he jumps to the box and goes straight down to hand over the prey. He lies/stands over her for about 30 seconds or so then proceeds to climb up the box, just as another (third) owl tries to land on the box!.  This intruder does a quick turn-around and lands on the camera branch before the male shows at the top of the box. They stare each other out, about 20 feet apart, for about a minute or so, then our male flies straight at the intruder on the branch flipping his talons up as he approaches the owl..... they clash briefly before they both fly off at speed over the water at 04:10..... an interesting 4 minutes! It may look at times like the video has frozen but the owls are just very still!  About 3.5 minutes of video.

25th/26th March.

19:10 - first movement as the female leaves the box and heads East down the Ride....

19:13 - Owl arrives on the camera branch (our male probably) - he hangs around for a couple of minutes then he also flies off to the East.

19:24 - the female returns to the nest.

19:38 - Male flies up to the branch above the nest box, just like last night...he's carrying prey again. Thirty seconds later he's in the box passing over the food to the female. He appears to be standing on top of the female for about 30 seconds, (maybe his legs are on either side whilst she is protecting the eggs). Then he climbs back out of the box. The female can be seen "necking" the food in the background whilst he's stood on the lip.

19:40 - he's back on the branch in front of the camera, staying there for a minute or so before flying off once again to the East, again down the ride.

23:00 - Owl (Male) flies in from the North up the Ride and sits right on the branch camera. It just sits looking around. Female inside box doesn't seem disturbed.

23:08 - Owl (male) flies off to the east down the Ride.

00:53 - Female leaves the nest and flies up the Ride, past the Lodge.

01:05 - Female flies down the Ride and returns to the Lodge.

26th/27th March

10:25 - Squirrel around the nest box...... 10:32 he disappeared!.

11:11 - Squirrel appeared again sat on the lip of the box as if waiting for the owl to up and leave! - 11:15 he disappears again.

19:19 - Female flies away to the East up the Ride.....and returns at 19:35.

01;42 - Male flies in from the East - down the Ride and brings food (a mole), landing on the camera branch. He stays on the branch whilst the female is looking at the opening!  Then he flies over to the box and does a very quick pass over on the food. He stays on the lip of the box for a few seconds and then flies off to the East.....down the Ride to the area where there are many, many molehills! 

03;13 - Female leaves the box and also seems to fly off towards the East. She lands back on the box from the North at 03:21.

05:46 - Female flies off off to the North, up the ride and at 05:58  the female flies down the Ride back to the box.

27th/28th March

20:03 - Female leaves the nest box, probably to the East...... Returns at 20:15 down the Ride from the Lodge.

Very quiet night, male doesn't show and at....

04:16 - Female leaves the nest and flies off to the East down the Ride 04:43 Female returns to the nest flying in as usual down the Ride from the North.

05:19 - Male comes in from the S.W. bringing food and lands on the lip of the box. He stays there for two minutes, with the female looking up at him before flying off up the Ride to land in a tree where they are known to perch. Female just sits there looking at the opening.

05:52 - Female leaves the nest, flies North up the Ride and heads towards the tree where the male went.

06:00 - Female heads back to nest box, flying in from the north as usual..... Presumably she's now eaten!

06:34 - Just before the cameras went off of infra red light, a Roe Deer came out of the field to the west and proceeded to walk down the Ride toward the nest box tree. 

06:54 - The roe deer heads back up onto the Ride below the owl box and brings two of its pals with her! - they walked up and down the Ride for a couple nearly ten minutes before heading back into the field. 

Haven't seen them this close before, although we do see them fairly often in the fields next to us. 

I will post again later with the Owl activity. Hopefully the male will be a little more active!.....

28th/29th March

20:14 - Female leaves nest and flies up the Ride to the North seeming to be rising over the trees to head towards the wood maybe. Their usual roosting spot.

20:30 - Female arrive back on nest flying in down the Ride from the North as usual. .

22:13 - Female leaves the nest to the North and over/through the trees again towards the woods.

22:19 - Owl flies in from the North, Down the ride and lands on the branch above the nest box. The male usually lands here when he brings in food. Female is not at the nest.

22:23 - Female arrives from the North and lands on Lip of the opening with the male above her on the branch. Male almost immediately flies off to the East down the ride, Female enters nest box Moves the eggs around and settles.

00:35 Owl arrives on a branch in front of the Ride Camera. Not a usual perching spot for our owls. A minute later the owl flies directly to the Nest Tree and sits on the Branch in front of the camera looking at the nest box. Female lifts her head slightly but otherwise doesn’t move. The owl on the branch looks around for a while before flying off, down the Ride to the East at 00:39. Think it must have been our male.

02:44 - Male arrives from the East with food, sits on the lip of the box for 30 seconds or so before doing a shallow passing over of the food with the female. The female eats the prey immediately.

Male jumps to nearby branch, sits a while and then flies off down the Ride to the East.

06:01 - Female leaves the nest flying North up the Ride flips over the trees towards the woods. One egg seems to have been separated from the other three.

06:13 - Female arrives down the drive at the nest. When she returns she pushes the eggs together again and carries on sitting.

29th 30th March

20:17 - Female leaves nest, heading East down the Ride I think.

20:27 - Female arrives back from the North Down the Ride

00:17 - Owl lands on tree behind the owl box and sits for a minute before flying to the branch at the side of the box. Shortly after it jumps up to the branch above the box. Stays on the branch for a minute or so and flies off to the East, down the Ride at 00:22. Female in the dox was aware. 

No food yet for the female! - when does she eat?   She’s only gone usually for ten minutes at a time!

02:00 - Female leaves the nest box and seems to head North up the Ride. For a few seconds before leaving she was. Looking up to the opening as if she could hear something. It is at times like this when I wish I had incorporated a microphone! At the time I thought it was just something else to go wrong!

0208 - Female arrives from the north (again!)  and settles down again. Maybe the Male called her and had some food for her. Unfortunately, we’ll never know!  The Male doesn’t “seem” to be actually doing a great deal regarding providing food for her. Maybe the female want/has/needs to leave the nest occasionally to stretch her wings, relieve herself, exercise to keep herself in shape.

02:57 - Male flies in up the Ride form the east and lands on the box carrying prey. He sits on the edge of the box looking down whilst the female looks up…… does nothing, then flies away…. with the food!!! At 02:58

Female settles down again….. Starts raining quite hard at 04:30 ish…. don’t suppose we’ll see anything of the male now!

05:44 - Still raining - Female leaves the nest turning North up the ride, to land in the tree which is slightly off camera, This was where she went to see the Male the other day.

05:55 - eleven minutes later, the female returns to the nest box. Arrives from the North again but hard to see whether it’s from the top of the nearby tree or further up the Ride. She settles down again.

Again, I don’t know whether this frequent leaving of the nest is normal or not! If anyone out there has any information that may clear this up please feel free to contact me.

30th/31st March

20:07 - Female leaves the nest and flies up the Ride to the North

20:15 - Female returns to nest box from the North as usual……

00:12 - Female looks up to the opening, expectantly…..

00:13 - Males flies up to long branch near to lodge, come in from the field next to the lodge carrying prey. Sits on the branch for 4 minutes before flying off towards the nest box.

00:17 - Male shows up with food…..drops down into box stays in the box with her for thirty seconds or so then climbs out onto the lip, staying there for a minute.

00:19 - Male flies away to the south into the field. 

01:28 - Owl (Male?) flies in from the North Down the Ride, low and fast landing on the camera branch.

01:31 - Owl (Male?) twitches his head and leaves to the East, down the Ride.

05:30 - Female flies off to the East

05:43 - Male lands in front of camera on nest box tree from the East. Looks around

05:46 - Male flies across to the box opening….. looks in the box for a couple of minutes and then at....

05:48 - Male flies away, up the Ride to the North and high up onto the trees near the lodge.

06:02 - Female flies in Down the Ride from the North and heads for the opening….. but at the last minute swerves off to land on a branch below and to the west of the box. She sits there for a minute or so then flies to the box and settles on the eggs again.

Its a cold morning today and she has been off the eggs for 33 minutes! - hope this doesn’t affect the eggs!.... Nine or 10 days and we should know.....

31st March/1st April

20:26 - Male arrives from West and sits on Box edge for a few seconds and flies off to the East down the ride.

20:49 - Female leaves the box and heads up the Ride to the North, as she gets to the end of the trees, she swoops to the left and lands on a branch on the tree nearest the Lodge where my new camera is positioned. You can see in the image below the Male owl as he flies after the female up into the trees.

The image states "Fox Cam". This is the camera I relocated to see where the owls were going into the trees.  It worked.  I just need to get another camera or two to get the "Fox Cam" back on station.

For your information, the small spot light you can see above the owl is the infra red light from the camera on the branch that looks at the nest box, in the nest box tree.

Hopefully, the Female has eaten while she's been out. 

21:00 - Female arrives back, flying down the Ride from the North.

A cold night tonight, down to around -1 with a definite frost.

00:10 - Male in the trees on the Left of the Drive, then swoops down and up onto the Camera branch on the nest box tree. 

00:15 - Male flies off to the west. After looking around for five minutes. Didn’t’t go to the box.

02:48 - Male appears in tree down the Ride on the west side. Stays there for a couple of minutes, then flies up to the branch above the nest box. No sign of food. 

02:52 - Flies off down the Ride to the East.

03:38 - Male flies in from the West with prey in mouth. Looks like a rat. He drops down for a quick pass-over and returns to the opening. He flies off to the South East at 03:42. Female eats the prey straight away.

1st April/2nd April

20:38 - Female leaves nest, and flies off down the Ride to the East.
 

20:54 - Female arrives back on nest, flying in down the Ride as usual, from the North.
 

I arrived home from work (21:15) and can hear the Male calling from the general direction of the nest box. But no show as yet. A bright but cold day. No events through the day. She keeps moving the eggs around and leaving one out from underneath her every now and again.

22:43 - Males eyes are showing in the hedgerow trees to the east of the Nest box tree. After a minutes or so he swoops up the Ride to the North and perches on the long branch they sit on together near the lodge. 22:55 - he swoops to the other side of the Ride in the hedgerow, heading towards the nest box.

22:56 - Male flies to the nest box and lands on the opening. 22:58 he leaves the box , heads up the ride and flips off to the west through the trees.

00:34 - Male appears on top of the Ride tree camera! - sits for a minute and then at 00:35 - Swoops up to the same long branch near the lodge - he’s carrying some food. He sits on the branch for for 4 minutes and then swoops back down towards the camera but carries on through the trees to the west.

02:37 - Owl lands on Nest box tree camera branch. - sits around looking til 02:39 when he swoops dow low off the branch and lands low in the branch of the big tree on the left besides the water. A minute later he flies off over the water. Not seen him perch here before.

03:06 - Male lands on top of the Ride Tree camera for a minute before flying to the nest box.

03:07 The female in the box does not seem disturbed about the owl at the opening, so presumably, it was the Male. The Male looks off to the East for a few seconds before looking back down at the female.   Then out of the blue and from the East, another owl flies in and attacks the male on the opening, landing on his back.  It falls away and the male drops away from the opening and chases the attacking owl. The female just sits on the eggs and looks up at the opening.

She turns her head and looks like she is calling out…..and she fidgets before climbing out of the box looking around on the opening.

03:08 - Female leaves the nest and flies straight to the long branch near the lodge where she usually meets the male.....

03:09 - she swoops off the branch and flies towards the woods in the west.

The above video shows the main action happening in the upper left hand window. When the female leaves the nest, the lower left hand window shows her path to the long branch, and also her flying off to the left. The light orbs and "stuff" flying around all over the screen is a mixture of insects and mist in the air.

03:33 - The female lands back on the nest, flying in from the North, down the drive. Where has she been for 23 minutes? and What’s happened to our owl? She sits on the opening for thirty seconds or so looking around before settling onto the eggs.

04:23 - Owl appears on the long branch near the lodge (see video below), flying in from the West, probably the wood. Female starts to look around inside the box, and up at the opening. Two and a half minutes later, the female rises to the opening swoops down and flies up the Ride to land on the long branch near the Lodge to join the Male.

The Video shows the Male coming back into view, in the lower left window, after chasing the intruder away. Then the female being aware that he is there and has food for her.

04:26 - Female lands on the branch and almost snatches the prey he’s is holding in his claws. The Male immediately flies off high and to the east.

04:26 - female flies off to the west, through the trees with the food.

04:33 - Female arrives at nest box, flying in down the Ride as usual from the North and immediately settles on the eggs.

05:15 - Male flies in from the West through the trees and lands on the long branch near the lodge. He has food in his talons. Female seems unaware at first and then after a few seconds starts to fidget.

05:19 - Flying in from the North, the male lands on box with the food and drops into box to swap the food. Male stays down for a while with his arm around the female.

Video shows  the male on the long branch again. He was there for four minutes and the female knew he was around. He eventually flew to the box….. I think she must have been quite upset about the attack and now he seems to be consoling her!

05:22 - Male climbs to the top and looks around for thirty seconds or so before flying off down the Ride to the East. Female eats the rat over the next few minutes and settles down at 05:30.

Another cold night tonight with a frost again. The day was bright and warmer than yesterday but still a little on the cool side. Nothing worth noting occurred today.

2nd April/3rd April

20:49 - The female starts to look around and at 20:50 she flies up the Ride and veers off into the trees and towards the wood.

21:00 - The female returns and moves the eggs around before settling down.

02:29 - Male flies out of the trees on the Ride North of the nest box and lands on the long branch next to the Lodge. - the now normal meeting place for our two lovebirds! And he’s definitely bearing gifts!  Female becomes agitated and thirty seconds later climbs out of the box. Swoops down and immediately flies straight past the Owl on the branch!…. and lands in a different tree on the Ride near the Lodge! So our male now has to swoop onto the other tree. He passes the food and hops onto a slightly higher branch before flying away immediately towards the woods. Its little vague but it looks like the Female “necks” the food and then also flies off towards the wood in the West

02:36 - Female lands back on box and drops down to settle on the eggs again.

04:37 - Female leaves the nest again, flying right up the Ride past the Lodge.

05:02 - The female reverses her path and returns to the nest box, adjusting the eggs before settling down.

3rd/4th April

Another basically cold but fine day. Rain started about 20:30 and the wind got up a bit......Female stayed in the box all day and there was no activity seen until…..

21:31 - Male shows on the long branch, yet again.... flying in from the field to the West, seems to have prey of some kind.... He's struggling a little to stay on the branch in the wind.

21:32 - He flies to the camera branch on the nest box tree with the prey. He flies over to the box drops down and passes the food over quickly..... She"necks" it straight away..... it was a biggish rat!

21:34 - Whilst the female tries to swallow the rat!!!  the male flies off to the East down the Ride.   She finished trying to swallow the rat at 21:41!

22:07 - Male arrives on the box with prey. Looks like a mole. A quick pass over of the food and he climbs back out. He stays on the edge of the box while she is below EATING HER SECOND MEAL in 30 minutes!!!

22:09 - Male flies off to the East, down the Ride.

No action during the night.... just the female sat on the eggs as it rains virtually all night long! Until......

05:53 - Female leaves the nest box in the rain….and heads up the Ride, swooping down and then rises high into the top of the tree next to the Ride camera. The weather is so bad it is very difficult to see the details of the footage. It looks lie she sits there for a minute or so then disappears. Probably off to the West woods.

06:05 - Female returns to the nest box…..flying in down the Ride, from the North…. Again!

4th/5th April

No action all day. Probably because it was an awful day of drizzle and rain and wind!…. first action of the day was…..

20:43 - Male comes speeding in fast down the Ride from the North with prey in his mouth and lands on the branch in front of the camera on the nest box tree.  The female has been looking up at the opening for a good few seconds now!.

I think the male likes to build up the suspense! - he hangs back for a while, eventually flying up to the box at 20:44.

He looks down and passes over the prey down in the box, climbing back out shortly after.

20:47 - Male flies off down the Ride to the East.

23:00 - Male flies down the Ride and lands in front of the camera carrying prey, turns towards the nest box as the female turns her head up to the opening. He makes the short flight over to the lip and drops down straight away to pass over the food. He stays on the lip of the nest box for a couple of minutes, looking around then swoops away to the East, down the Ride.

01:49 - Male lands in front of the camera again but I think that this time there is no food. He seems to come out of nowhere, so I can only presume he’s been around in the hedgerow for a while and the suddenly feels the urge to be nearer to “home”. Female is very still and unaware of his presence. So still she looks like she is sleeping.  01:55 the female looks up for the first time. 30 seconds later and he’s off. Swooping straight up the Ride to the North, low down near the floor and at speed, seeming to pull up and to the west through the trees towards the woods. Female settles down once more. Still drizzling and breezy.

04:02 - the male, once again, speeds down the Ride from the North and lands, once, again, right in front of the camera on the nest tree. It seems to have stopped raining at the moment. The male just looks to the left and right, his feathers being ruffled by the wind. It looks like he calls out and fluffs up his feathers at 04:07 as the female looks up at the opening at the same time.

04:08 - He’s off again, straight up the Ride, hard and fast and low….. 

04:11 - Female turns the eggs again….and settles.

05:19 - Male appears on the long branch on the Ride, near the Lodge. The branch is moving a bit in the wind and its raining slightly again. He lands and the ”bob” of his head reveals a mole that he’s brought in for her. He drops slightly into the box to do a quick passover of the mole.

05:22 - The male hangs around a few seconds before doing his usual swoop down at speed and going hard and low to the North.

05:41 - Female leaves the nest and seems to head to the East or towards the water, couldn’t see because of the rain streaks on the screen. 05:50 - She returns to the box, turns the eggs and settles down for the night (day!).   Well, she didn’t really settle down until at least 08:30, she was fidgeting and turning the eggs. There’s still a bit of rain around and the wind is still breezy.

5th/6th April

23:49 - Male flies onto the long branch near the Lodge, carrying food in his beak. It is still very breezy and you can see his feathers ruffling and the branch swaying. Female in the box seem to know he’s around.

23:50 - Male swoops down and lands on the box. He drops down straight away and passes over the food. He stays down in the box for only a few seconds before climbing up and sitting on the ledge of the box for 8 minutes or so.

23:58 - Male flies off to the East down the drive..... and the female swallows the rat!

03:39 - Female breaks an egg.  This egg was not a viable one.  Hard to take, but hopefully three will have a better chance than four

03:42 - Female swallows a piece of egg shell. Cleaning up the bird box.

The female sits on the remaining eggs for the rest of the night without leaving. That is now over 24 hours without leaving the eggs. She’s never done that before.

06:34 - A Roe deer appears bellow the nest box and grazes around for a few minutes before heading down the Ride to the East.

6th/7th April

A very cloudy and blustery day with heavy rain at times. Too dark in the box to see any activity apart from fidgeting. 

20:45 - Female leaves the nest and reveals only two eggs. She flies off to the East or the South….can’t really  make out where she goes. Weather is atrocious, which make viewing very, very difficult!

21:02 - Female come in to the nest box from the East. She sits straight down on the eggs.

00:50 - Male flies in with a rat from the North, down the Ride. Gets straight down into the box to pass over the food and climbs out again. Female eats it straight away. Male sits on the ledge for a while. The branches are swaying in the wind.

00:57 - Male flies off. As usual, swooping down to ground level and heading North, up the Ride seeming to rise and swing off to the West towards the woods.

01:38 - Male flies in once again from the North with food in his mouth and lands on the short stump below the nest box (unusual). He stays there for a few seconds before jumping up to the opening of the nest box. He’s straight down passing over what looks like a mouse, which the Female has eaten almost before the male has climbed back up to the opening.

01:39 - This time, the male flies off down the Ride, to the East.

06:57 - Infra red light goes off.

7th/8th April

Looks like a fine but cold night..

20:49 - Female goes out of the box, showing two eggs….Looking like she flies off to the East.

21:06 - Female comes flying in from the North, down the Ride. And lands on edge of box. After 30 seconds or so she jumps down and turns the eggs and settles.

00:57 - Male appears on the long branch near the Lodge.- after only a few seconds, he swoops low and lands on the box carrying a rat. He’s straight down and passes over the food,, climbing straight out, waiting for a few seconds then flies off down the Ride too the East.

01:42 - female looks up to the opening in the box for a minute before climbing out to leave the nest for the second time, flying North up the Ride and seems to land in the Ride camera tree.

01:54 - Female seems to fly out from lower down on the same Camera tree and up to the long branch. Within a few seconds, she’s swooped down to the box, jumped in and settled on the eggs.

Over the past few hours she has look up towards the opening many time, and seems a little agitated….

05:18 - Female leaves the nest once again. - She flies North up the Ride and suddenly climbs high above the long branch and into the canopy.

05:33 - She returns to the nest and again lands on the opening and jumps straight down and settles once again.

Lights go out at 06:35:

8th/9th April

Dry but cloudy day, lights come on at 17:18! - very early

No action to be seen at the nest.

17:31 - A couple of Jays are poking around in the branches in front of the nest box for a couple of minutes…..lights go back out until -19:45 tonight. Female still settled on the eggs. You got to admire their dedication…..

20:30 - Male arrives on the box after flying in from the wood on the left and then down the Ride…. - Has no food!  

20:32 - Male flies off to the East down the Ride 

20:38 - Female leaves the nest, swooping up the Ride to the north before rising and turning through the trees towards the woods in the West. Still two eggs.

20:51 - Male flies in from the woods in the west landing on the long branch.

20:52 - Female comes in from same direction and lands on the box. So at the same time we have the Male on the Long Branch and the female on the box.20:53 - she drops into the box. Has she eaten? -

20:55 - Male heads North, up the Ride….

22:53 - Male flies in from the West through the trees to the long branch, definitely carrying some “big” food!   Female looking up to the opening…..

22:54 - female climbs out of box and flies to the long branch, lands and snatched the food out of the males beak, who then jumps straight up to a higher branch.  The female then flies off to a branch in the trees in the hedgerow, behind the Ride tree Camera.

23:02 - female flies in from the North and lands the box - settle on the eggs straight away.

00:48 - Male flies inform the west, either from the woods or from the hedgerow trees with prey in his mouth and lands on the long branch. Female is aware, looking up to the opening.

00:49 - Male lands on the box with prey and passes over food.

01:01 - Female swallows prey and then leaves the nest, once again flying up the ride and swooping high Into the Ride camera tree upper canopy.

01:08 - Female returns to the nest box, once again from the North, down the Ride, drops down into the nest box and settles.

03:20 - Female leaves the nest box, yet again!. She flies in the same direction as before, up the Ride but this time stays los and actually flies into a branch separating some twigs as she flies through!

03:30 - Females arrives back again from the same direction as before, North. Lands on opening, jumps dow a few seconds later.

05:04 - Female leaves the box…..Flies agin to the North, up the Ride but unlike last time, she flies into the canopy again….

05:17 - Female arrives back and once again from the same direction. Lands on the box and once again straight down to settle on the eggs.

05:41 - Male arrive at the nest box with prey in his mouth. And lands right on the opening. 

05:42 - Male flies down the Ride and into the canopy above the Ride camera tree.

05:48 - It seems like she’s just managed to get it down! She turns her attention to the eggs and settles down again.

Lose infra red at 06:36….looks like an blue sky day to come - cold but fine….definate frost on the ground.

9th/10th April

Sunny during the day - but cold.

14:42 - Jays are showing interest once again….

No other action around the box - 19:42 infra red light becomes active.

20:46 - Female leaves nest box - Swoops low but soars high into the canopy again above the Ride Camera tree, before flying off towards the woods in the west.

20:56 - Female arrives back at the nest box, a few seconds on the lip before dropping down onto the eggs and settles.

22:36 - Male flies in from the West, probably the wood….and lands on the long branch but right on the thin bits at the end , not on the main branch where he normally does. Within a few seconds he arrive at the nest box but without food.

22:38 he flies off to the East Down the Ride.

00:16 - Female leaves the nest and as she has done quite a Lot recently, swoops up the drive but soars into the canopy.

00:27 - She returns the same way she left.

00:33 - once again….Female leaves the nest and as she has done quite a Lot recently, swoops up the drive but soars into the canopy.

00:48 - female returns….. and settles.

04:58 - Female leaves the nest box yet again….Repeats the same movement as last time, into the canopy.

05:05 -  Lands and settles as before.

06:34 - looses infra red .

Well the 11th of April is 30 days since she laid her first egg. The incubation period generally for Tawny Owls is 30 days and we still have two eggs.

We know she got rid of two eggs, but we dont know which ones.... whether they were the first two, the last two, or indeed any other mix.... I can only presume that she knew that those two eggs weren't viable, therefore, I can only presume that she knew that the remaining two eggs were different. 

If the two left are the last two then it will be another four or five days before they hatch. It is not unknown for a nest to fail altogether..... and when it does, the owls will either try again, or move on.

but thats Nature for you.... so let's keep our fingers crossed and hope for a positive outcome.

For the on-going story of what happens next click on..... 

Tawny Owl Nest Box Project 2022 (January to April - Part 2).
 

Lake Louise
We stayed for two nights at the municipal RV camp Site in Lake Louise. Not a bad set up, although we did have quite a way to walk to make use of the "Facilities". 

We were very tired after all the travelling, so after a quick bite to eat, we got a "relatively" early night. That night, was the coldest night so far and we didn't get much sleep as it was colder than we had experienced so far.... as was obvious, the next morning we woke to find our windscreens frozen over!

As forecast, the weather was sunny, with clear blue skies and once the sun was up over the mountains, it warmed up quite nicely. We were told that parking was always a problem at Lake Louise. So we decided to walk in up the valley trail.

The trail starts off nice and flat but shortly after the slope begins, and the slope turns into a steep incline for several hundred metres in places!

A very pretty walk, albeit a bit taxing on the legs and the lungs as the surface of Lake Louise itself is 5740 ft above sea level.

Is that a glass igloo on the mountain or the moon! Just before entering the Lake area, Gavin noticed that the moon was just going down behind the mountain.

This is the view that greets you when you arrive at the side of Lake Louise at the top of the trail from the village.

These Jays are ever-present at the lakeside, flying in to be fed tit bits from the hands of the thousands of visitors to the Lake.  

The colour of the water is derived from the "Rock Flour" that is brought into the lake from the Glacial meltwater. The "Rock Flour" is generated by the glacier as it very slowly passes over the valley floor. The tremendous pressures involved, pulverises boulders and rocks into dust and as the ice melts, the water carries it into the lake.

This is where the Lefroy Glacial waters enter the lake, although the Lefroy Glacier itself is a good walk further up the valley.

The lake supports two species of trout and the small Mountain Whitefish. The Stoney Nakota First Nation People named the lake "The Lake of the Little Fishes"

We didn't have time to walk any further as we needed to return to the hotel for lunch before going on the lake in a canoe!..... the thing was, was Stef going in the canoe?..... and, do we take all the camera gear in the canoe?..... 

After lunch in the hotel,  we went for the Canoe.... Unfortunately, they didn't have lockers. So, after much deliberation, I decided that I would take the camera gear on the canoe, with more than a little feeling of trepidation.

Oh......and Stef decided to go in the canoe as well!:))

Straight down the middle of the lake and back - roughly 1 hour. Over the four kilometre (or so) canoe trip, It hardly entered my mind (much) that the lake is around 230 feet deep. Replacing the kit we had on board would be quite expensive, so you can imagine that I was very interested in not "rocking the boat". We would float... but the camera gear wouldn't!!!

Seldom much above freezing, the lake is used for Canoeing, Kayaking, in summer and Ice fishing and Ice Skating in winter when the Lake freezes over.

An easier walk back down the trail, brought us into the village of Lake Louise where we had a drink and some very nice chicken wings..... we had earned it. According to our pedometers in our phones we had walked over 12 miles covering some fairly steep ground. We would sleep well tonight. We needed to as we had another early start and drive to Banff (although only 30 - 40 km or so away) and another day of walking the rainforest planned, on the lookout for Bears and whatever other wildlife we could find.

Banff and surrounding area

We set off reasonably early the next morning to have a leisurely drive to Banff.  The photo below showing the Main Street.

After lunch in Banff, we had a walk following the Bow river down toward the Fairmont Hotel and beyond.

The View down river just below Bow Falls.

The View up-river from The Banff Avenue Bridge.

We left Banff and headed towards Canmore, to drive the Smith Dories Spray Trail. We had a brief walk in the hills before returning to Banff

The view just before the top of the climb up on the Spray Trail

Setting off down a Mountain trail (complete with beware of wolves signs)

Male and female Spruce Grouse encountered on the way

 and an American Three-toed Woodpecker which stayed put even though I was obviously creeping nearer minute by minute.

After our walk, we had a leisurely drive back to Banff to find our campsite. We never saw sign of any Moose, Elk or Caribou, even though we looked for quite a while. We hadn't seen anything remotely interesting from a wildlife point of view throughout our travels, apart from the occasional fleeting view of a distant black bear whilst driving or a few deer in the distance, usually too far to even be sure of what they were.

Anyway, as we approached the campsite entrance At the Tunnel Mountain Campground, guess what was in the woods at the side of the road?..... yeah, you guessed it..... a herd of Elk!..... yep, ...... right opposite the campsite.

There was a big Bull with about 30 cows and a few calves in the herd and we often heard the Bull calling out. I managed the above photograph before he saw me and responded as below!

Cheeky Bugger!

A couple of times another bull came close to have a look at the herd, but the big Bull Elk chased them off, without coming to blows. We sat and photographed the herd for a good hour and a half and eventually we decided that we would have to go and register and find our pitch on the campsite.

We registered and then headed off to our pitch. We found it and yes, it was right by the road, maybe 50 yards away right where the Elk were! 

We set up and sat down to have a drink and within minutes, part of the herd came over and wandered right by the side of our camper, maybe 10 yards away. The Bull Elk didn't like them straying too close to the camper and he came over to keep an eye on things but from a distance of about 40 yards. Close enough to intervene should any interloper, either human or elk,  try anything on.  

I went out to get a little bit closer and hopefully, get a better shot of him.

but within minutes he also started to come closer, so I made a strategic withdrawal just as one of the park rangers arrived in a pick-up and got out of the cab armed with a rifle that shot compressed air pellets that exploded on impact.   He advised us to get back in the camper and placed himself between the Bull Elk and the camper, firing off a few shots at the feet of the Bull Elk which didn't have that much effect until he eventually aimed at the haunch of the beast and the resulting "explosion" of air had the desired effect and they withdrew back towards the road and the ranger left us a few minutes later.

So, we didn't see any "up-close" large deer at all until they tried to invite themselves in for a drink!  We did get some good images though. 

We were up early the next Morning, and we beat most people up onto the mountain trail around Lake Minnewanka.....

Great views and the wildlife was already up and looking!

We walked for most of the morning, never getting too high up but the going was tough in places.

After a while there were more people around, running and paddling....as we crossed the Stewart Gorge and headed into the foothills of Mt Astley.

More people turned up this time peddling mountain bikes up ridiculously steep paths, presumably for the pleasure of going down them again!

Although there were lots of notices regarding Bear awareness, we never saw or heard one. The views more than made up for it though!

After returning to Banff, we decided to follow up on a lead for seeing a different herd of Elk and headed off towards the Fairmont Banff Springs Golf Course.

A chap told us that he had seen the herd in the rough surrounding the fairways..... but when we arrived, they were on the Fairways and the Greens!

Not only were they on the fairways, but the bull decided to take the velvet off his antlers by dragging them through the grass....ooops! bet the groundsmen weren't happy!

The bull then headed off to the green.....

Heading back to the nineteenth for a quick one with the lads! and we headed back to the site to freshen up before going out on the town for a meal.

We couldn't be too late to bed as, in the morning, we had a mega drive back to Vancouver (nearly 900 Kilometers) in order to return the camper. We were staying just outside Vancouver so we only had a twenty mile drive to return the van the following day.

Our next and last stop would be Whistler!

Part Five

The Road to Lake Louise via Jasper.

Set off early after breakfast.. A long way to go today - 361 km to be exact!

The journey, of necessity, had to be a quick one. So, any stop was brief and quite a few of the images were through the windscreen, either with an iphone, or the D800 and 16-35mm wide-angle lens.

The road from Blue River to Jasper is where the rolling (BIG) hills turn to the mountains proper! 

The road to Jasper is often long and very, very straight! A few stunning Lakes by the road gave opportunity for a decent break, every now and then. Unusually, a bit of blue showed now and then.... Jasper National Park, you have to buy "Park Passes" to travel through the National Parks of Canada. - Some beautiful scenery along the way.... wish we had time record it properly.... Evidence of the fires that raged for weeks throughout Canada, very frightening, I would imagine, if you were caught up in it all. Majestic, truly majestic scenery - the road to Morraine Lake. Beautiful. Autumn colours just starting to emerge You can imagine what this whole valley is going to look like in a couple of weeks time.... The views from the lake are absolutely stunning... well worth the detour of two or three hours. We had to get to the Campsite at Lake Louise before dark though, so we couldn't hang about for long.

The Icefields Parkway (Highway 93N) runs between Jasper and Lake Louise for 230 km

The "Columbia Icefield" Glacier..... from the place where the camper was in the previous image

There is a huge building on the opposite side of the road to the Glacier which is the "Columbia Icefield Discovery Centre".

The road travels through somme stunning scenery. Some time, we will return and take the time to "record" the scenery properly, give it the respect it's due!

Part 6 coming up.

Hi to everyone.

Here follows a brief Blog of our day trip to RAF Donna Nook's Bombing range in Lincolnshire.....

It's mid November and the grey seal pup count is in the high hundreds...... just short of the thousand mark!

We have stayed locally overnight to enable us to be "on-site" quite early. In fact we are the third or fourth car in the car park.  £5:00 for the day, which I think is very reasonable, especially as 20% goes to the "Lincolnshire Wildlife Trust, to which everyone residing in Lincolnshire should be contributing to!!!

Just follow the very clear signs to the parking field. I would say that it's approx 100 yards from the parking field, over the dunes to get to see these remarkable seals and their pups. It is over some low dunes, so it presents an access problem for the disabled, although only a small one.

There is another carpark available for "disabled" visitors, which is only a matter of yards to the "viewing fields"!

Unusually, it was a sunny day, although we had a couple of showers early on in the day, just to remind us not to get over-confident in our expectations, weather wise.

There were a couple of hundred male Bulls, according to the local count.  The vast majority were cows and pups.... but every now and again, a bull would enter the scene. Very easy to identify as they are massive and very ugly, as the following three images testify.

The cows however tend to be a lot more appealing. Probably weighing around a third less than the Bulls, much more sleek than the Bulls and a lot kinder on the eye than the Bulls!

When the cows are ready to give birth they haul out onto the marshes and dunes to have their pup.

When first born, the pups are a very creamy white. As the days/weeks pass they tend to darken considerably, and eventually greying off. The mothers feed the young high fat milk several times a day. However, they only feed them for 18 days before leaving them to fend for themselves, eventually entering the sea for their first fish meal.

The pups can move around a little but seldom stray far from their mums. However, the "units" (mother and pup) like their space and sometimes two Cows will clash if one comes a little too close to their pup.

Generally though, things seem to be very laid back with mother and pup, spending quite a few hours a day dozing.

Leaving plenty of time for us photographers plenty of time to get some good images, hopefully! So here you go.... a couple of dozen shots of the little darlings!!!

There was a bit of a flap on today as we had an unexpected visitor, a "Pomarine Skua" See image below. They Breed in the northern Tundra regions of Europe and North America. In winter they can occasionally show up on our eastern shores. This shot was from about 70 yards away but its acceptable as a record shot...

Definitely plan to visit next year, so we have forward planned it in the diary...

Next morning, we had another early start leaving Rip Rap Camp, the weather had cleared a little and we had some blue sky.

Pulling out onto the highway we pulled over immediately to photograph the gorgeous little church at Hagensborg.  

We retraced our drive from the day before, to Fishermans pool, where we got off the raft. There was nothing there to see, so we went on up to where we got on the raft at Belarko Wildlife Viewing Point.  Here, we met a few people we had met at Rip Rap Camp, notably, John Gosling and his partner Tara.

We had met on the Wildlife platform at Rip Rap the day before. It was immediately obvious that John knew what he was talking about when it came to bears. So we listened to everything he had to say, as we knew nothing at all about bears! Not only was he very forthcoming with information but we soon found out that not only was he English, but he came from Norfolk, the same as Stef!  Five minutes later, they found that they had even gone to the same school! Small World! If you want to see some really good bear images, then check out John Gosling's facebook page. (Just type in "John Gosling British Columbia Wildlife").

We stayed about an hour and then decided that it was time to get on our way. After saying our goodbyes, we set off up the one road out of Bella Coola. We had heard several people saying bad things about "Heckman Pass" and how steep and bendy this road was.... and it was only a gravel road to boot!

However, the road was comparatively well looked after and not as steep as we were led to believe. It also wasn't as "bendy" either! If anyone knows Applegate Pass in Scotland, they will know that it is a single lane road with passing places, it is very steep in places and the bends are quite literally "hairpins". Heckman Pass felt far easier to traverse than the Applegate Pass. I might have felt differently if I had been going downhill hauling a massive trailer RV behind me! - but going uphill in a 25 foot RV, even though we were on the "outside", didn't feel so bad. I only heard Stef scream on one occasion!

The pass is about 88 km from Bell Coola and after you reach the top, the countryside is a bit up and down for a while before it emerges onto the Chilcoton Plateau proper. The evidence of forest fires could be seen from the top of the pass, all the way to Williams Lake 250km away, although it was far less severe the further east we drove.

At the top of the pass, all you could see were burnt tree trunks on both sides of the road and for as gar as you can see. It wasn't quite so bad after Williams Lake.

The images that follow, illustrate the landscape from Bella to the Lodge at Chilcotin Lodge just short of Williams lake.

The "Historic" Chilcotin Lodge at Riske Creek was just off the Main Highway.

A large two story log cabin structure with outbuildings. We were booked in to an "all services" RV pitch. Stef went into the "Hotel" reception for a few minutes and came out with a new "Tartan" shirt! as well as the owner who proceeded to show us the way to the pitch.

The pitches were at the back of the "Hotel" on sloping ground. The owner did everything he could to help us "pitch up" including getting on the floor to put pieces of wood underneath the wheels, so can't fault him on that! However, in every other respect, the place just wasn't up to scratch. The way we were pitched, we couldn't reach the sewage inlet.... not a problem, we would just use the one on board if necessary. Also, the toilets/showers had to be seen to be believed. They were basically a small wooden shed. Ladies on the left and gents on the right, each depicted by a full size "Cowboy" or "Cowgirl" black silhouette stuck to the door.

Inside was basic to say the least. I would not like to say when the last time the shower had been used and cleaned. (all black around the bottom of the shower curtains!). The facility functioned, but the service should be so much more than that.

We needed to get in touch with our son Gavin, who was coming over to join us in three days time. but we had no signal and no internet. So the only option we had was to go indoors and have a drink. As usual, a 400ml bottle of local brew for me and a "spritzer" for Stef. The bill was around 25 Canadian Dollars - around £15.00! Needless to say, we did what we had to do on the internet and left!

I think the woman in red's face (above right) says it all!

Stef loved the interior of the place, all wood and stone and wood burners!
....oh and moose heads!

We had the back of the hotel to look at when we got back..... or at least we did when it was light. We could look at old signs, old cars, broken fences, etc. I would have to say that, from an RV user's point of view, in many respects this is not a great place to stay.

Next morning, it was cold! That was the coldest night so far, and we felt it. There was even a bit of frost on the ground. Either way, we had another long day ahead.... a 391km drive to Bone Creek Wilderness Retreat in Blue River.

Filled up with petrol in Williams Lake and sat back again for a long drive just watching the scenery.

The drive to Blue River was even more uneventful than the day before. Again the scenery was superb and provided plenty of distraction from the long drive.

I want to spend a little more time talking about Bone Creek Wilderness Retreat, as this is where the story of the day lies.... not in the journey there.

We thought that this place would be good for us. It again, on face value was a shame that we couldn't spend more time here. As has become the norm for us, we arrived  about two hours before dark. The Retreat is about 1 km off the Southern Yellowhead Highway, roughly 15km north of the Town of Blue River.

As you leave the highway on a cinder track, you cross a Bailey type bridge with dense woodland on either side.... go straight ahead and you see the signs for the Retreat coming up on the right. Turning right off the cinder track, you are on a gravel track that completes a circle over, say 100 yards, coming back out on itself.  Enter the track and you can see several small cabins around the right hand outside perimeter of the track.... and a couple of buildings in the inside, left hand side of the loop. The biggest building being the one belonging to the owners, Micky and her husband.... from which emerged three BIG dogs barking their heads off heading straight for the Camper. A few seconds later and a woman headed out of the "Main Log Cabin" and headed towards us. Arriving at the RV Door, Micky asked what we wanted and we told her that we had a booking. She asked how we booked and we said on the internet!..... her response was " did I reply?". We told her that she had and gave her our names. She said "fine.... in that case you can stay!", telling us that the RV area was all the way around the "circle" and that there was four places to Pitch, from which we could make our choice, as there was no one else staying. She asked if we needed help and we said no we could manage. She indicated that the toilet/shower was in the wooden structure behind the little cabin we could see in front of us. We said no problem, we would find it.

We set off around the circular track and pulled up when we reached the area for the RV pitches and saw the toilet/shower building. There was nothing wrong at all with the pitches, each had a picnic table and fire pit, albeit a bit on the rustic side.

We wanted to go for a walk before it got dark, so we went around to the house to speak with Micky again.  The dogs came out barking again as we walked up, they were big and boisterous but harmless. Micky came out and we had a chat for five or ten minutes. We told her that we wanted to go for a walk, and her reply was "do you have bear spray". We replied that we had not been able to find any. She said that we would be better heading out of the campsite, turning left and walking back toward the bridge to check out the river for bears.

Talking to Micky further, she said that there had been a moose in the camp earlier in the afternoon. Also, a few days  ago a Grizzly Bear was in camp and it took the three dogs about 45 minutes to get it out of camp. Finally, she informed us that there were wolves around as well and that since they had been there, (which we didn't think had been more than 5 years or so.... but we could be wrong!) she had shot 15 Wolves!

Didn't really feel like walking now!... but that was why we had come. So we set off, with our cameras, for the Bailey Bridge, once again, talking loudly to announce our presence to anything that might take objection to our being there. On reaching the bridge, we saw absolutely nothing, although it was a nice walk so we turned around and headed back.

We walked past the entrance and started to walk the other way - which led further into the rainforest. The road was a wide cinder track, probably used for logging.  About 50 yards after the entrance there was a railway track.... nothing else.... no lights.... no barriers or anything like that, just two rails laid into the track surface. As we stood there, we heard a train whistle in the far distance.... Stef wanted to stay until we had seen the train pass. The whistle got louder and louder over the next five minutes or so. Eventually, the train came and made it's whistle next to us!.... it was deafening.

It was a commercial train rather than a passenger train and I counted 135 containers on carriages, pulled by two units in tandem and a further one in the middle! Incredible to see, and very noisy, what with the whistle and the clackety-clack of the wheels on the tracks. After the train passed, we carried on walking but still never saw anything. 1 kilometre later we arrived back at the Camp and by now it was throwing it down, so out went the plans for a barbi and a fire! and we ate inside.

The toilet/shower structure however was a bit of a surprise. After "pitching up" and before going for the walk, we investigated.

They say a picture paints a thousand words....so I will save my time and put a picture in instead!!!

What can I say!

There was no way I was using this place after dark!.... there was enough room, both above and below the door for any half decent bear to reach under, or over, and just grab you right off the loo! - forget that!

Needless to say, we used the facilities in the camper that night!

Micky had told us that the dogs would let us know if anything was around. So after the meal, we turned off the interior lights and just laid on the bed looking out of the windows, to see what we could see. Even though we heard the dogs barking several times, we saw nothing.

HOWEVER!.... we did very much HEAR SOMETHING!....  A bloody train once an hour, sometimes two!!! All the way through the night!

I had had enough, way before 8:00 the next morning. I just wanted to be away as we had 360 km before we got to Lake Louise, visiting Jasper on the way.    So, Goodbye to Bone Creek Wilderness Retreat!

We drove a short distance to Hagensborg, where we found the "Rip Rap" camp.

Nice and open, surrounded by mountains, with grass underfoot, nice clean buildings for laundry, games and reading etc, along with communal fire pits, and a very clean toilet and shower.                               An added bonus was a log built, open viewing platform, by the side of the Bella Coola river, from which to watch for wildlife. We were not booked in but they made room for us for two nights.

Our main reason for being here to go on a Rafting boat trip looking for Grizzly Bears. Kynoch Adventures, who run the rafting trip, meet just a few hundred yards up the road next to the Bella Coola Mountain Lodge. So we were well placed for meeting there the following day.

Before night fell, we walked to the river platform (two to three minutes walk from the front of the campsite where we were pitched) where the owner said that bears had been seen earlier in the day. We didn't see any bears but a couple of hundred yards away on the stony sides of the river, we could see four bald eagles on the ground. Someone told us that bears had been seen eating fish there earlier and we supposed that the eagles were cleaning up after them. The weather was still very cloudy, and at times drizzly. There were mountains all around us but we couldn't see the tops of the because of the clouds. in fact we couldn't even see very far up them! You would just get tantalising glimpses every now and again.

We met people on the platform and had been told of a place where the Bears can be seen from a public viewing platform about 35 minutes away. We knew that this was where the rafting trip was taking place tomorrow. So tomorrow, we would have a morning of rest and just go down to the platform and wait to see what appeared. 
Eventually, as it went dark, we made our way back to the Camper, had a meal and went to sleep. 

Next morning, I was up early and on the platform before breakfast. The mountains were still clouded over, which was a shame! I had woken Stef and left her with a cup of tea in bed. As I walked up to the platform I was met by an American Red Squirrel who was eating pine nuts from the trees that were next to the platform. He was not frightened and would stay there on the floor almost as you walked over him, up the stairs to the platform!

He gave me something to photograph for a while. There were Bald eagles in roughly the same area as last night. One of them flew past on the river. I missed him on the first pass but a few minutes later he came back downstream and flew right over the top of me. Managed a few shots but once again, high ISO's.

Shortly after, I spotted something on the opposite bank....A bear!.... too far away to see if he was a grizzly or a black bear. I watched him for a few minutes more until I was sure he was heading his way up the river towards the platform. Then I scooted back to the camper, just as Stef appeared from it!  Great timing. I grabbed this shot of a Canadian Robin on the way back!

We headed back to the platform but the bear was nowhere to be seen.  We stayed there for three hours or so, being entertained again by the antics of the red squirrel, who would sit next to the trunk of the pine tree and then dash to the end of the branch and dangle upside down, as he bit through the ends of the leaves which held the pine nuts and then shoot off back to the tree trunk to eat! All of this took about three seconds.... incredibly hard to photograph because of its speed and because it was half hidden by the pine leaves.  We persisted and were rewarded with some half decent images, considering the available light, the speed of the subject and the fact that he was hidden virtually all of the time.

Eventually though, we had to leave for the Rafting trip. For this trip, we could take no food, wear no deodorants, no drinks were allowed, except water and we also were told to wear muted clothing. We had a little lunch and made our way up to meet at the Kynoch Adventures rendezvous. We deliberately got there 30 minutes early. As we kind of wanted to establish the fact that we were first there. We still thought it was essential that we be at the front of the boat.
Fraser Koroluk, co-founder and our guide for the day drove us the 35 minutes or so to the place where we started our rafting experience on the Atnarko River. Fraser, also a biologist, has been operating these "Bear Adventures" for 17 years and states on their website that "Our goal is to ensure a sustainable experience for visitors, with protection of the natural environment and consideration for the animals and people that call Bella Coola Valley home".   This "goal" was openly apparent during the whole of our trip. At no time did we make any unnecessary advances toward the bears in order to improve our experience. Whenever we saw a bear, we stayed put on the water and whatever happened, happened.... then we continued our journey downstream.

We put on our life jackets and boarded the boat. As we did, it quickly became apparent that we had company straight away.

About 50 yards down stream, there was a Sow and three cubs.

Almost immediately, they started to make their way up the bank towards our position. The sow in front and the cubs following behind, camel fashion!

We were in the middle of the stream being held in position by Fraser with the other guide on the other boat doing the same. When they were about twenty yards away, the mother suddenly turned away from the river and entered the trees that lined the bank. At the back of the trees, there was an access road that we had used to get to the river. They never appeared on the road, and even though we had binoculars we could see nothing in the trees. Fraser said that this was a place where they could get their heads down after eating and have a good sleep for a while.

Before, we moved on. I noticed that a First Nation Ranger who was keeping an eye on us, was looking up-stream.

I pointed this out Fraser and with a major bit of "oar-work" he managed to get us "up-river" a little and sure enough there was a Grizzly in the water, up stream. He told us that it was the biggest bear for miles around (that he had christened "Bent Ear" 17 years ago) - but he also suddenly disappeared a few seconds later.  Stef managed this long distance shot of him (approx 900mm). He looks a "big fella" even from this distance

He told us that, a few weeks ago, they had come across him in the middle of the river, in a narrow stretch, and he never moved. They were there in the boat for nearly a couple of hours before he moved off and let them pass. He just wouldn't get out of the way.

Now it seemed that we couldn't keep the bears in sight!. They were all disappearing almost as soon as we found them.

We drifted past the public wildlife observation post at Belarko. It was now beginning to pour it down. On the way down river, Fraser made us aware of the importance of the salmon to the environment.... and to the bear.

We saw a few Mergansers and kingfishers on the way down river. Didn't get a shot of the kingfishers though.

We were now around about half way through our "voyage", the second boat (which was now in front) had stopped in the water and was making its way to the side (an indication that they had seen something). They were about a hundred yards in front of us. As we neared them a Grizzly went from the trees on the left bank, over the stoney beach and grabbed a fish. Turning quickly, it made its way back to the trees and shrubs and disappeared. Stef and myself only managed a few distant shots of it. 

When we caught up to the other boat, the other guide told Fraser that the same thing had happened on the right bank just in front of them. The only problem was that they were looking at the right bank trying to see the other bear, as the bear on the left bank ran out to the shore and back. So they didn't really get a good look at that one either! Fraser said that it was a bit unusual for the bears to exhibit this kind of behaviour and that they are normally a bit more laid back than that.

We carried on downriver, overtaking the other boat again, pulling in shortly afterwards for a bit of "Granola Bar", or "flapjack" or something like that and tea. We saw very little wildlife for the rest of the trip, and the lighting was poor, as it was still throwing it down. The weather was awful but the scenery was still stunning.

We did drift very slowly past a Bald Eagle that was perched in a tree, the guide was slowing our passage so we managed some shots before moving too far away.

As we approached the penultimate bend. Fraser was saying that he was disappointed for the lack of "good" contact with the Grizzlies, although we had seen 5 bears and the other boat had seen 6. He did go on to say that there was still one more bend in the river and that it wasn't over til it was over! We weren't really convince but had to admit that we had seen half a dozen bears, even if they hadn't wanted to stay around.

We were now coming to the lower observation site at Fisheries Pool, where we were to finish our rafting trip.  Here, the river sweeps around in a large left hand bend and, as we approach, we can see that the current has deposited many tree trunks and branches in the slack water on the outside of the bend. It must have also deposited some dead salmon too, as there was a Grizzly walking upstream on the right hand bank.

Fraser stopped us in the water on just off the river bank on the right hand side, near to where the trees and branches had accumulated. The bear was walking upstream towards us and with any luck he might come closer. After about 10 yards, it stopped and took a fish from the waters edge.

Although it was a good fifty or sixty yards away and the light was far from great, (although it had almost stopped raining) we had quite a good view and started taking pictures. Being at the front was a massive boost to us, if we had been in the second or third seats, we would have struggled to get good shots. We had the front seats and I was thankful that we had had the foresight to get to them in the first place! 

He took the fish out of the water and ate it right there! right in front of us!  Unfortunately, he turned his back as soon as he had the fish in his mouth!.... we couldn't see a thing except his backside! Wasn't anything going to go right for us today! After a few of minutes, he turned round and, as he turned, he stopped, dropped the fish and turned to look downstream, raised his head in the air and bellowed.

Fraser told us that he thought that there was another bear on the other side of the river. We couldn't see because of the rise of the river bank. However, within a couple of minutes, another Grizzly appeared in the water on the left of the river. At this time, he was about 30 or 40 yards away.

He found a bit of fish and was sat down in the water half-heartedly picking at it.

After a few minutes, he started to walk through the water towards us. Heart beating faster, because he was still coming towards us!, we continued to take some shots.
He left the water and started to walk up the side of the river. He was now almost behind the boat about 20 yards away. Fraser, in his waders, was still in the water holding the raft steady.
The Grizzly turned and walked back down the bank for a few steps and then entered the water and started swimming parallel to the boat, across the river, towards the right hand bank, where all the trees and branches were banked up on the water. He was now about 15 to 20 yards away.

He entered the area which was strewn with trunks and branches and began to search around. Then, he stopped, no more than 15 yards away, took a fish from the water.... and promptly turned around to eat it! Once more, nothing that we could photograph, other than the bear's back as he ate the fish. What do we have to do to get an image of the bears eating salmon?.... the answer is to wait a while!  

A few minutes later, the bear dropped the fish and turned toward us searching....
and searching....                                                                     

and searching....

Until he came within 8 yards or so and took up a fish. Then, instead of turning around, he just sat down, facing the cameras and proceeded to rip into the salmon!  

He just sat there whilst he ate the fish, idly looking around, not bothered at all by two boat loads of people watching him! 
 After he finished the first fish, he found another and started to tear it apart!

He was now sat in the water five or six metres away, right in front of the boat!.... Incredible! That an animal of this stature would feel so at ease as to sit there, so close, and just be! Outstanding!

We watched and photographed for what seemed an eternity, but more likely no more than four or five minutes. Then after he had fed himself enough salmon, he washed his face, had a drink and then he stood in the water and walked along the trunks and branches, to get to the bank.

When he was on the bank, he walked past the two boats. As he walked past, he just tilted his head, as if in acknowledgement, looked us in the eye and carried on, upstream. 

Wow, what an experience. This magnificent beast had passed the boats less than 5 metres away and had just accepted that we her there! No threat, no worries, just normal bear behaviour. He carried on past us up the river. He stopped again, after twenty yards or so, looking backwards the rafts, then he turned, and carried on up the river!

All of the people in the boat had really silly grins on their faces.... ourselves included probably! The Grizzly could, at any time have launched at us, and I dare say that it had crossed everyone's mind. Fraser and the other guide had had bear Spray on them. I asked if he had had it ready to use at any time. He shook his head and said, no!  

He explained that we had been stationary in the water the whole time the bear had been around. He had moved from coming into sight around the bend about 40 yards away, to being within 5 or 6 metres from us in the boat. He also said that he had been doing this for 17 years and knew from the bears behaviour that it wasn't a problem.  

We carried on downstream for about 50 metres until we passed the observation post at Fishermans Pool, then we pulled over to the side and proceeded to disembark. At this time, I took Fraser's hand, and shook it! What an experience!  As he had said, the last corner of the river had given us the experience of a lifetime! 

We all clambered out of the boat, and in a bit of a fugue. We got back into the Mini bus and before we knew it, we were back at the meeting place.... all slightly stunned by the experience we had just had. The image of the Grizzly as he walked past the boats looking into our eyes will stay with me forever.

We sat in the camper and thought that we had to celebrate the experience we had just had. So we went into the Bella Coola Mountain Lodge a few yards away, and booked a celebratory meal.  We then drove the 400 yards or so back to the Rip Rap Camp.

Walking back up the road to the lodge where we had booked our meal was a little worrisome. The night before, a black bear had been seen climbing the trees at the side of the road for berries! So, as we walked, Stef kept speaking VERY LOUDLY, so as to put off any stray bears!

As a celebration of the day, the meal did not let us down. Lamb Shanks!  Very nice. On the way back home, Stef talked even louder!

A good nights sleep was ahead of us. I/we had a 388 km drive to Chilcoton Lodge for our next nights stay. From now on, we had no wildlife trips booked. What we saw on the road from now on is what we got. There was no "extra's".

The internet was strewn with reports of bears and elk and moose, all seen by the road.... all the way from Bella Coola to Banff.... was it really that good for wildlife sightings?.... 

We'll see what happens in Part 4.

Day 7

Another 6 hour drive to Port McNeal, where we are to board "The Sea Wolf" for a day's outing looking for Grizzly's. The trip could involve short boat trips followed by extensive walking through the island rainforests with guides.  

To get there, we had the option of a shorter journey to Port McNeal, via another "gravel" road BUT, I decided that the earlier gravel road took long enough and on the map, this road was thinner and longer than before. So I had grave doubts about our ability to traverse it!!! So we went the long way round. Tiring, but at least we and the RV are in one piece. I guess it would probably have been fine..... but it was a big delay if we had had to retrace our steps!

Being mostly the main highway, the run to Port McNeal was mostly uneventful..... apart from the fact that I think this was Stef's first drive of the RV. No Problem for an Advanced driver! 

Again, with all the driving, we arrived just as the light was going.... mainly because of the diversions we took along the way. The Site was next to the sea , literally a few yards away from the edge of the water. We had a meal booked at the restaurant "on-site", which turned out to be very nice,

We needed to be at the "Sea Wolf" premises by 6:45. This again meant an early morning start, which we always negotiate gingerly, as we hate making that much noise so early in the morning. Arriving at Port McNeal we found another 8 people were coming along for the ride as well. 

We were heading out early to meet the low tide.... A time when grizzly and black bears frequent the shoreline to discover whatever food they can find.... The reason for booking this trip with "Sea Wolf" was to discover Grizzly Bears. We would cover water and land, with walks lasting several kilometres, taking in Native settlements as well.

We could not take food, we could not apply anti-perspirant.... We could not stray from the path, we had to keep in groups.  We needed to take waterproof gear as we did not know how far we would need to walk and therefore could be stuck in a bad spell of weather.  As it happens..... we needn't have worried about most of this!  The weather was expected to be bloody awful!.... and it was!

We met the three members of the crew. Sherry, Karissa and Julia... at the boat. Very friendly and welcoming - before long we were having a bit of a laugh between us all. We related our experiences that we had had over the previous few days as we headed out to discover what we could find.

Sherry, the Captain, with Sea Wolf for a few years, explained that the trip today would be very much harder trying to get to see the Grizzlies on land as the weather wasn't going to behave itself! So she suggested that instead of roving the land in the rain on foot..... we should stick with the boat and shift our search a little over to Orca and Humpbacks.... We put it to the vote and we all agreed that this would be the best avenue of attack.

So we, headed out.... Stef and I had already found out that the best place to be was the front of the boat if you wanted the best opportunity for photographs. So we made sure that we were at the front, which also meant that we were actually seated across from Sherry.  Whilst we were heading out, we discussed our previous trips and she was very interested in seeing the images we had taken. Sherry had a wicked sense of humour, essential, I suppose, when you are dealing with the general public!

We hadn't gone very far at all before our guides were pointing out Black bears on the beach -  but it was still relatively dark, so we didn't tarry too long!

It was dry at the moment but we knew it wouldn't last long.  Sherry received news that we had Orca within the vicinity - and without delay we sped right over to the point where the Orca were supposed to be..... and sure enough, we saw the Orca.

One bonus for us was when one of the Orca performed an action which Julia informed us is called "Skypoppin". They go vertical in the water and raise themselves out of the water so that the top six feet or so is out of the water. It is believed that they do this so that they can get a "Fix" for where they are geographically. Apparently, it's activity that's not seen very often and Sherry said she was glad that we managed to get an image. 

There were Humpbacks nearby as well, but again the light wasn't great yet so it was nice to sit and watch.

It was great to watch them surfacing, blowing off, pulsing up and down through the water for a few minutes before diving again for several minutes. We managed to get off a few shots.... but the light was very poor and they do not show much of themselves. So, you just point and shoot and hope for the best. 

I was particularly pleased about a sequence of images I took of the Humpback whale's flukes as it was diving. All the indication you get, is that just before it dives, it raises a slightly larger section of its body out of the water than normal and arches it's body more than when it is swimming on the surface, so you have to be watchful, otherwise you miss it (As I did several times!)

This first image is of a Humpback swimming at the surface.

The second image shows a Humpback diving. You can see the added arch in it's body as it heads to the sea floor
As it is diving, the arched body, its tail (Flukes) lift out of the water ready to power it downwards as the tail submerges.

I was particularly pleased to get these shot from the rear. When I was younger, It was an image I always remember seeing on posters for your walls at home. 

It is an awesome sight to witness. There were a few groups of people in Kayaks in the area and there were at least half a dozen Humpbacks, plus Orca's in the area. It imagine that it must be an incredible feeling, to have one of these majestic animals surface and dive, if you are nearby and sat in a kayak!

Again, it wasn't long before Sherry heard news of a Grizzly sighting..... so off we went and arrived after about twenty minutes or so. It was still overcast but the light was becoming a little brighter as the sun rose higher.

Having said that, unfortunately the ISO's were well above 10,000 for the majority of the day!  There was a fairly decent swell on the day, so the boat was always constantly moving in all directions. Keeping the subject in the viewfinder was very difficult at times. Add to that the fact that the subjects were also on the move most of the time and we didn't have much choice but to use shutter speeds in excess of 1000th of a second and occasionally over 2000th of a second.  But as they say "It is better to have a sharp noisy image, than a blurred clean one"! We did experiment a little with slower speeds, when the opportunity arose, but the images turned out to be very soft or totally blurred. 

We arrived at a large island with a small, steep rocky shoreline with dense rainforest directly emerging from the boulders on the shoreline. 

For quite a while we could not see anything at all. As we got closer we could hear branches snapping in the trees as well as seeing branches move. There was obviously a bear in the trees eating the fruit/berries, but what it was, as yet, we could only guess.

It was amusing to be able to hear the devastation this bear was causing to the trees and shrubs - there were branches snapping every few seconds! Then we could see branches moving in different places that were too far apart to be caused by one bear... so we had more than one bear here... but we still couldn't see even one!

After about a ten minute wait, a large Grizzly came out to feed on the fruit above the shore, so we had good views of the whole bear for a while until she went in and out amongst the shrubbery to get to the berries. For a good while she rummaged through the leaves to get to the fruit.

We knew it was a sow as, shortly afterwards, a second smaller and darker Grizzly came out to join her on the shoreline. So, a mum and a cub, nice! But wait.... there was still movement in the trees.... so there must be another cub in there as well. A mum and two cubs.... the day was getting interesting.

The Bears apparently need to eat around 200,000 berries a day to provide them with enough calories to help bulk up for the winter. No wonder these shrubs are so prolific and on all the islands in the area. The Bears (and birds) have scattered the seeds in their droppings for thousands of years!

Knowing the size of the adult bear, you can imagine the size of the tree in the background and that is small in comparison to some of the trees on the islands.

We watched the two for a while and eventually the mum walked over the boulders towards the water and she just kept going!  She just walked straight in and started swimming away from the island. The cub on the shoreline saw her going and strolled down to the waters edge and again just walked in and started off after its mum. Within a couple of minutes they were a good 100 metres out and heading towards another island about 4 or 500 metres away.

All of a sudden, there was a crash in the trees and the second cub burst out of the shrubs and looked around.

As he couldn't see mum, he almost ran along the boulders on the shoreline, going off towards a little spit of land that went into the water, but off to the left, away from the direction where his mum had gone.

He stood in the water to his chest and bellowed loudly.  Immediately, his mum gave an answering bellow. He quickly turned towards the noise and almost dived into the water, setting off in the direction of her call.  

Every couple of seconds for the next 10 or 15 minutes or so, he bellowed. Then his mum would bellow again a second later.... all while they were both swimming in the sea.

By now, mum and the first cub had reached the island. I was worried because I could see through the binoculars that they had arrived at what looked like a 50 - 60 foot, solid wall of stone, which I thought would stop them getting out of the water. Wrong!  

Mum arrived first and went up the wall like it was a flight of stairs, quickly followed by the cub..... and they did it with soaking wet fur coats on as well!

As they reached the top of the cliff.... mum turned and kept bellowing, and both bears waited (while searching for berries!) for the second cub to arrive.

When it arrived they walked around the shoreline and entered the water again, swimming off to yet another island. This next island was not much more than a bit of rock in the sea and they scrambled out, dripping water as they scrambled over the rocks.

Again, they walked around the shore and set off again for another island, which was bigger an covered in shrubs

These grizzly bears really are very accomplished swimmers.

This was in my estimation going on for a good half mile swim!

When they got out of the water they walked the shoreline for a while and then started to climb once again towards the shrubs.

Mum came out of the greenery and stood for a while on a little rocky out-crop and watched us in the boat as we drew towards their location.

As they carried on walking, it took them to a raised area of flat rock. As they came to the top, the mother and first cub went onto their rear legs and gave a good bellow. Obviously, something had caught their attention and we believe that they had seen some Seals or Sea Lions hauled out on the rock. We saw some in the water a while later.

The second cub came over to see what all the fuss was about and so we managed to get a few good group images as they ambled around the flat rock.

Eventually, they got bored with that and moved off to investigate where they could find their next "fix" of berries!
We left them there. So relaxed in their environment. They can go where they want, when they want, and nothing, other than a massive expanse of water, seems to get in their way. In the end, the sun came out, albeit briefly while we were with the Grizzlies, and it turned out to be the best part of the day, affording us the chance of some images in the low thousands ISO, instead of very high thousand ISO's. 

So.... was Sherry pleased with herself?..... Oh yes, very pleased!

Black bear, then Orca's, including one "Skypopping", then Humpback Whales (with a rear Fluke shot!) and a mother Grizzly Bear with two cubs..... climbing trees and cliffs and eating berries and swimming and calling to each other in the sea. She said that she had never heard Grizzlies vocalising like that before and so it was a brand new experience for her also.  

Oh yes, and it wasn't even 9:00 am yet!!!

As this was a tour that included learning about the lives and customs of the native Indian people, we headed off over to where the First Nation Peoples had an abandoned village on an island. After a fleeting visit to the village of Julias's ancestors, we were left in no doubt that the "First Nation" people's of British Columbia had been well and truly, sold out!  I will not even attempt to try to convey the story of the First Nation people to you You can for yourselves by clicking the following link   AkalaSociety.com

Afterwards, we headed off to see if we could find any more Orca and Humpbacks and although we did establish contact with both species on numerous occasions, the weather really plagued us and the rain came down with a vengeance. The rain was coming down vertically and the sea reflected the fact that there was no wind by giving the impression that we were sailing on oil!

The surface was viscious!....  a shiny, oily, reflective moving mass of sea water. It really does need to be seen to be believed, and especially when a leviathan breaks the surface, it is truly magical.
On several occasions, the Humpbacks looked to be going under the boat, which they actually did and surfaced a good few yards in front of us. A weird experience, holding your breath, and wondering if it's gonna come up under the boat or not!
On a couple of occasions, we took a few short trips to shore where we found a few other wildlife diversions. Sea​ Lions​​​​​​ were spotted, so we went off for a short while to see them. In the water, a group of several Sea Lions are called a raft, where as on land, they are called a colony.   

There must have been 50 or more in this group!

Just behind the rocks where the Sea Lions were was a small island of trees. Bald Eagles were present in the branches of the trees around the edge of the island and Sherry steered the boat forward to enable us to get a reasonably good close up images. Again, if the sun had been shining, the images could have been stunning.  As it was we were dealing with driving rain and low light which resulted images that were more atmospheric.

Now. What happens when, you see this from any bird? When it bends forward .....

And evaluates its bowels? As below ( the white streak!)

You can bet your bottom dollar that, shortly after, it is going to fly!

Told you !

During our voyage, Julia had given us serious insight to the habits of the Humpbacks. 

For example, how do you locate a Humpback?  Well, you can scan the surface looking for the tell tale "puff of steam" which could be close in, or in the distance. Either way, unless you are lucky, you won't get much notice in order to get some shots in.

Or, as Julia says, the best method is to watch for birds gathering.

Why? Because the birds can spot the fish gathering in shoals just below the surface and fly around trying to feed on the fish is they stray within the birds reach. If there are that many fish around, the whale will shortly be seen!

Returning to the Humpbacks, we had a superb example of what Julia was talking about. Bait-Balling!

A massive flock of sea birds were gathering to take fish that were shoaling below the surface and, as you can see, the surface was boiling!  We pointed the cameras and waited. 

After a while, which could be any length of time, the activity comes to the attention of the Humpback's and all of a sudden a Humpback would explode out of the surface of the water with a mouthful of fish! (and probably the odd sea bird as well!)

The only problem is that you haven't a clue when it is going to happen.

Even though we were ready, we were both too slow to get the initial burst above the surface of the whale. For such a huge animal, it really is incredibly quick!

I am sure that with enough exposure to this behaviour, we could have captured the moment when the Whale explodes out of the water. However, we had to start back to Port Mc Neal.....  On the way back we picked up some White sided Dolphins who followed on our wake for twenty minutes or so.... no mean feat at the speed we were travelling!

However, they eventually broke contact and for us, our trip was over.

Back at Port Mc Neal, we went for a bit of shopping in the supermarket (running into Sherry and Karissa again!) and then set off on the 35km run to Quatse Campsite just outside Port Hardy, again checking out the ferry terminal where we had to go very early tomorrow morning.

Ariving at dusk, as usual, we set off for a walk around the campsite. This was another place we would have liked to have stayed a while at. The owner told us that grizzlies had been seen around the campsite earlier in the day. Didn't come across anything of interest though, except for the trees!. They are absolutely MASSIVE! as you can see from the image below!..... yep, that's me, at the bottom of the picture!! 

Anyway, after another early morning, plus a "full on" hectic day, we had some food, It was throwing it down - BUT it never dampens our spirit! - improvisation is the order of the day!
and then, went to bed early as we had to be at the ferry terminal at 05:00 am - which meant a 04:00 am alarm call, just to be sure.  Miss the ferry, and we totally screw up the rest of the holiday on Mainland British Columbia.

We were looking forward to the ferry ride (or rather I was!) as we thought that we would see some exceptional scenery and possibly some wildlife. However, as usual as of late, the cloud was down and spoiled the show. Although, later on the trip, what we could see was impressive, albeit a little monochrome!

The first half of the journey was across a bit of open sea and the Captain reported a 2 metre+ swell so it was a bit dodgy walking on deck. Eventually we had to do a manoeuvre to Starboard (right) to ease our voyage a bit as it was getting a little "Splashy" on the bows!.....  this added around 30 minutes to our journey!

To be honest, it was a bit of an uneventful cruise though. We saw one humpback whale (in the distance), came across another pod of white sided dolphins that kept up with us for a few minutes and a raft of Sea Otters (6 or 7). Other than that we didn't see anything until we drew nearer to Bella Coola. On two occasions, we saw Black bear on the shore in the distance and the odd bird of prey, presumably Bald Eagles.

So. It was a very long trip on the ferry. We spent almost the whole of the last three hours on the upper deck, almost willing the wildlife into view! However, nothing really happened, and we just went down to the car deck and drove off the ferry at Bella Coola!

On the British Columbia mainland, at last!
 

More to follow.... in Part Three.

Day 1

Landed at Vancouver airport and met the car waiting to transfer us to the "Rosedale on Robson" Hotel for the night as no one is allowed to "fly and drive" on the same day. The hotel was fine, although on opening our room door, we found another couple sat eating a meal! Weird! However, a phone call later and we were ensconced in another room on the same floor, so all was well.  

Vancouver centre from Stanley Park

As it was late afternoon, Vancouver time, we decided to go out straight away and check out the famous Stanley Park before having a meal later on.

Totem Poles in Stanley Park.

It was a beautifully warm day, about 25 degrees! So we were very hot after walking about 5 or 6 miles around, and through, the park.  

Vancouver Skyline, arguably the most impressive in Canada

After working up a hunger as well as a thirst, we stopped off at a place called "The Lift Bar and Grill" on the waterfront. We now know why they call it "The Lift", as it is because they lift all the money from your wallet to pay for the meal you just ate! Honestly, it set the tone for the whole holiday.....eating is expensive in Canada. We had a couple of steaks, a couple of beers and Stef had her usual "Spritzer" and the bill was £86.43 including taxes....which were not insignificant! We left a tip in Cash as there was nothing wrong with the Staff who were very, very, pleasant and helpful. The view of the sunset was just as magnificent as the Bill!

Sunset view from "The Lift Bar and Grill" in Vancouver

The stroll back to the Hotel along the waterfront was very pleasant as well. We had now been awake for about twenty two hours and were feeling very tired.

Vancouver waterfront and apartments at night.

Day 2

Having never been to Canada before, we decided that we would cover as much ground as possible "to see what we could see"..... but calling at the places where, in theory, we could possibly see, Orca; Humpback Whales; Black Bear; Grizzly Bear; Elk; Deer; Bald Eagles and hopefully, various other wildlife. 

Our plans, which Stef had researched and refined over many months included visiting Vancouver Island, specifically, Cowichan Bay; Tofino; Tahsis; Port McNeal; and Port Hardy. Then over to the mainland by ferry to Bella Coola, and after a couple of days, moving on overland to Jasper, Lake Louise and Banff. From Banff, we would return the RV to Vancouver and then transfer by coach to Whistler for two nights R&R in a proper bed! before returning to Vancouver and flying home. 

Ford Pick-up 25ft, 5 Berth Recreational Vehicle!

We picked up the RV just outside Vancouver, made a quick 30 minute run to the ferry, calling off at Walmart for supplies on the way.  $235CD's later, for hardly any groceries at all and we were on our way to the ferry with just enough time to spare. On arriving at the terminal, we spent 10 or 15 minutes waiting in the queue before they started loading the vehicles. They let every vehicle go in front of us and in the lines to the left and the right of us. Just as we were following the vehicle ahead, this chap jumped in front of us with his hand held up, stopping us in our tracks. He threw a barrier cone in front of us and walked away without a word. We were the only vehicle left in the whole terminal parking lanes! It felt like he did it on purpose, even if he didn't!..... either way, it wouldn't have cost the chap anything to have had a couple of words with us, would it!

It was nearing 19:00 when we arrived at Victoria on Vancouver Island and we only had to drive 54 km to the first Camp site at Crofton. An easy drive....or so we thought! 

We had brought our Sat Nav with us, with the latest Canadian maps downloaded on to it. We set the Campsite address and started to follow instructions. After a while Stef said that she thought we were travelling in the wrong direction. So, we got the map out and discovered that we were travelling up a road on a peninsular on the wrong side of the water from where we wanted to be, DOH!  

We called into a store to ask directions to make sure and found out what the problem was. It turns out that a few miles up the road was a FERRY!!! , and the Sat Nav's ferry option was turned ON! - so she was taking us to it....."very good" I hear you say, HOWEVER, the ferry closed at 17:30 and it was now 19:30! 

Lesson Learned, turn ferries and toll roads off!!!

So we turned around, retraced our steps and eventually did the thing that we did not want to do and that was to arrive at our first Campsite in the dark! With everything being new to us, it would have been great to have been able to set up in daylight but hey-ho....  not a problem in the end.

The Camp site was functional but not fantastic, however, dawn the next day was!

Day Three

Dawn at the Crofton Camp site.

Dawn was brilliant, as the above image shows. I also has the bonus of a lone heron fishing (seen in the centre of the above image. I hung around and managed to get a couple of nice images

Chopsticks comes to mind....

But to be honest, The Dawn was enough reason to be up early....but this Heron was the icing on the cake.

Sushi, Canadian style...

We were up early so we could get to our first, full day, wildlife tour by 10:15, which was only 21km away, with Ocean Eco Ventures in Cowichan Bay.   We had booked a full day trip on the sea looking for Orca (Killer Whales) and Humpback Whales.

Our Captain for the day was Gary, who has many years experience looking for whales in the Salish Sea, the body of water that forms the coastal waterways to the South West of the province of British Columbia and around Vancouver Island. His knowledge and experience of the boat and the environment is immediately obvious and his enthusiasm for the Orcas and Humpback Whales is contagious. 

An "all in one" insulated Flotation suit is provided which are fantastic at keeping out both wind and rain, but I would advise wearing water proof trousers and taking a couple of upper body "shell layers" with you, in addition to waterproof gloves. We had a brilliantly sunny day, but I can imagine that things would not quite be so great if the sun wasn't shining! They also supply goggles and hats, should you require them.

We can't recommend this trip enough. Not only do you (hopefully) get the incredible experience of being next to the orca's and whales, etc but travelling on one of these craft at full speed is also a very exhilarating experience! It is interesting to note that if we had booked a half day tour, we would not have had enough time to travel to the location where the Orca were actually passing through, at that time. However, if we had been on the trip a few days earlier, we would not have needed to travel so far. So, "you pays your money and you takes your chance"!

The image below is from "Ocean Eco Ventures" own website and illustrates the boat we were taken out on.
 

From Ocean Eco Ventures website.

We were a little uncertain about what equipment to take with us as we did not know what to expect. Stef had her Nikon D500 along with her lens of choice, which was the Tamron 600mm (effectively around 900mm). I had my Nikon D3s and Sigma 600mm Sport. We can both, when necessary, handhold this set-up for quite long spells as there was no room for tripods or monopods and even if there had been room, they would have been useless.

There was room on the boat for a bag under the seat, in which we had wet gear for the cameras and for ourselves, along with binoculars. I also took the Nikon D800 along with the 16mm to 35mm wide angle lens. Just in case, I also took quite a bit of kitchen roll just in case things got a little damp. 

The Meeting Point was Cowichan Bay, on Vancouver Island, in theory, one of the best places to see the species we were looking for. Stef had taken her sea-sickness tablet earlier in the day...

A good flat calm to set off with....Stef's happy!
We had six other people in the RIB with us. A Dutch Couple, another English Couple and two American Lads who had been on the trip a couple of times before.

Heading out... As we headed out to sea (Strait of Georgia) our Guide was reaching out for the latest information on the Orca's from other sea users.

Speeding up a bit and Stef's looking a bit smug....hope it lasts! After a short while, he heard that the Transient pod that he had been seeing recently, had travelled through the area and were showing very well BUT they were approx 60km away. Our guide told us that we had the time (as we had booked the whole day!) to get there, should we want to go and, that we had the machine to get us there! So decision made.... we went!

Speeding up a bit now... Batten down the hatches for the next 90 minutes while we travelled at around 50k.p.h to the rendezvous with the Orca's.