Day 23, #30DaysWildCreativity: Conservation Collage

'Will we permit the rewilding of our hearts and minds, 

that is so needed now?' 

Dr Miriam Darlington

for today's #30DaysWildCreativity meme 

I wanted to remind myself of some of the threatened wildlife I have encountered over the years, and I hope you may also enjoy seeing my pictures of these fine creatures. 

I recall seeing a whale washed up on a Cornish beach several decades ago. It was dead, and the memory stays with me. The 'Save the Whales' slogan certainly made an impact on me as a teenager, even if I did not know how these magnificent mammals might be saved. 

Picture 1: Otter

Many of us read about otters as children and teenagers in books like The Wind in the Willows, Tarka the Otter and A Ring of Bright Water. I visited the Otter Trust near Bungay in the 1970s, but I did not see an otter in the wild until I visited Skye some thirteen years ago. I have also watched them off Mull and the Kintyre peninsula. Miriam Darlington writes about otters she has encountered and observed in Scotland (and also in Devon, Cornwall and other quiet corners of the British Isles) in her wonderfully evocative book, Otter Country.  

Picture 2: Purple Emperor Butterfly

We were visiting Chedworth Roman villa in Gloucestershire when we were called over to see an unusual butterfly. It seemed to be in need of a little sugar and water, which the cafe supplied. I took this photo, and sent it off to Matthew Oates, who confirmed that we had been looking at Her Imperial Majesty, the Purple Emperor (you can read his upbeat reply in the Postscript to my post here). The fact that this resplendent, if slightly dehydrated, Emperor was visiting a Roman villa made us smile. I hope she revived and lived her butterfly life to the full.  

Picture 3: Bittern

When I was growing up, one of our family board games was Conservation, a game produced by the RSPB to encourage young people to learn about endangered birds in Britain. The Bittern was one of these species, and it was a bird I never thought I would see despite the fact that our home was only about a mile from some of the Norfolk reedbeds. It was only when I moved to Suffolk some eight years ago that I finally saw, and heard, my first Bittern at RSPB Minsmere. I remember the wave of excitement that rushed through me when I set eyes on a sight I thought I would never see.

Picture 4: Water Vole

Speaking of The Wind in the Willows, I believe I was in my 40s when I first realised that Ratty was in fact a Water Vole. The photo above was taken (with zoom lens) at RSPB Minsmere. You can read about the conservation status of this delightful species here. 

Picture 5: Red Squirrel

Like thousands of other children, I first encountered the Red Squirrel in the pages of The Tale of squirrel Nutkin by Beatrix Potter. Later on, when I was about eight, I saw one or two for myself on Brownsea Island. More recently I have watched them in the Cairngorms and in Dumfries and Galloway. You can read about their situation here. 

Pictures 6 and 7: Grass Snake and Adder

I had seen very few snakes in the wild here in the UK until we moved to Suffolk. Since then I have seen a handful on a couple of reserves, namely RSPB Minsmere (Adder and Grass Snake) and SWT Carlton Marshes, where I photographed the Grass Snake in the picture above. The adder in the photo was on the Minsmere Adder Trail: an RSPB official pointed us in its direction, and there were in fact two snakes coiled round one another. What a privilege to see these reptiles.

Picture 8: Swallowtail butterfly larva

Ah, I had been longing to see a Swallowtail butterfly, and here at last was a Swallowtail larva on the NWT reserve at Hickling! I had spent my teenage years in Norfolk at the edge of The Broads at a time when these butterflies were practically non-existent so the thrill of seeing this magnificent caterpillar was almost overwhelming. 

 

*

I hope you have enjoyed my 'conservation' selection. The lockdown has certainly allowed our wildlife to experience a more peaceful few months than usual. Let's acknowledge that there may be lessons we can learn. It is wonderful when people join together to put measures in place, whether political or environmental, to enable threatened species to fight back. 

 

2015 Scottish Odyssey (1) Mammals

We had a wonderful 'summer' holiday in Scotland. The weather was particularly mixed this year; but despite the cool temperatures, we had not expected to find spring primroses and bluebells and quite so much snow around in mid-June. It might even have been good weather for penguins!

Sign on the lovely Scottish island of Gigha

Snow around Kintail

Heading north through Glencoe

Insects were rather thin on the ground this time, but we saw quite a few birds (like the Arctic Terns in the photo below) and an interesting selection of animals.

Dunvegan, Skye      © David Gill 2015

I shall begin with my 2015 mammal list:

• Bottlenose Dolphin (from the ferry to Lochranza on Arran)
• Common/Harbour Seal (largely at Dunvegan on Skye)
• Grey Squirrel (Culzean)
• Hare (particularly at Kilmartin and on the way to the Mull of Kintyre)
• Otter (Skye and Argyll)
• Pine Marten (sadly no photograph, but a first for us)
• Rabbit (Skye)
• Red Deer (several locations)
• Red Squirrel (just one ... adjacent to Loch Awe)
• Roe Deer (several locations)
• Shrew (a nest, Attadale) 

Sadly we failed to see any of the Knapdale Beavers (the weather was particularly deluge-like that day), but we enjoyed looking. Their watery realm was straight out of a fairytale!

Beavers may have eluded us in 2015, but (despite a week on Mull last year), we had our best Otter sightings ever ...

First view: was it an Otter?

Definitely!

 

Last view before it disappeared into the water ...

Bluebells (and Primroses) on Midsummer's Day

RSPB Minsmere (with Otter and Great White Egret)

Otter in ring of bright water in front of the reeds. Photo Credit: © David Gill 2014

It is always exciting to see what wildlife is out and about at RSPB Minsmere, and our visit this last weekend coincided with that of a Little Crake. The bird had attracted folk from miles away, and we had rarely found the reserve so busy. By the time we arrived, the Little Crake was no longer showing, so we headed on past the Bittern Hide in search of Bearded tits.

We failed to see any this week, but were delighted to see an Otter. It was a fair distance from us, but we could see it clearly through binoculars.

It swam to and fro below the dome of Sizewell Power Station ...

... and then it turned towards us (photo below). You can just about make out the characteristic 'V' emanating from the otter and receding in the weed.

There was a measure of excitement in the hide over the appearance of a Great White Egret. I have seen this bird in the western Peloponnese, but it was my first sighting in the UK. The egret was right over on the far side, and as you can see, I was shooting into the sun. You may have to take my word for the yellow on the bill! 

On our way back to the car we caught a glimpse of this Muntjac deer ...

There were plenty of rabbits and grey squirrels out and about in the autumn sunshine.

RSPB Minsmere ~ Otters and Marsh Harriers

We had barely sat down in the hide at RSPB Minsmere when we saw this Marsh Harrier coursing the marsh ...

... in the fading sunlight.

An eerie juxtaposition: the stately Marsh Harrier flying in front of Sizewell Nucear Power Station.

Swans were flying inland towards Island mere ...

... while the Harrier kept turning and swooping,

hovering and lifting ...

hovering ...

... and soaring.

Suddenly there were two ...

... followed by two Red Deer does.

This little dyke seemed pretty still ...

... when all of a sudden there was the flick of a tail ...

... and the telltale ring of bright water. 

It became apparent that there were two Otters swimming backwards and forwards.

Every so often a dark shape would emerge ...

... and at one point this Otter swam across with a fish in its mouth.

Such a magnificent sight, and one I have never seen at Minsmere before ...

... though we kept looking in the hope that it was only a matter of time.

What fabulous creatures!

Soon there was a scuffle and a ripple ... and the otters disappeared. 

But there was one last surprise in store ...

... our first Common Scoter (a drake).

This is such a magnificent reserve ...

... with its history (chapel remains of the former Leiston Abbey), Harriers ...

... and swathes of East Anglian light.

• Our previous Otter sighting, in Scotland

Mustelidae: Otters in Scotland

I love to watch otters in the wild. They are very difficult creatures to spot, so we felt particularly pleased to have three sightings during our recent fortnight in Scotland. Two clues help me in my initial spotting, the first being that telltale V in the water as an otter swims, and the second, well, you have probably guessed, that 'ring of bright water' that was borrowed as a phrase by Gavin Maxwell from 'The Marriage of Psyche', the poem by Kathleen Raine.

We often use the car as a hide. It means that the otter is less likely to notice a human scent or to hear a strange noise. It also means that we can keep dry, though we had to keep switching on the windscreen wipers during the time we watched the otter above in the Assynt area.
 

That ring of bright water, emanating from the steel-grey loch ...

Two of my three otter sightings were of otters in the water. The third sighting, on Skye, began with an otter swimming near the shore, in and out of the kelp. To our great excitement, the creature climbed out of the water on to a long low rock, allowing us to see its whole form before it dived back and disappeared into its mysterious watery world.

We have re-visited old haunts on our recent holidays. We have also enjoyed new places along the way, but we have discovered that tried and tested destinations often yield good sightings. It takes patience, of course, and there is always the unpredictable element of timing: you just have to be in the right place at the right time!

Swimming close to the shore