Season's changing

It has been a busy summer for me, so I'm afraid I have neglected this blog, sorry folke's, but let me tell you this, always in the back of my mind, I always take photo's with this blog in mind, so what's been happening around my patch, well loads, the Reservoir from ducklings, Coot chicks, Grebe babies, to Sygnets , Oh what a joy it has been watching these young  hatch from eggs into adults nearly.

Then we move onto Netherton Hill and the Canal No 2, Geese and their young, again Ducklings, Coot babies and Morhen Chicks, there hasn't been anywhere, along my walks you couldn't see little ones and I have been excited to see new life grow. Then moving onto Netherton Hill, Buzzard soaring, my fav the Heron, who keeps evading me, ha ha, but no more, for I, my dear friends have a new weapon, a nice new lens woo hoo, as you will see, Kestrals hunting and my elusive Fox, now here's a story for me to share with you.

There are some days when a photographers life  is not a happy one, (well, shall we say, frustrating at the very least), well here goes my story, it  was a hot day, and I had heard the Buzzards unmistakable cries up in the sky, so I headed for Netherton Hill, there I was, with new lens in hand, feeling kinda pleased with myself, if anything else, I was going to get a great Buzzard shot in the sky, so I thought, got to the top of the Hill, placed myself down and began shooting the Buzzards, ran all over the hill trying to get that Buzzard shot to no avail, so there I was, half way down Netherton Hill, and I turn to go back up, and collect my stuff, and to my surprise, there the Buzzard was at the top, flying just above my equipement, close to the ground, do you think I could get the camera to my eye quick enough, no flipping way lol , so I thought sods law, and went to collect my equipement, has i was putting stuff away, I turned around, and I just couldn't believe my eye's for there, coming out of the hedge row, was a Fox, he/she looked at me, I looked at him/her and in a blink of and eye, he/she had gone, so I thought well blow me, so then I headed back down the side of the hill, to where I know the Heron is situated, I could see him/her, and visa versa, got my camera stuff out, and low and behold, if the Heron didn't fly off has soon as I was ready, so at this point no real good shots and feeling hot and a tad frustrated, made me way over to the canal, headed up the canal towards Dudley not much going on so thought, I'm hot tired and frustrated I'll head home, and low and behold, what did I see sitting on a tree opposite me, was a Kingfisher dropped my bag and just has I got my eye to the camera He/she flew off down the canal, so if you ever see a picture on FB floating around of a photographer shooting one way and an animal behind him, well that is me lol, so on wards to some of my pictures for you, hope you enjoy my summer looking through them, because I sure have, ill blog soon, about my adventures and mishaps, so maybe they can put a smile on your face, because looking back they have defo brought a smile to mine and given me a great to tell lol

Well has the summer closes and Autumn befalls on us, ill be blogging soon about my Autumn adventures and I hope you enjoyed some of my summers pictures of Netherton  ;)

Getting back to what matters

Hi Folkes, I'm back again, yes between the rain yesterday, I managed to get out for half an hour and not get wet lol

I decided to head towards Daphne's pool, I didn't manage to get there, because I had some more surprises to photograph

First on to Vadar and Skipper, Exmoor ponies again brought in the keep the grass down, so all together we have six Exmoor Ponies woo hoo  and here they are

Not sure which is Vadar or which one was Skipper, but hey beautiful looking horses and doing a sterling job too.

Next I saw Geese a male and female sitting just behind the fence of the horses area, which looks onto the canal and there it was, another little one, boy did the dad let me have it, for maybe, being a little too close, he spat for England, so here is another nest site along the canal 

 Get away from me and my kid, you have been warned lol 

 Had enough of my picture been taken, heading back to you mom 

Well also I was told by another dog walker on the other side of the canal, some more Geese had some more babies three in total and there was also Moorhens with their chicks too, but the weather was closing in, so I didn't manage to go any further along, so I went back to the two bridges at the bottom of Netherton Hill and with happiness, I saw the first family of Geese I spotted on their nest site, woo hoo, all the little ones was sleeping while mom and dad was cleaning themselves and keeping a watch out, here they are

All five babies intact and had grown a lot since I last saw them about three or four days ago, I feared the worst at one point because I had not seen them, so I was over the moon when I walked onto that bridge.

So to recap, on Dudley's Canal number 2 with the area I walk, we have three geese nest sites with babies and 1 Moorhen nest site with their babies and a coots nest.

Across the Reservoir we have five Coots nests with eggs in, and 1 Grebe nest, at the moment no eggs, and about 30 swallows flying around, so that's me and you guys up to date. 

I'll blog soon, weather permitting, me to get out with the camera 

See ya for now  

The Good the bad and the down right Ugly

Hi folke's as you are aware, I have been keeping an eye on the the nest and things happening around the Reservoir and Canal and Netherton Hill for some time and again with camera in hand I went down again today but the weather wasn't playing ball today and it started to rain, but I can report I saw about 30 swallows all flying over the Reservoir in zigzag patterns, obviously feeding, and what a sight it was indeed and I turned to my left and saw the One set of grebes mating I think and the other set adding to their nest but no eggs as of yet, the coots nests sites are now five instead of three and a coot nest was spotted by myself over the canal, I haven't seen the geese and their babies nor the ducks and their ducklings, but Dudley's canal number two is very long so they could be anywhere, the Cows and the Horses are doing fine over by Netherton Hill, but again no sign of the Heron, Ill now show you the shots, I have taken over previous days of the Grebes building their nest, they are not the best shot as I stand where they cant see me as not to disturb them, so they are taken through a tree lol, so here they are,

 Grebe building its nest

 as you can Grebes don't build the biggest nests in the world

 Grebe on its nest, while the other grebe is close by 

As with anything in life, there is always signs of the bad things this world has to offer, so it is with regret, I have to show you these photos and it is with regret, I even have to write this and I have debated with myself as to even mention it on this blog, but I feel I must.

It was my best friend who got my into photography, to get away from things going on in my life and ppl who maybe selfish at times and to get my fitness back, and I have to admit for a long while, I forgot what I had around, because, as with, us all, we all lead busy lives, I cant make ppl, like or appreciate what's around or enjoy what I do, but I can protest to mindless vandalism, mindless selfishness and anything else you can think of that's bad, all in the name of fishing, now I'm not saying all fishermen are bad because they are not, I have spoken to them on many occasion and used their knowledge to know what's unusual and whats normal, where to look and where not to look, but for all  the nicer ones out there, there are a few that will give the Fisherman bad names.

For weeks now, I have notice something quite strange and just couldn't get why it had been done, as I have been walking around the reservoir over the pass few weeks, I have notice racing pigeons not wood pigeon's being strung up by their necks and tied on to various areas around the reservoir, first of all its not a nice sight, but the question was WHY??

As you can see the Pigeon is hanging up in the top left corner of the shot, at first I thought it was to protect the nests as they seemed to be hanging every where a nest was, but some wasn't, yes my friends there is more than one place, this has happened, so the one morning I asked a couple of fishermen why this was happening, they at first came up with, what I thought, to protect the nests, then the one said unless they are hanging them to rot and then the maggots drop into the water, now this made more sense has most of the fishermen, fish over this side of the reservoir, the following morning I return to the reservoir again to check on the nests, at this same spot there was two fishermen all ready down by this nest, first I smelt smoke and next i heard someone digging I carried on down to check on this nest, I could see they was up to no good and left, as I was on my own and it was early in the morning.

I didn't return to the Reservoir for a few days but when I did, I was sickened at the sight those two fishermen had left behind, two holes had been cut into the clay so they could have a bbq, then all these trees hacked down, but they did leave something behind for me, to prove who these guys are.

So here's what they did, maybe you don't find it too bad, maybe these fishermen have rights to do it, I'm really not sure, but I'm doing all I can to find out and protect those nests, I might be one little fish in a big reservoir, but I can make ripples, if need be.

 The above picture, is the supposed bbq they made, has you can see they dug into the bottom of the clay and at the top, all up above is now burnt, they stuffed it with the branches they hack off

again the above picture shows how trees have be callously cut to clear the area to the fishing perch area 

 a close up of the bbq where they dug at the top 

 Another tree cut and hacked at and just dumped 

 branches just dumped

they have hacked off branches on this tree, so now you can see the coots nest from up above, the coots nest was hidden but now its not

 thanks guys, for leaving your high visibility coat, if this is your workmanship, i would advise ppl to not hire you 

 another tree hacked 

this is how the fishing perch should look natural no bbq's or tree's hacked or dead pigeons being hung up in the name of fishing, sorry to report this folke's, but this is bird nesting season, and to me this is all mindless destruction of a beautiful area, for what, so fishermen can have home from home, and unfortunately its not the only one spot that i can see, that's been messed with and all by nests, it has to stop. 

Just so, everyone knows, I'm not an environmentalist nut, just someone who likes her area and see's no need for what these guys did.I blog soon hopefully with something nice to talk about 

bye for now