Month: August 2022

Feed me, please!

/ Andy Finnegan / 4 Comments

Common Terns.

Birding watching on Meon Shore as the tide comes in.

The Common Tern colony at Titchfield Haven Nature Reserve numbers have increased in recent weeks, and parent birds along with their youngsters from other areas have joined our local birds. The birds rest up on the islands in the nature reserve when the tide is high then when the tide is low they rest up on the shingle banks and on the beach. The young birds are now going out into the Solent, to feed diving for small fish and shrimps. The juvenile birds are quickly learning this skill, although their feeding is still being supplemented by their parents. The clock is ticking they have to feed up as they leave our coast towards the end of August and September and migrate to Africa.

These picture shows that the mother knows best and she is undertakes the hard work of catching the meals to feed up one of her youngsters.

The juvenile birds have not fully developed their colouring – it is most noticeable that their black cap does not extend to the top of their bill.

I was pleased with the film I made of this young tern being fed by the adult bird, I thought once the youngster had eaten the large fish it would have been full but it had at least another 4 small fish.

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With the moon out.

/ Andy Finnegan / 3 Comments

With our continued hot dry spell we decided to make an early start on Sunday morning to collect our trail camera footage. On the way, with the sun just up we spotted a good number of different mammals.

Rabbits.

Roebuck. This deer is the regularly spotted buck in our local fields and woodland.

A Shrew. This tiny mammal crossed our path, while we crossed the field. I think this is a Common Shrew.

Common shrews are tricoloured: brown on the back, pale brown at the sides and whitish underneath. They have dense velvety fur, with a long pointed nose, tiny eyes, small ears and red teeth. Their lifespan is short they rarely live longer than a year.

Size: 48-80mm, tail 24-44mm; tail less than 3/4 length of head and body.

Weight: 5-14g.

A bit shaky but a short film of this tiny mammal.

We spotted a fox on several occasions during our walk but he kept his distance.

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Buteo buteo.

/ Andy Finnegan / 2 Comments

The official drought has been declared in the South of England last week we extended the bath area and water supply for our local Buzzards. Packing a further 10 litres of water to the site we left the trail cameras in situ this film is an edited highlight of Buzzard’s visits – for the past week he visited daily. Note a Shrew is taken at the start of the film.

Stills are taken from the video footage.

Buteo buteo is the Scientific name of the Buzzard. Today they are the commonest and most widespread UK bird of prey in the UK. As a child I only saw them in Somerset and I still recall these early sightings. of the big bird on Exmoor.

Length:51-57cm.

Wingspan: 113-128cm

Weight:550-1,000g (male); 700-1,300g (female)

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Another ship that left port!

/ Andy Finnegan / Leave a comment

Further to my post yesterday showing the bulk car carrier ARC Commitment leaving port I thought followers might like my old blog posts of 2015 when the bulk car carrier Hoegh Osaka left Southampton and ended up on her side on the Brambles bank just off the Isle of Wight.

Check out the link,

https://andyfinnegan.wordpress.com/2015/01/05/o-hear-us-when-we-cry-to-thee-for-those-in-peril-on-the-sea-support-the-life-boats/

O hear us when we cry to Thee For those in peril on the sea! Support the Life Boats.

Leaving.

/ Andy Finnegan / 5 Comments

Ship movements Southampton Docks.

The ARC COMMITMENT (IMO: 9505039, MMSI 368444000) leaving Southampton this morning. She is a Vehicles Carrier built in 2011 and currently sailing under the flag of the United States (USA).

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Town Hares.

/ Andy Finnegan / 14 Comments

15 model hares are being displayed in my home city of Southampton as part of an interactive art trail. They have been in the city since June but are off towards the end of August. Each sculpture is 6ft tall and features its own unique design painted by artists in collaboration with Wild in Art. Today I found 10 of them.

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Dry spell.

/ Andy Finnegan / 12 Comments

Water remains short in our local patch due to the drought grass is brown and many of the water holes and ditches have dried up boggy areas are much dryer than this time last year. One advantage appears to be the lack of Ticks as I have only had one or two on me this year whereas last year I was getting those numbers per day!

The lack of water for the wildlife got us thinking about using water as a way to attract animals to our trail cameras. Last week we sunk a washing-up bowl in a local ditch where we had placed cameras in the past and filled it with water. In 2021 our trail cameras at this spot had filmed a Buzzard bathing in the ditch. It worked – see footage below it starts with 2021 Buzzards bath and moves on to last weeks recording at the same spot with a dry ditch.