A very narrow escape

I am not an expert in swallowing live frogs but I think the trick is to get it turned round so it will go down head first.  This young heron made a rather inelegant flop into the reeds to catch a large frog but then didn't seem to know how to deal with it.  The poor frog got rather mauled about as the heron was trying to work out how to deal with it but eventually took its chance to leap to freedom.  The heron spent another minute gazing at the gap in the boards just in front of the camera to no avail.  Despite its escape I fear the frog probably didn't get away unscathed.

Another example of the fascinating non-target videos that turn up on OtterCam.  I expect we may see otters with frogs soon as March and April seem to be the season for them.  Otters are also rather more effective in dealing with frogs.

Relaxation on OtterCam

Otters rely on their dense waterproof coats to keep them warm in the water and they spend a lot of time keeping their fur in tip-top condition.  The parts within reach are groomed but it is hard to scratch your back when you have short legs.  The solution is to roll on something comfortable such as grass or moss.  It looks as though they enjoy it and it is certainly enjoyable to watch. This is the dog otter looking as though he is having a good time.  I love the way at the end of the video he seems suddenly to realise we have been watching him.

Grooming seems also to be a social activity as the family all get involved at the same time.  This is the longest video I have posted but is relaxing to watch - perhaps the otters' equivalent of slow television.  I hope you enjoy it.

Snakes in the grass

Spring equinox, so time to look for adders.  But it was a big surprise to find that the last time I was there was five years ago, just before lockdown.  The forecast was for a cold sunny morning which would have been ideal but it turned out misty and hazy and the sun barely showed.  Still, the adders did come out in the hope of soaking up some warmth.

They lay on the bank, facing where the sun should have been.  To start with I had trouble finding one - they are camouflaged after all - but once I got my eye in it was easier.

I think most I of those I saw were males but it isn't easy (for me) to tell males from females before they shed their skins after emerging from hibernation.  Females are larger and brown/dark brown while the males are smaller and will eventually be silver and black.  I think this is a male.

And this might be a female.

The snakes regularly adjust their position to try to absorb more warmth.

There are two snakes here, coiled together.

These are well arranged to maximise heat absorption although it can be difficult to tell which end is which.

If I get the chance I may go back next month after their first moult, although the vegetation grows up quickly so they can be even more difficult to see.

Ladybirds go over to the Dark Side

I started looking out for ladybirds just over two years ago so I am still learning how to find them and recognise them and which colours and patterns are common.  Already, however, it is obvious that things have been different this winter.  Most species, other than Orange Ladybird, have been present in much lower numbers than usual.  The other striking observation is how many have been found with much darker colouration or patterns than usual.  Here are a few recent examples, each alongside a common / typical version.

18-spot Ladybird

10-spot Ladybird f. decempunctata

10-spot Ladybird f. decempustulata

Cream-streaked Ladybird

Harlequin Ladybird f. succinea

Cream-spot Ladybird

Ladybirds of many species, especially 10-spot and Harlequin, come in all sorts of colour variations.  These, for instance are the variants of 10-spot Ladybird on Christoph Benisch's website, and it doesn't even include my first one above.

And these are his variants of Harlequin Ladybird!

However, it is not just me noticing the unusual dark forms - other people around the country have made similar observations this winter.  I haven't yet heard a good explanation for it.  I did read somewhere that dark versions might occur if they were cold as pupae but that would be odd as only the occasional one is affected.  It will be interesting to see what the next year brings.

The crow is outsmarted

Crows are pretty smart but this one wasn't quite as clever as it thought.  A carrion crow appeared on OtterCam with a piece of dried bread.  It dunked it in the water to soften it (clever) and ate half.

It decided to hide the rest for later (also clever) and then flew away.

However, later that night a wood mouse found and ate the bread - although the camera didn't trigger as the mouse stole the bread the evidence is pretty damning.

The following afternoon the crow returned for the bread but couldn't find it.

I see some interesting things as non-target captures on trail camera but this is one of the best. The video is a bit longer than usual but is worth a watch.

Crows have deserved reputation for intelligence but don't always get the upper hand.  Aesop's fable The Crow and the Pitcher shows how smart they can be but in The Fox and the Crow it was the fox who came out on top.  As far as I know Aesop didn't write about The Crow and the Wood Mouse.

Dinner time on OtterCam

If you listen carefully to this first video, after the mother whistles she makes a low-pitched cat-like mewing sound that I haven't heard before.  It must be to encourage the cub to come and take the fish.  Two minutes later the cub appeared on an adjacent camera with the (now dead) fish and played with it in the water for a few moments before bringing it out to eat.

The next otter didn't lack ambition but its stalking skills weren't what they might be.  The white blob on the second camera is a water drop on the rain hood.

The little old bridge is a very popular spot with the otters.  They enjoy rolling on it and may visit several times in 24 hours.  Even though I have five cameras in position the otters are quite close and rarely sit in the right place so piecing together the video clips into something coherent is a challenge.  Here is my attempt with a sequence of the cubs fighting and the mother trying not to get involved.

The cubs are now as big as their mother and I suspect that both might be male.  It is about time they started catching their own dinner.

Frolics on OtterCam

It looks as though the otters have completely taken over the blog, for now at least.  I am still refining the camera positions each time to try to cover as much of the action as possible.  I have four cameras on the old boardwalk bridge and the otters are triggering about 150 videos a week, mostly in daylight.  That's over two hours of videos clips to sort through - after sifting out all the moorhen, water rail, heron and wood mouse pictures.  Most recordings don't get edited into a brief story but the best do.  Here is the family, close together for once.

At other times the cubs lag behind and mother has to wait for them.  I expect the second one is the cub that got lost a few weeks ago.  I can't tell if it always the same one dawdling.

The cubs are now over seven months old and fairly well grown but they spend a lot of their time playing and still seem to expect their food to be caught for them.  Here is a taste of what they get up to when the cameras are watching.

The dog otter hasn't been around for the past week or so - I expect he's on patrol somewhere else in his territory.  More otter news soon.

Yet more from OtterCam

I can barely keep up.  I am intending to post something other than otters on the blog but the cameras are seeing so much at the moment that it would be a pity not to share it.   Just so it's not all otters I'll start with moorhens.

The next video is a bit sad to watch.  The mother otter caught a fish and gave it to one of the cubs but unfortunately the cub lost the fish down a gap between the boards.  It went in a frantic pursuit and amazingly managed to squeeze through a gap which is only two or three inches wide.  I think the fish must have got away, despite being bitten in the head by the mother otter, because seconds later the cub was back for another look on top.  Eventually it had to give up, lesson learned but still hungry.

It is astonishing that the cub could fit through the gap, and that it knew it would.  Here is another edit with a slow-motion replay.

At about 7 months of age the cubs may be starting to catch their own fish but I have yet to see that on camera.  Most of the time they just want to play.

More news from OtterCam

It didn't take long.  The otters very quickly became used to seeing my cameras in the new position in daylight and now regard them as playthings to be sniffed or wrestled to the ground, which doesn't do much for picture quality.

The gap in the bridge which the otters use to go in and out of the water is less than six inches wide but they all easily fit through it.  The bridge is covered with moss and seems to be a favoured spot for rolling and grooming, as well as play-fighting.  The cubs are probably about seven months old now and are nearly as big as their mother so it is getting more difficult to tell them all apart.  I think the "fight" here is between mother and a cub.

The dog otter is still around as well.  I was excited when I saw him bringing a large fish out of the water but disappointed when he went straight back in before eating it.  This is the same brief sequence on two cameras.

I am still experimenting with camera positions and angles in the new spot, trying to keep the cameras low and fairly close in to get good pictures.  Here is one of the hazards!

The cubs investigate OtterCam

For the past week I have been experimenting with a new camera position and it has already turned out to be very exciting.  On the first, rather misty night there was one camera in position and the otters obviously found it quite intriguing.  Fortunately no damage was done although it was knocked slightly out of position.

The next night the camera was still pointing down but one of the cubs came and rolled around right next to it.

After this I put in a second camera and the first cub came to have look at both, again on a wet misty night.  It was having a drink of water through a hole in the bridge when mum turned up.

On the next night the dog otter came to have a look.  At first he didn't like it at all and went straight back into the water but seconds later he was feeling a bit braver and came back for a second and closer look.

The last video is the only daytime recording so far.  The cameras must look a lot more scary in daylight as neither of the cubs nor their mother wanted to get close this time.

The otters' reaction to the cameras is interesting to compare with foxes (which turn away as soon as they see one) and badgers (which don't notice the light but usually don't like my scent). It is also interesting to see how the otters are curious at night, when they can only see the red light but very wary in the day when they can see the cameras.  I hope they will just get used to the cameras being here and I hope to have more videos from this new position soon.

30 years of BTO GardenBirdWatch

The end of 2024 saw the completion of 30 years of data collection and analysis by the British Trust for Ornithology (BTO) Garden BirdWatch (GBW).  It has up to 13,000 people submitting up to half million records each year and once a data set gets that big it starts to produce really interesting and valuable results.  I have been fortunate to be a member and to have been submitting data from my garden from the start in January 1995.  On the GBW website I can look back at my own data but perhaps it is more interesting to examine long-term trends in the North East or the whole country.  Two examples, chosen because of observations in my garden, are Rook and Ring-necked Parakeet which show contrasting fortunes.  When I moved here in 1989 there was a rookery in the small copse in my garden.  The rooks were great fun to have as neighbours but their numbers gradually dwindled from a peak of 44 nests to six nests in 2010.  A few birds turned up for a look round but didn't nest in 2011 and there have been none since.  The GBW data for gardens in the North East show a steady decline but some people are still fortunate to see them.

I can see from my GBW data that the first time I saw a ring-necked parakeet here was in week 12 (March) 2022.  I saw one or two birds until week 17 and then they disappeared.  The next record was in week 46 (November) 2022 and they have been here in numbers ever since, up to 15 at a time.  Here is the graph for gardens in the North East so this is a bird that is obviously here to stay.

Here they are seen through the kitchen window with the iPhone.  Note the three non-native mammals as well.  They are even more regular visitors than the parakeets.

Two finches, both very common here, also show contrasting fortunes.  Greenfinches have long been in decline nationally, probably mainly because of infection with trichomonosis.  In recent weeks here I have been seeing up to nine at a time but this is the national picture, first for presence, then abundance.

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In contrast, goldfinches, which commonly feed alongside greenfinches, are doing well.  They seem not to be affected by trichomonosis.

The BTO GBW data shows lots of other winners and losers over the past 30 years.  Birds in decline include spotted flycatchers, starlings and collared doves.  Those increasing in numbers include wood pigeons, great spotted woodpeckers and magpies.  One final comparison I have chosen is between our two sparrows.  First house sparrow (a very rare bird in my garden, only two sightings in 30 years),

and tree sparrow (a new arrival here about 13 years ago but scarce for the last two years).

The BTO Garden BirdWatch is one of the largest and most valuable citizen science projects in this country, providing important and fascinating insight into changes and trends in the fortunes of our garden birds.  As someone too lazy to keep lists I find it a great way to check on what has been happening in my own garden as well.