Bad news on WaterShrewCam

Bad news if you are a water shrew that is, but maybe good news if you are a heron.  The trail camera saw two shrews being eaten by a heron last year and another a few weeks ago in a blog I wrote for the Natural History Society of Northumbria.  Then last week the heron(s) caught and ate nine water shrews in six days at only one camera position.  I thought water shrews were uncommon but there must be a healthy population to sustain that level of predation.  Or at least there was.

And a bonus heron video.  Last month I posted a video of a heron that caught a frog that put up a good struggle and eventually got away, probably not unscathed.  This time the heron caught a toad.  The toad's defence is to swell up and produce a foul-tasting and perhaps toxic secretion from its back.  The heron seemed to realise pretty quickly and dropped the toad before trying to wash the taste away.

After that I think the heron will stick to water shrews, while there are any left. 

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.

End of year favourites - Heron

The trail cameras get a lot of "non-target" captures, mostly birds.  At this time of year it is mainly robins, blackbirds and moorhens but earlier in the year there were plenty of ducks, geese and swans.  They rarely do anything interesting so I don't save the videos but every now and then something interesting turns up.  Herons do appear on the camera occasionally, but usually much too close and out of focus.  This time two cameras were watching to see a heron catch a water shrew.

Notice a second shrew running along the bank and then making a quick exit when it sees the heron.

There was a second video a few days later which I am surprised to find I haven't posted before. Somehow the heron knew there was a water shrew behind the tree and caught it.  It still had to bring the shrew down to the water to dunk it and make it easier to swallow.

The ending of the shrew

I have a new waterside trail camera position, taking advantage of a newly fallen branch, the only drawback being that I now need waders to reach the camera.  Having cameras watching the water's edge occasionally throws up a real surprise, as with this one.  I haven't had good video of a heron before, mainly because they are so close to the cameras that they don't fit in the frame.

There has been a lot of water shrew activity here in the past few weeks and a heron caught one last week.  This time the new camera position gave a much better view.  Notice a second shrew on the bank to the right which sensibly beat a hasty retreat when it saw what had happened.

Heron on ice

It has been a strange winter so far with few frosts and no snow.  So there has been very little opportunity to take photos of animals or birds on ice.  When I reached the pool this time I didn't even realise it was frozen until this young heron decided to walk across it.  It was moving very gingerly, trying not to fall over, and I expect it had never seen ice before.

A walk round the pond - Week 13

Every time I arrive at the pond the heron takes one look at me and flies off.  This time it was reluctant to leave, perhaps because it was busy eating frogs or frogspawn on the far bank.

The swans are back to four, one adult and three youngsters, so the new arrival from last week has been seen off.  Here the adult is walking from the smaller to the larger pond.

At first I could see only one Canada goose and I was half hoping the fox had had another good dinner.

Then I spotted Mrs CG on the island, already incubating a clutch of eggs.

This was time to do my first bumblebee walk of the year for the Bumblebee Conservation Trust.  I saw only three bees, all buff-tailed bumblebee queens (Bombus terrestris).  This one was searching for a nest hole.

I saw several peacock butterflies but they were all rather frantic and I didn't manage a decent photo.  I also saw the first bee fly (Bombylius major) of the year.  It mimics a bee but is a parasitic fly, targeting solitary bees and wasps.

Under siege

This was an unusual sight in Gosforth Park Nature Reserve, a siege of herons.  I noticed several herons flying in separately but appearing to land in the same place.  When I got round to the main hide I could see six standing almost in a row on the far bank.  The edges of the lake are nearly all covered in reeds so there isn't usually anywhere for them to stand but the warden has cleared a patch here.  The spacing looks fairly uniform.  I think it must define a heron's personal space.

A walk round the pond - week 39

I expect the heron is disappointed every time I turn up because it has to move on.  It usually watches to see if I climb over the gate before flying off.  It is probably after frogs etc as I don't think there are fish in the ponds - one reason why they are so good for dragonflies.

The autumn equinox has seen a change in the weather with windy sunny days and cool nights and there is a distinctly autumnal feel in the air.  The dragonfly season seems to have turned as well.  For the first time since week 18 I saw no damselflies and there were only three species of dragonfly.  The one I was most pleased to find was this female migrant hawker.  She was resting low down in the thistles to keep out of the wind.

I saw several males but fewer than last week.

There were still plenty of mating common darters

and several male ruddy darters.

I haven't written much about birds recently as there has been less to say.  Little grebes, moorhens and coots are still present but rarely seen.  I generally hear or see buzzards, bullfinches, yellowhammers, goldfinches, long-tailed tits and willow warblers each week but this week there were no swallows or martins so I expect they have headed south.

I have seen lots of small coppers this week.  Their iridescent orange colours are dazzling in the sunshine.

Other butterflies this week were speckled wood, red admiral, peacock, small white, and this comma.

On a dog rose in one of the hedges I found a Robin's pincushion.  It is a gall caused by a solitary wasp, Diplolepsis rosae, which lays its eggs in a rose leaf bud.  The grubs develop inside the gall and will emerge next spring.  They are produced parthenogenetically and >99% are female.

Several small mushrooms have appeared this week.  I think they are conical waxcaps, Hygrocybe conica, also known as witch's hats.  Wikipedia says their edibility is uncertain.  The flesh apparently turns black when cut, which my friend Maria tells me is not a good sign.  I read recently that all mushrooms are edible, but some only once!

Fishing for tiddlers

This heron seemed quite happy catching tiny sticklebacks which looked to be so small that they were hardly worth the bother.  However, it was catching a fish with every strike.

A young female kingfisher turned up opposite to join in the fun.

Shake it all about

This bittern came out into the afternoon sunshine when it thought everyone had gone.  It gave a tremendous shake of its feathers - known as rousing.  I presume it helps to get them all back into position after it has been crawling through the reed beds.

Then it admired its reflection to check all the feathers were in the right place.

Here's a heron doing the same thing.