A Guest Blogger

This posting is by a guest-blogger.  It’s something of a scoop.  She can introduce herself.

M

                                                                                                                                                                                                         

Allow me to introduce myself.  I’m Greta Grett and I was hatched earlier this year on Shapwick Heath in Somerset, England.  I have two siblings, Vinny Grett and Baby Grett.  Our parents both came from France and Maman was quite well-known even before we were born.

She was given some bling (coloured rings for her legs) whilst she was still a nestling at Besné in Loire Atlantique, France.  The gift was from the lovely people at the National Centre of Scientific Research at the University of Rennes 1.  Someone called Loïc Marion was in charge of it all.  That was on the 6th May 2009.  Before she was 1, she was in England and checking out the famous Somerset Levels.  She kept returning there, but travelled up and down the country for a while before settling.  She was seen (and often photographed) in several locations.  Here’s a list that my photographer-sponsor has put together for me:

• Brockholes Wetland LWT, Lancashire (25th September 2009)
• Crossens Outer Marsh, Merseyside (8th to 13th November 2009 and between 13th & 28th December 2009)
• Churchtown Moss, Lancashire on 29th December 2009 and 8th January 2010)
• Marshside RSPB, Merseyside (1st and 20th January 2010)
• Near Cardiff (22nd to 23rd January 2010)
• Ashleworth Ham, Gloucester (17th to 19th March 2010)
• Slimbridge, Gloucester (24th and 29th March 2010)

For the Gloucestershire locations there are some photographs at www.birder.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk.  (Just search the dates)

There was an unconfirmed report that Maman had been seen as far north as Morecambe Bay.  It’s possible, but I doubt that she ventured much further than the Ribble estuary.  I’ve been told that, once you reach Southport, you have reached a coastline unshielded from the NW wind.  When it blows, the humans reckon that even another overcoat makes little difference!

Eventually she decided to make Somerset her more permanent home and was seen more frequently on the Levels.  There were now others in that area including one of her siblings.  Here are some photographs taken in October 2011.  At that time there were 5 Great Egrets in the general Shapwick area.

Maman!

When we three little ‘uns were still eggs earlier this year, we all became very famous.  We were the first of our kind known to have been bred in England.

I don’t really know much about the rest of the family.  My name is pretty much descriptive.  Vinny’s name, I’m told, is some sort of in-joke between my parents.  A problem is, though, that some of the less couth local bird species here associate it with a Dorset cartoon character (Dorset Vinny), who is usually shown as a bit of what they call here a thicko.  He’s not very happy about it, but he’s bigger than they are, so he’ll be OK.  Baby was the last to hatch and he’s still playing catch-up.  Here’s a picture of him above the nest taken after Vinny and I had started fending more for ourselves.  I think he was hoping Papa or Maman might bring him some food. 

I heard my parents talking about family back in France and saying something that sounded like ‘Granny Grett’.  I thought at first they were speaking of one of my grandmothers, but it turns out that the whole family is referred to in France as something sounding rather like that. [Ed. la grande aigrette]  I’d misheard.  It was windy in the reed-bed that day and it gets a bit noisy there.

A problem for photographers and bird-watchers is that none of us have been issued with any bling by those kind people from Natural England.  You just can’t tell who is who.

What I can reveal is that mother’s sibling in Somerset has just got a family, too.  I have cousins.  (Sorry to have to refer to this relative as ‘mother’s sibling’, but I honestly don’t know if it’s an uncle or an aunt.)  That nest had been kept secret after all the media attention we got.

I’m going to have to close this blog very soon.  I have to go to school.  Yes!  We have special training courses, you know.  You didn’t?  Come on now, you bird-watchers and -photographers!  You know when the birds start coming nearer to you, but always put a twig or a leaf in front of their faces, or always sit with their backs to you?  Don’t tell me you thought this all happened by chance.  Do me a favour!  We’re trained and when we pass we get a BWPF (Bird-Watchers and -Photographers Frustration) Diploma.  Maybe I shouldn’t be telling you this, but one of the Great Egret tutors taught us a neat trick last week.  Prof had been talking to the Royal Navy about the missile countermeasures that they deploy on planes and helicopters if they think that an enemy is trying to lock a heat-seeking missile onto them.  RNAS Yeovilton is not too far away.  Anyway, the principle has been adopted by the greater Grett family.   

The demonstration was awesome.  The take-off was just in front of two bird-photographers and crossing from their left to right.  Up went the big lenses, the images stabilisers kicked in, the autofocuses started hunting.  Then!   Defecation on a grand scale, but NOT a long squirt like those local Grey Herons do.  No.  This was a massive cone-shaped deployment of high-saturation, evenly spread, white globules.  Formidable!!! (as Maman would say)  One of the photographers was my favourite photographer and he was heard insisting that his autofocus-tracking ‘grabbed’ the discharge and left the bird out of focus.  If you were wondering why he hasn’t posted any pics of this fly-past, you now know why.  I really enjoyed that lesson.  It’s the best we’ve had so far.

The humans got these pictures that day.

Language isn’t a problem.  Although both my parents are French, they do speak good English.  Lots of migrant birds come here, too, and my photographer-sponsor has kindly given me a useful link.

http://www.bavarianbirds.net/index_e.html

It's a German site, but there is (some) English, French, German and Spanish available.  You type  the name of the bird into the box next to a button marked übersetzen (translate) and click on the button.  Immediately, you get a translation into all these languages plus the scientific name.

Finally, there's a picture of one of the family included in another blog.  It was taken a few weeks before the blog was written.  Take a look at:

http://www.rspb.org.uk/community/placestovisit/hamwall/b/hamwall-blog/archive/2012/07/13/recent-sightings-at-rspb-ham-wall-13-07-2012.aspx

 

                                                                                                                                                                                                         

Most of the data in Greta’s blog are correct and have been verified, but she wasn’t going to let any of the facts, or lack of facts, spoil a good story. 

M

Beach Chicks (A Day on Brownsea Island)

These images were taken when I spent a day on Brownsea Island at the end of June 2012.  Brownsea Island is in Poole Harbour, Dorset, and is now owned by the National Trust.  One of the island’s claims to fame is that it was the location of the first Boy Scout (experimental) Jamboree in August 1907.  Another is its healthy colony of Red Squirrels. 

Going to Brownsea always reminds me of going abroad.  When you step off the ferry at the landing quay, you are faced with an army of National Trust staff.  The only way off the quay is through an entrance building.  Approaching the building, you are confronted with signs directing (National Trust) Members to one side and non-Members to the other.  It’s all very reminiscent of Immigration Control!

All these photographs were taken in a private reserve operated by the Dorset Wildlife Trust.  The reserve consists of much of the northern half of the island and entrance is regulated by either Trust membership or by purchase of a card that grants entry for the whole season (March – November).

I did have some plans for the day's shoot.  Firstly, I knew that the Sandwich Tern chicks were newly hatched.  Secondly, I knew that there would be other young birds there.  Thirdly, who can resist a Red Squirrel?  After that it would be a case of whatever presented itself.

First then, the Sandwich Tern:

"Oh! They flap"

Some in-flight images to conclude.

This next one muscled in on my photo-shoot.

Common Tern

Both images are of the same bird.  I was poking and panning my lens towards groups of flying Sandwich Tern and, when I checked what I'd got (chimping* ☺), this is what I found.  I put the camera down and picked up my binoculars, but I didn't see any other Common Tern.


One pair of Oystercatcher was sharing the tiny, man-made island with the Sandwich Tern.  The nest was out of sight round the 'back' of the island, but one chick was showing.

Oystercatcher

Now for some Black-headed Gull pictures:

Some were sharing the island's beach with the Sandwich Tern ... ...

Testing the water

... ... and others were on the main shore.

"A youngster needs an afternoon rest"

 

I took a stroll from the hides further into the reserve and went into the reed-beds.  Things were very quiet and the view was quite restricted.  I managed just one shot at one of my favourites ...

Little Egret

Within the reserve is a villa.  It was built in the 1850s as the vicarage for the newly-built church. But from 1870 until 1891 the house was the home of island owner George Cavendish-Bentinck, who preferred to live there rather than at the Castle.  It is a fine building and is a visitor centre for the reserve.  It houses, amongst other things, a shop, toilet facilities and an exhibition centre.  There is a picnic area outside with tables and bird-feeders hang from the trees.  Domestic fowl wander around.  Red Squirrels linger in hope of a titbit from visitors.  I sat at one of the tables to see what might present itself.

Chaffinch

Greenfinch

Jackdaw

Cockerel (White Leghorne?)

I've saved the 'cute factor' until last:

An apple-core provided by a visitor

Footnote:
Access to the island is by foot-passenger ferry only, so you can take only what equipment you are prepared to carry.  Some of my fellow photographers (many of whom are known to me) arrive at the ferry looking like they are about to take part in a Royal Marines endurance march.  They have enormous back-packs and often carry additional equipment in their hands.  It's only fair to point out that they're mostly at least a generation younger than me!  I travel as light as I think reasonable for what my plans are and use my Lowepro Flipside 400AW™ back-pack.  I remove anything I suspect I might not be using.  All the images in this blog were taken using my Canon EOS-7D camera and a Canon EF 300mm f4 L IS USM lens, with or without a Canon 1.4x Ext.

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* Chimping (I hadn't forgotten)
This expression derives from chimpanzee behaviour.  It is used to describe the behaviour of digital photographers, who, when checking previous shots, hold the camera in two hands, elbows slightly bent, as they peer at the LCD screen on the back of the camera and make grunts of approval or disapproval of their efforts.


Who said this site wasn't educational?

July Rainfall – Gillingham, Dorset

I am using this space to comment on the recent very heavy rainfall in North Dorset.

Saturday, 7th July 2012, had intermittent rain, but by evening it had settled into steady, heavy rain.  There was no wind to notice.  The rain simply dropped.  On Sunday morning I awoke to find that the nearby (other side of the road) ‘parks’ were both under water and you couldn’t see the arches of the road-bridge.

 

Perhaps I should explain.  These areas were made into parks for aesthetic reasons and to improve public enjoyment of the riverside meadows.  However, they are designed primarily as an intrinsic part of the flood-defence plans.  Left alone they would have been rough land and full of weeds that would have spread into nearby gardens.

I have seen them flooded before, but not quite as extensively as this weekend.  Interestingly, by mid-morning the water-level was down again and, by evening, you couldn’t tell there had been flooding apart from a few bits of debris.  The system certainly works.  I was speaking early yesterday with people who have lived all their lives in Gillingham. Many said it was the highest they had seen the rivers, but, thanks to two decades and more of engineering, there had been no disruption of normal life.

These pictures are of the water just across the road at the side of my house and the river is the R. Lodden.

The river-course follows the line of the trees at the far side of the water.

The main Gillingham to Shaftesbury road

Taken from the road-bridge looking downstream

A manhole on the road-junction

 

Gillingham has a total of three rivers.  I went into the town to look at the other two.

This is the river Shreen Water and the bridge is Town Bridge.  Town Bridge is a listed building and a painting of it by John Constable hangs in the Tate Gallery.

 

Although the water does not appear to fill the arch completely, a Kingfisher flying down the river chose to go over it to cross the High Street.

Upstream from the bridge, and behind the point from which this image was taken, is the site of the old Town Mill.  This had been a major and impressive building in the town, but burnt down in 1981. Eventually retirement flats were built after considerable delays caused by the recognition that consideration had to be given to flood-avoidance measures.  The new building is certainly a handsome one and the old mill-race runs round it.  The sluice gate is a feature of the landscaping in the gardens of the building.  To avoid back-up behind the gate, there is a relief pumping system that cuts in automatically and ejects water from behind the gate into the river below.  When I was there yesterday that was operating every few minutes.

There is a small footpath alongside the river on the bank opposite the apartments.  It runs from the High Street between the river and a public car park and leads to a small garden.  It stops opposite the sluice gate.  Should the unexpected occur and the river rise too high at this point, the flood-waters would be contained within the river channel by a small wall that interrupts the footpath into the public car park and site of the town war memorial.  Passage is facilitated by a flight of steps on each side.

My journey took me next to the third, but arguably most important, river in the town.  The one that retains its identity all the way to the English Channel  –  the River Stour.

Looking downstream from the old ford site

Looking upstream from Chantry Fields

The confluence of the R. Stour and Shreen Water

(R. Stour flowing L to R; Shreen Water entering opposite)

There is a foot-bridge crossing the R. Stour from near the library and the Waitrose supermarket.  The path used to go down the slope of the landscaped flood-meadow and the bridge spanned the water-course.  Whenever it rained heavily the path at the ends of the bridge became boggy very quickly.  Four or five years ago a new bridge was constructed.  This takes off at more or less pavement height next to the library car park and crosses both the flood-meadow and the river-course to meet the rather steeper path on the town-centre side of the river.  You no longer have to negotiate puddles.  After this weekend’s heavy rain, the true worth of this new bridge is clearly demonstrated.

No feet were wet in the making of this blog.