Kingfisher Fledglings

Another two special guests of Dave’s at present are two beautiful Kingfisher fledglings. Dave had been watching a pair on the river and witnessed a rival male move into the area kill the Father of the brood and then starts pulling the young one by one from the burrow in the bank. Soon the female had mated with the new male and begun nesting further down. Up until this point she had been feeding the remaining young but then stopped. Dave found two outside the hole in a weakened state and decided to intervene and try and rehabilitate them. They are now doing well after a touch and go start. And are now starting to make diving attacks at fish placed in a deep bowl on the floor of the seclusion aviary they have been placed in. Its easy to be Angry at the Intruding male in this instance but Nature has her own very strict set of rules and some never make it. Dave is very aware that the two Kingfishers only have a slim chance of survival but if only one of that brood were to make it that would be a success. Kingfishers were hit hard this winter with the prolonged periods of freezing temperatures and snow. This may have been a contributing factor towards the demise of the original male. It would be nice to think that if either of the Kingfishers go on to survive and breed that is in some way helping the comeback of the population nationally.

Hazel the Fallow deer. Hazel the Fallow deer.

Joe with Hazel when she was first brought in


To give my wife some much needed piece , I and the kids headed over to my mates on Sunday to see Hazel. Hazel is a special friend of my children they love to see her and run around with her. Hazel is a Fallow Deer which my friend and fellow Artist -Falconer Dave Scott hand reared when she was found wondering by a main road with injuries to her legs. Dave seemed to think she got stuck in a cattle grid then got separated from her mother as the herd moved on. She now lives with Dave in a nice paddock and loves the attention from visitor like us.

Below Maisie and Joe with Hazel two years on

15 Minute wonder

Well i thought I'd show you a little of what I've been up to on the Bird Forum . The forum is a great place for anyone nuts about birds as i am! and the wildlife art sub forum mentored by the illustrious Tim Wooton Its a place where like minded individuals post our artwork for comment and encouragement. the forum is also great for Artists as we generally lead a solitary working life. Anyway i digress! Colleen one of our group came up with a fantastic exercise to loosen the way we paint. It makes you become more instinctive about your brushwork., well that's what i found anyway! However i will let her explain so here it is the method we use, straight from Colleen.
It should be more than a sketch, because we all have our threads for sketches, notice it says Paintings in the title.....so that infers color or at least light and shade and mass, like charcoal.....

so I suggest it be all as direct as you can make it, no pre sketching for forms or outlines, except for the briefest marks for placement. The idea is to let your tool, be it brush, marker, or pastel, make the forms...... you are trying to get the essence of the thing without worrying over details. We all do this in our drawings, now take it to the next level in your favorite media. So you can see the brushstrokes and energy of the making....that is, in a way, the subject. The time pressure is the main force to drive you beyond being able to think it over, into the Yoda land of the Force, Don't think just Do.

well I had a go and found it very hard to stop at the fifteen minute mark but it was hugely freeing of over working areas. I am glad I work in acrylics as they dry very quick and this allowed a great deal of coverage and I wasn't unduly hampered by waiting for things to dry.Its been very rewarding. Because they are experimental and not finished pieces The pressure is really off other than the time constraint Its renewed my enthusiasm for field work again and is something that I will continue with.

Are you a winner of the Andrew Ellis limited privilege club draw?

This evening we drew 10 names from our list of privilege club members using a random number generator and here are the lucky winners......

Colin Asquith- UK
Bret Beede- USA
Paul Crawford -Uk
Debbie Forrest -UK
Adrian George -Uk
Peter Moralee - UK
Bruce Padbury - South Africa
Paul Perfect - UK
Lee Rush - Uk
Ian Stewart -UK

Congratulations to you all!
I've sent an email to each of you and when I receive your reply I'll get the prize out to you.

Donna

Extinction happening again,and again

I came across this on the Bird Forum , Another example of Human interests and introducing Foreign species to another environment where they do not belong forcing the extinction of another endemic species.The Aloatra Grebe of Madagascar Lost its battle for existence in our inter fearing world


Published: 12:49PM BST 26 May 2010
Grebe from Madagascar extinct after introduction of carnivorous fish
The Alaotra grebe has been driven to extinction by the introduction of non-native carnivorous fish to lakes in the area of east Madagascar where it was found Photo: AP

The Alaotra grebe, also called the rusty grebe, had been highly vulnerable as it was found only in Lake Alaotra, eastern Madagascar, according to the Swiss-based International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), which compiles the Red List of endangered species.

The grebe was wiped out by habitat destruction, by the introduction of a carnivorous fish called the snakehead murrel and by nylon gill-nets which accidentally caught and drowned many birds.

New book about Dadia reserve in Greece

Just came across this from my friend and Fellow artist Psachalis Douglas.The book features Psachalis's Drawings which are superb by the way! Its all about the Dadia Reserve in Greece which is a major reserve for Raptors in the Mediterranean.

Hobbies Falco Subbuteo.

Last Friday I had the privilege of meeting up with a friend Robin Khan. Robin is a very accomplished bird watcher and has a passion for Raptors luckily for me and it was a great experience to be alongside his expert eye. Originally we had planned to go to a good spot that Robin knows of on the Somerset levels to watch the influx of Hobbies, Falco Subbuteo. These elegant small falcons come to our shores and breed here for the summer. For the last half of the year they have been wintering in Africa but now they are back and it’s always with huge expectation that I and many others like Robin are out on warm summer days hoping to see their dashing flights at emerging Dragon Flies. Unfortunately because of the low pressure weather system we had over us in the early part of May their influx into the country has been a bit sporadic and we missed the opportunity to see them in Somerset. So we headed to another little hot spot here in Devon. The RSPB own an Area of Marshes near the Exe Estuary and its one of the first stop off points for some of our Hobbies and many other summer migrants. I met up with Robin at his home and we then made the short journey to the marshes, it was already warming considerably by now and when we arrived we wasted no time in searching. We quickly spotted a falcon half way up one of the pylons that cross the marsh. We then headed down the edge of the Canal towards Turf Locks Hotel. Looking out westward across the marsh we picked out several Hobbies quite high up already hawking insects on the rising air. The wind was pushing us away from us unfortunately and we decided to walk on down towards the locks and return a bit later in the day to see if they would be at a lower level when the air cooled. There was plenty to keep me occupied. Sedge warblers sang from every reedy patch of scrub that lined the foot path. Now my warbler identification skills are a little on the rusty side and so I asked Robin for his advice which of the warblers I was hearing. In due course I was now able to tell the difference between the scratchy sounding Sedge Warbler and the explosive loud metallic notes of the skulking Cetti’s Warbler and the much more subtle Reed Warbler. Not too long after we were to hear the call of the warblers nemesis the Cuckoo! Although we never saw him. Shelduck pairs passed by us heading into the Marsh pools where they fed alongside Canada geese and a host of Gulls de salting themselves in the fresh water. Herons drifted in and the peace was disturbed by piping calls of pairs of Oyster catchers heading down the canal towards the rich mud flats at the Turf Locks. As the heat started to eat into us we decided to take a break at the turf locks hotel and have a drink and take a look out across the estuary. Whilst there we saw, a rather Late Whimbrel feeding on his own and small groups of Dunlin in breeding plumage were feeding alongside Ringed Plovers. An Egret fished the shallows out in front near the old boat wreck that has been there for years slowly dissolving into the silt of the estuary. As the time past we headed back down the path way hoping to see yet more Hobbies. The sedge and Cetti’s continued to chorus from the margins of reeds and Bramble. On the y way we chatted of the Peregrines recovery. And how Robin in 1971 the year I was born could only find one tiercel on the whole of the Devon coast! What a turn around its been. We soon were back at the small car park and decided to move over to the west side of the reserve as the wind was blowing the insects that way and Robin felt that we would have more luck seeing the hobbies over there. Sure enough we got some good views of them coming our way and of a Peregrine sat in the Pylon that we originally saw a Falcon. Chances are it was him all Along! Robin had seen this falcon take a young Canada goose, gosling a few days earlier and take it to the same pylon to eat it! The Hobbies unfortunately never really gave us the views that we wanted and we decided after a while to head home. Robin Felt that on days like this if they can stock up early of food they will carry on their migration. Hopefully we will see more through the summer and then when they gather to leave our shores for the epic journey south to Africa.