Getting Back into the Swing.

My blog has been seriously neglected over the summer, due to a combination of bad weather and laziness. Now I am determined to get back into the swing of recording my wildlife sightings. A couple of weeks ago I put my camera trap down the shore in the Maghery area in the hope of getting some otter footage.  No otters, but this foxy character paid it a visit.

I have just recently started volunteering at the RSPB Portmore Lough Reserve, and so far I've been having a brilliant time getting to know everyone and my way around the reserve. Today I got the opportunity to observe some of the many Irish Hares found on the reserve. They really are amazing animals to watch, their lanky frames quite amusing.

Another mammal that caught my eye today was Rattus norvegicus. These sneaky brown rats, had climbed the briars and nettles in order to feed from the bird feeders. They were very bold and had no fear of me whatsoever as I stood snapping with my camera. 

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An Afternoon with Fallow Deer

It's been quite a while since my last post. In truth I didn't have much time to add to my blog because of a trip to the Isle of Mull, Swansea and my graduation day. Now I am home to stay and today I enjoyed spending the afternoon in Parkanaur Forest Park.

Miraculously the thunder storms forecast for the day never appeared and the sun was splitting the trees when I arrived in Parkanaur. One of the main reasons why I visited the park was to see the resident  all-white fallow deer herd. 

                                The bucks looked very impressive with their velvet covered antlers. 

        I'm eagerly awaiting the coming of  autumn so I can return here to witness the rut. 

Red Fox Cubs

After seeing signs of fox in a small wooded area I visit regularly, I decided to put out my camera trap. I was delighted to capture footage of these cubs squabbling over food and playing together.


 

'Sa Coillte' My Final Film

I made this 10 minute documentary for my final media project, on my Wildlife and Media Degree. It is in Irish with English subtitles. I hope you enjoy it!

Evening with Badgers

Today was the day we handed in our final ever uni assignment, so to celebrate I went along with my friend Cain Scrimgeour to the Campfield Marsh reserve on the Solway to look for a spoonbill that had been recently sighted there. We spotted the spoonbill in one of the hides along with a few lapwing, black headed gulls, moorhen, sedge warbler and willow warbler. On the way home we decided to stop by a badger sett that we've been visiting for quite a while now. We were lucky to see the residents, they didn't seem overly bothered by our presence and they even allowed us to take a few pictures. I took a short video of one curious individual, unfortunately I didn't have my tripod with me, so I balanced my camera on my knee which accounts for the shakiness.

Evening in Cliburn.

This evening my friend Cain Scrimgeour and I decided to go for a walk in Cliburn Moss, just outside Penrith. The light was lovely as the setting sun cast a golden glow over the landscape. We seen quite a few mammals. While driving down the track by Cliburn we spotted a pair of roe deer - a doe and a young buck. After sitting awhile in a quiet spot on the edge of the woods, we spotted 3 more roe deer, 3 brown hares and to our surprise a red fox. It came trotting towards us oblivious of our presence, it then wandered behind the trees we had our backs against. I turned my head to look at its russet coloured face and finally it noticed us. For what seemed like half a minute it shared our gaze before fleeing into the trees. On our way back to the car we happened across a badger, the white stripes of its face vivid against the fading light.

Camera Trap Mammals

Though I'm home for the Easter holidays, all of my time has been spent working on my final project, so I don't get much opportunity to get out and about searching for wildlife. Luckily while I have been working on my final film and paperwork, my camera trap has been out, filming any animal that happens to walk past. To my delight it captured a curious badger, a cute pair of rabbits and a sneaky fox.

A Furry Visitor to my Garden

I have always enjoyed having bird feeders, I enjoy watching the birds, eager to see how many different species visit my garden.
Today while watching a few house sparrows and great tits pecking away at fat balls and seed I seen a flash of movement on the ground below. I kept my eyes on the spot, thinking that it had merely been a trick of the light when all of a sudden I seen a brown face with a twitching nose appear between the gap in the fence.
It was a brown rat and it had come to join the birds in their feast. I sat outside with my camera hoping to get some footage of this sneaky rodent. After just a few minutes of waiting the furry thief returned.

Fia Rua (Red Deer)

For my final film project this year I am making a documentary on woodland wildlife. Now that I'm back home again for 2 weeks I decided to go to Gosford Forest Park in Co.Armagh to film the red deer before the stags shed their antlers. It was a very cold morning, but I thoroughly enjoyed it. I compiled a short video of my favourite shots from today.

Critters on the Shore

On the Lough shore in front of my grandparents' house the other day I noticed what I thought were otter spraints, so I put my camera trap on a tree nearby to see if I could catch one on film. To my annoyance the camera trap slipped down the tree in the wind and was filming at an angle, but my annoyance soon disappeared  when I seen this little mustelid..




Lough Neagh is home to a great number of grey herons. Here one leisurely strolls past the camera.

Camera Trap Shots

After leaving my camera trap out for 2 nights in a little wooded area near my relatives' house, I had over 50 video clips to look through. Most of these were of rabbits hopping in and out of sight. I did however get a surprise. A pair of glowing eyes appeared in the corner of one video, accompanied by a pair of pointed ears. A fox. It seems to be wary of the light given off by the camera trap, it sniffs the air before slinking off into the darkness.



Another nice surprise I received, is a very short shot of a buzzard. It doesn't hang around long before taking flight.

Lough Neagh Evening

I consider myself very lucky to have grown up on the shores of the largest freshwater lake in the U.K. - Lough Neagh. Steeped in history and teeming with life, it is a wildlife lover's paradise. 

The other evening before sunset I went for a walk down the shore in front of my grandparents' house. I thought the light was beautiful, it was hard to tell where the Lough ended and the sky began. 

Coney Island, Lough Neagh

Tonight was a crisp, clear night so my uncle Colm and myself thought we'd try our hands at starscapes. It was fun experimenting with different shutter speeds and this image is my favourite from tonight.

Maghery Shore

A few old ones.

I was looking through my hard drive and found these little images and asked myself why I've never uploaded them to my blog. 

 This hedgehog was spotted at the bottom of our garden a couple of years ago. It was a nice surprise to wake up to

 I photographed this otter in Lake Windermere. There were 3, a mother and her two cubs. This family featured in our small documentary  the "Wildlife of Windermere". 

This creature also featured in our Windermere documentary. Though small, the stoat is very quick and extremely agile making it very difficult to capture on film. 

Trying out my Christmas present..

For Christmas this year I got a Bushnell camera trap. The first time trying it out I put it in a wooded area on the shores of Lough Neagh which I loved as a child. I caught footage of a few rabbits and to my delight, a badger!

                                         Badger

                                        Rabbits