View from a hide

Saturday, 27 September 2014

Short but nice visit

The last couple of days it was really quiet at the hide but I still had the feeling that I had to go there and be patient. Goshawk keeps visiting every few days so I had to be very lucky. I got rewarded, not with a Goshawk but with a short visit of a female Sparrowhawk (Sperwer). The visit was short, the bird was shy. I could only make 3 photos before she flew off, scared by the noise of the camera-clicks. Nevertheless I was happy with the first Sparrowhawk visit while in the hide. Also had a Roe deer (Ree) drinking at night.
The visiting Goshawk (Havik) is the one who was in juvenile plumage last winter and spring, the one with the ring on the right leg. He now is changing to adult plumage and keeps on visiting.
A few more photos of the Sparrowhawk you can see here.

Sparrowhawk

ringed Goshawk

Roe deer

Wednesday, 17 September 2014

Great end of the summer !

New species are still appearing at the hide. Last time I was there after 15 minutes a Eurasian nuthatch (Boomklever) made a quick visit to drink at the pool. Other visitors were Great Tit (Koolmees), Blue Tit (Pimpelmees) and Eurasian Jay (Gaai). Not a busy afternoon but I was hoping for the Goshawk since it was already 8 days since the last visit of one of the 2 Goshawks. Both the adult and the 2nd summer juvenile were regular visitors lately. My patience paid off ! Suddenly a juvenile Goshawk (Havik) landed in front of the hide, only 1 meter away, sitting at the edge of the pool. Then he jumped in the pool to drink at only 1,5 to 2 meters from the hide. What an experience, so close ! After a few minutes he flew up to sit on a branch in a tree for a few moments before taking off. Nice to know: this was another Goshawk than the 2 visiting before. I left the hide in a happy mood. Afterwards I was a little dissapointed when I saw on the trailcam a Sparrowhawk (Sperwer) visited the hide only 20 minutes after I left.
More photos of the Goshawk by clicking here !

juvenile Goshawk

Eurasian nuthatch

Eurasian jay

Wednesday, 10 September 2014

New visitors...

The last 2 weeks some new species were spotted at the hide by myself or the trailcam.
For the first time I had Willow warbler (Fitis) and Pied flycatcher (Bonte vliegenvanger) while sitting in the hide. On trailcam I had a female Sparrowhawk (Sperwer) and Green woodpecker (Groene specht). Besides the common species 2 different Goshawks (Havik), Short-toed treecreeper (Boomkruiper) and Tawny owls (Bosuil) are still coming over to visit.

Willow warbler (Fitis)

Short-toed treecreeper (Boomkruiper)

juvenile Great spotted woodpecker (Grote bonte specht)

Blue tit (Pimpelmees)

female Sparrowhawk (Sperwer) on trailcam

Green woodpecker (Groene specht) on trailcam

Friday, 29 August 2014

Rainy summer

This summer hasn't been a real summer, meaning a lot of rainy and colder days. Mayby this is one of the reasons the hide doesn't give in the summer what I expected. Being busy with work and family holidays, together with the weather, made that I didn't spend a lot of time in the hide. The visitors that came over were nice, but they didn't visit frequently enough to spend time in the hide. Visitors lately spotted by the trailcam were adult Goshawk (Havik), 2 Tawny owls (Bosuil), Red squirrel (Eekhoorn), Red fox (Vos), Hedgehog (Egel), Great spotted woodpecker (GB Specht) and Blackbird (Merel). The Red fox is another one then the one visiting before. To me it's looks like a juvenile.
In the near future I might have to leave the forest where my hide is situated because it probably will be used fot other things. I'm looking for a new location... !
Some photos of the last few weeks:

2 Tawny owls

drinking juvenile Red fox

adult Goshawk

Thursday, 10 July 2014

The trailcam did it !

Lately I didn't have the opportunity to spend time in the hide. The only observations I have are these from the trailcam. After seeing the results of the last few weeks I surely have to make some time to sit in the hide. Goshawk (Havik) is becoming a regular visitor at the pool the last 1 to 2 weeks. Mainly the same juvenile bird that was also visiting in the winter but also once an adult one. Other interesting visitors were Common Buzzard (Buizerd), first time in summer, and still regular the Tawny Owl (Bosuil) during the night.
Regarding the smaller there are no new species. Numbers are rather low, mayby because of the cat that is hanging around the hide lately.

juvenile Goshawk

adult Goshawk

juvenile Goshawk

Common Buzzard

Friday, 20 June 2014

Visitor update !

The last couple of weeks I didn't spend much time at the hide. The weather wasn't great, no longer dry periods, and the Finland trip took a lot of spare time.
It was mainly the trailcam that did all of the work. As far as I (and the trailcam) could see, no new species are visiting the hide. The only disadvantage of the trailcam is that it's not always noticing the smaller birds. In general spring has been rather disappointing regarding visitors and different species. I expected more and better. Mayby I should consider a hide at another place for next spring/summer.
What happened at the hide ? Tawny owl (Bosuil) is still a regular nightly visitor with once even 2 birds at the same time. Also for the Red fox (Vos), the trailcam saw 2 foxes at the same time at the hide/pool. Red squirrel keeps visiting, same as the more general birds with juveniles: Eurasian jay, Great spotted woodpecker (adult and 2 juveniles), Great tit (5), Blue tit (3), Blackbirds and Song thrush.
On my walk to the hide I spotted a Small heath (Hooibeestje). Having my camera with me I took some shots of this butterfly while the sun was setting.
Hopefully the next few weeks will bring a long dry period and new species... .

Small heath

Small heath with spider

Tawny owls

Red squirrel

Eurasian jay and juvenile Great spotted woodpecker

2 Red foxes

Wednesday, 11 June 2014

Brown bear in Finland !

Instead of spending some time in my own hide, I went to Finland last week, photographing from a hide at Wild Brown Bear lodge in Vartius, Finland near the border with Russia. I was hoping to see the European brown bear and if very lucky Wolverine and Wolf.
Both nights we went to the hide at 04.30 pm, spending the night there until 07.00 in the morning. Because we were almost near the polar circle we had only two hours of twilight between midnight and 02.00 am. Although it wasn't totally dark the light conditions were not easy to make photos.
The first nights we saw a female bear being chased by a male and two 1,5 year old cubs. Unfortunately they only came between 11.30 pm and 01.30 am so in poor light conditions.
The second night was much better. The female decided to come over at 09.15 pm, the male 1 hour later. The cubs came over the same time as the day before, when almost dark.
After all it was a great experience, seing these amazing creatures up close. Sometimes they were only a few metres away from the hide. Especially the male, who can weigh up to 315kg, was very impressive.
Other observations from the hide: Common greenshank (Groenpootruiter), Wood sandpiper (Bosruiter), Goldeneye duck (Brilduiker), Eurasian teal (Wintertaling), a very shy Red fox (Vos), Hooded crow (Bonte kraai) and Eurasian curlew (Wulp). We missed the Wolverine by a day.... .
Around the lodge we also had nice obervations of Eurasian elk (Eland), Red squirrel from a hide (Rode eekhoorn), Red throated diver from a hide (Roodkeelduiker) and 2 times female Capercaillie (Auerhoen).
All together: 3 days Finland, 20 hours of travelling, about 32 hours in a photography hide, hundreds of mosquitos, dozens of mosquito bites, about 7 hours of sleep and 4 different bears ! A great trip !!!
More photos on my website Jelle Van de Veire - Natuurfotografie .