A Great Start to 2010......

The sun is shining, the frost is crisp and the sky is blue - a perfect January day. And as if that wasn't enough, we've seen a lot of interesting wildlife, some rare, some common and even some 'old friends'. winter sunshine on silver birch

Our hare is back and as unconcerned by our presence as before, such a privilege for what is normally a nervous, flighty animal. For those of you that don't know the story of 'our' hare, earlier last summer we had a family of two young and an adult and, as we were in the garden most days, they became oblivious to the threat we might pose. The story of this can be found on an earlier post. In fact, they became so tame that I was able to take all the photos of them by just walking up to them.

Fallow Deer - one of the larger species of deer to be found in England and quite common throughout the country. But like all deer, despite their size, they are remarkably difficult to see and watch. When I lived in the Chiltern Hills, 50 miles to the east of the secret valley, they grazed the field close to my windows, making watching easy. Here, we see them occasionally from the cottage - yesterday was one of those days. In winter, their coats lose their lovely dappled spots and become quite dark - the two pictures below show this, the lower one being taken last summer.
The Red Kite is one of the great conservation success stories of recent times. Once so common they scavenged in the streets of London (and had a reputation for stealing hats off people's heads to decorate their nests with. These days they often use plastic instead - the Kites, not the people, I mean, of course). By the 1970's numbers were down to just a few pairs living in the remotest parts of Wales. A breeding and reintroduction programme started in the 1980's centered on the village in the Chilterns where I lived. Soon they were a relatively common sight in that area but they have been slow to extend their range. Now we are seeing them much more frequently in the secret valley and they never fail to thrill. The full story of the Red Kite can be found on the Chilterns website here.


And now, the real rarity! Little Egrets extended their distribution from Europe to southern England several years ago and for a while were found just on the warmer coastline. Three years ago, a pair wintered in the secret valley. When I saw a white bird on New Year's Day, I first thought it was another egret but then realised it was much bigger - more the size of a heron. And unlike the hunched neck flight of the egrets, this bird flew with its neck outstretched: it was a Spoonbill. Although not unheard of in the UK, they are very irregular visitors and it was the first one I've ever seen, or ever likely too, I should think.

This photo is most definitely poor quality - I only have a small 'aim and fire' camera and took this from an upstairs window. I am hoping to buy a more sophisticated camera with telephoto lenses very soon: another unexpected side effect of blogging has been a rekindled interest in photography. Who knows what will show up on this blog then?

[The spoonbill has moved on southwards - I think this cold, snowy weather has proved too much for it. Still, we were lucky to have it around for a few days. 9th January 2009]