Water Voles from 09.06.2014

Water Vole, Arvicola amphibious

I know all the posts up to now have been from the archives as it were, but I have a lot to share and a lot of requests from people to get through... However, I am conscious that it is new photographs and recent events around the Centre which will perhaps hold more interest to many of you.

With that in mind, and to show that new photographs will be shared here too, here are some that I took yesterday of our water voles.

"Ratty" the Water Vole

The owner of the BWC, David Mills, is currently working on a side project... part of this requires photographs and he has asked me to supply them for him. I have a very long list to get through, but have broken it to stages... at the moment I am working on marsh frogs and fallow deer.

What has this got to do with water voles? Well, while I was there with the frogs yesterday, the voles were on top form (the frogs weren't :-) ), so I took a few minutes to get some photographs of them too.

Reflection

My favourite is the first one of the vole swimming... He caught me by surprise and my camera was still set for a macro I was doing of a frogs eye, I would like it to have more of the vole in focus and been lower to the water, but I still like the colour of the sky reflected in the water. Above is another reflection shot coming our of one of the artificial tunnels we put in the island for them.

Aquatic Vole

One on the bank of the pond. Water voles used to have the latin name Arvicola terrestris, which suited them well in Europe as they are often found more inland then the ones we have over here. But fairly recently they have been reclassified as Arvicola amphibious... makes much more sense for our ones.

Big Old World Out There

We currently have our second litter of voles from our island display just coming out, don't they look tiny in the tunnels!?!

Finding Natural Food

They swim to the island feeding stations we have in place for them, put there is plenty of natural food on the island too... this youngster has already taken a liking to this rush grass... Having the natural food on the island is perfect for giving them a great start for when they will eventually be released, and means they will already be aware of what a lot of wild food is.

Confrontation

We offer a very natural rabbit mix, and apple (which seems to be their favourite), on to their feeding islands every morning. Here is mum and dad having a bit of a confrontation over a bit of apple...

Mum and Kit

... mum won, but was happy for one of the youngsters to come and share with her.

Fisheye of the Water Vole Island

Thanks for looking.

Snowy Owl

Snowy Owl, Bubo scandiacus

Last but not least of the seven owls, the Snowy Owl... Once resident over here on the Northern isles of Scotland, now believed to just be a migrant visitor during the colder winter months. 

Snowy owls just look out of place most of the time, but when we get some now here they suddenly make sense. You can see above how brilliantly and beautifully they blend into their surroundings! 

I have very few photos of Hedwig out of the snow, and those I do are nearly all taken only older D90, but here are a few.

Hedwig in the Daisies

Snowy owls do perch, but they are also often found on the ground, and so for our owl days we offer both. This is a young Hedwig in a few daisies in the lead up to summer.

Snowy Owl

And this is him taken earlier this year, and the only photo in this post taken with my newer camera. You can see on his wing and back how much he has aged/moulted... far less of the black specks. He is likely to lose more over the next few years too.

Take Off

 I really enjoy taking photographs of our owls flying, and love the shapes they often create in the air. This is one of the first flight shots I took of any owl, and was really just a hop shot of him jumping up from the log in the dell before flying to an a-frame. I would love the log not to be there, and the background to be further away, but am still happy with it being one of my first.

Hedwig at around 2 weeks

 Owls are ugly little things when they first hatch, but it only takes them about 12 weeks to grow to a beautiful owl. They grow extremely fast!

Hedwig at around 8 weeks

 Hedwig always seemed happy as a quickly growing chick, and soon became a favourite at the Centre.

Hedwig fully grown

 Expect more flying shots, owl growth and snow photos in the future. I know the snow photos from last year in particular has been asked for, so I will get round to showing some of those in a week or so.

Thanks for looking.

European Eagle Owl

European Eagle Owl, Bubo bubo

The European Eagle Owl is one of the largest owls in the world. We have three eagle owls here, Ethel who is used for photography days and flying display, and Doina and Igor who are our elderly couple on display.

Igor and Doina were donated to us from an elder couple who used to have them as pets. The couple then got to an age where they felt they could no longer care for them adequately, and wanted to find a safe home for them. Igor and Doina are now well in their 60's, showing how long lived these birds can be.

Ethel, the European Eagle Owl

There is varying reports around about eagle owls in Britain, and whether they were here or not, and are they officially here now or not...

There is some evidence to suggest they used to be in Britain, thousands of years a go, but were then absent until recent decades. We now have quite a few back in the wild, according to many sightings and surveys, making a decision about what to  do with them difficult.

Most likely they are escapees from captivity, and therefore shouldn't really be here. However there is a chance, although unlikely, that they have migrated over from Europe. Now if they have come over naturally, they are fully protected by European law, and quite rightly too... But the question is if they were captive, then shouldn't we really remove them?

Whether they are captive or not, nothing can currently be legally done unless they are proved to have come from captivity... very difficult to do.

Eagle Owl in the Evening

So what is being done?... The RSPB are closely monitoring there population and effects on other wildlife, and in particular where they are bordering where our last few hen harriers are.

Personally, I'd love to see them recognised as being a British bird again. We have very few top predators in this country, due to us persecuting most of them in the past, it would be great to see a few come back... especially if they are as beautiful as a European eagle owl.

Anyway, enough rambling, lets look at some pretty pictures :-) Above is Ethel in the evening light, during the Autumn to get the warm coloured background with the leaves on the trees.

Eye!

Most of my photos come straight from camera with just a slight tweak in levels of contrast and saturation, if I feel it needs it, and a crop... again if I feel it needs it. Very few I actually "manipulate". In fact, I think I could count on one hand then number of photos that would be seen as having been manipulated, out of the thousands I have taken over the last six years. These two have been though...

Above, very simple, converted to black and white and then colour selectively added in. This was actually done on an iPad app called "Colour Splash". I am not sure if I like selective colour or not, but wanted to give it a go and was done in the first year I had my camera.

I do like black and white, but I am no good at it... One day I would like to try through. For some truly amazing black and white wildlife photography check out David Lloyd! Stunning work, and he has a new coffee shop table book coming out this Autumn.

Vole's Eye View

This one took a lot of work, and was not fully sharp in camera either, but is still one of my favourites of Ethel. I had to remove the telemetry and anklets she was wearing the biggest photoshop job I have ever had to do, but I think unless I tell people I have done it know one knows so I am pretty please with it.

One day I will re do this photo with my new camera.

Me and Ethel - by Izzy Coomber

Lastly, one of me with Ethel taken by Izzy. This was from when I was training her to fly.

Okay, thanks for looking everyone, next up is the snowy owl, and then we will be officially launched with the bluebells from this year, which is what I have been most requested to show.