Tips for photographing Water Voles

Tips for photographing Water Voles – I often get asked about tips for photographing Water Voles, so here goes! First off its worth identifying that they are about in the first place – I take most of my water vole pictures in London (at the London Wetland Centre) or at various parts of the South Downs National Park – Arundel being one such place. Although water voles don’t strictly hibernate they do tend to stay in their burrow in the winter, but they will emerge from time to time especially to defecate! The ideal time to snap them is in my opinion from March to end May as reeds and other bank foliage hasn’t yet fully grown back.

Perhaps the best way of establishing if voles are around is that the reeds have been broken about 6-8” off from the water line (these seem to be snipped at 45 degree angles) Water voles will flatten reeds to make a platform which they use as latrines these are fairly obvious once you know what to look out for. They are also happy to use planks in a pond or edge of riverbank. I have often stalked a latrine waiting for a vole to show up. Water vole stools are easily identifiable – they look exactly like dark grey tic-tacs. The male stools will all be separate whilst the female will flatten hers down probably to attract a mate with the scent. I actually locate most of my water voles by sound – not the plop as they jump into a river but the sound of them munching on reeds – it’s just something my ears are attuned to now. Also they are creatures of habit - if you see a water vole jump in the water and disappear, hang around as they often return to the reed they were gnawing or collecting the foliage for their burrows. You can also bait water voles by leaving out carrots or apples on a bank or at edge of a suitable pond or stream. Camera wise the only thing I would suggest is setting a fairly fast shutter speed (1/500 sec) these things do motor especially when travelling across a stream and are difficult to keep in focus. Even when they are static they can twitch esp. if munching a reed and this slight movement can affect the focus. And finally apart from the above a lot of patience and a modicum of good luck won’t go amiss!

Tawny Owls

Tawny owls If you are ever walking in Kensington Gardens take care to have a look up because who knows you might see a Tawny owl or two! Tawny owls are known to roost in various parts of central London and I am aware of pair who has been successfully breeding for a number of years next to Hyde Park. So recently went on my annual trips generally before May as by then trees are full of leaves and spotting the owls is more difficult. Not only did I find the adult pair I was fortunate enough to find their four owlets. Alas I could only get three of them sitting together – one owlet and judging by its size the eldest wasn’t playing ball! Tawny owls (Strix aluca) generally prefer forests but will settle in urban parks and gardens. These are certainly the first ones I have seen in Central London. I don’t know how many pairs there are in London, but am aware there have been sightings in another part of Hyde Park/Green Park borders, Richmond Park and also Regents Park. Maybe the ones in the other parts of Hyde Park are previous offspring of the pair I have seen? The owlets will be chased off at the age of several months to find their own territory, if they don’t find one - they will starve. Tawny owls tend to remain in their territory for many years I do not know the exact size of an owls range but would presume it would depend on availability and amount of food source. As for what they eat, a Tawny’s diet is varied; they will eat rodents, insects and other birds. The ones in Kensington Gardens live off a plentiful supply of squirrels, rats and even the odd bat. The adult pair I saw seem settled and I am led to believe have been in this part of the park for a couple of years (last year raising 4 owlets) I don’t know whether this is because the city is becoming greener or the owls themselves are adapting to urban life. They don’t appear to have any predators (though they do get mobbed by crows from time to time) Perhaps the biggest danger to them is the city traffic.

Bitterns Abound

Did you know that the Bittern is one of the UK’s rarest breeding bird ? Did you also know that you can actually see these birds here in London during the winter? The UK stronghold is notably in East Anglia where there are more reed beds but a few do appear in the Capital and the best place to see them in London is undoubtedly the WWT centre in Barnes. At the moment there are 2 on site but last year there were up to 6 which was remarkable. They are generally difficult to see as they hide in the fringes of reeds and the striped patterned feather and colours make them almost invisible . Perhaps the best time to see them is on a very cold day when the lakes and channels have iced up , they cant fish within the reeds so emerge out into the ice.

Bitterns were declared extinct at the end of the 18th Century, this was primarily to the following reasons. The decline and drainage of their normal wetland habitat. Their feathers were prized for hats and decoration . They were tasty!! and were once also nicknamed the ‘Fenman’s turkey’. It seems odd that anyone would want to eat these magnificent birds but eaten they were and have been since the Middle Ages. For the curious amongst us I found the following recipe - This is an excerpt from A Noble Boke off Cookry (England, 1468)

Bittur Rost

A Bittur take and sley him in the mouthe as a heron drawe him as a henne and fold up his leggs as a crayne and lett the wings be on then tak a waye the bone of the nek as ye did a heron and put the hed into the gullet or in to the shulder then raise hym and raise his leggs and his wyngs as a herone and no sauce but salt.

Thankfully Bitterns and Herons are protected these days and since the late 1950s they have been making a steady and slow comeback. There are currently believed to be 100 breeding pairs in the UK.

Lets crunch some numbers

What are you most likely to see in a London garden, park, square or just by looking outside your window? Last year the RSPB conducted a survey ‘the Big garden birdwatch’ on the 31st of March 2011. This nationwide survey has been running now for about 30 years and is important in capturing data which reflects the state of the bird populations in the UK.

The figures are below and show the Starling to be the most visible bird in London. My guess for the most numerous would have been the Feral pigeon which was beaten into 6th place. Even its Country Cousin the Woodpigeon was more numerous.

Starling 1
Woodpigeon 2
Blue Tit 3
House Sparrow 4
Blackbird 5
Feral pigeon 6
Great Tit 7
Robin 8
Magpie 9
Goldfinch 10
Collared Dove 11
Chaffinch 12
Carrion crow 13
Ring_necked parakeet 14
Long tailed tit 15
Dunnock 16
Coal Tit 17
Greenfinch 18
Jay 19
Common gull 20


Despite the Starling and House sparrow (4) showing in the top 5 these birds are in serious decline and a priority species for conservation. They are nowhere near the numbers they were 20 or 30 years ago

Ring necked parakeets were at number 14 and have been steadily increasing over the years. These are an invasive species and were believed to have escaped from private collections or aviaries. They started to breed in about 1970 and from then the population has been steadily growing. London and the South East is a stronghold for this colourful bird. A good place to guarantee a sighting is Richmond park.

It’s worth pointing out that the last survey was in March, it might be interesting to see what the results would have been like in mid Summer . Would we have seen some of the migrants in our top 20, such as the Swift or House martin?

Would you like to get involved in this year’s survey ? For further information see the RSPB Big Garden Watch 2012

Rutting Red deer

Lets kick off the LWP blog with our largest land animal the Red Deer (Cervus elaphus). Perhaps October is the best time to see these magnificient beasts and especially the males in rutting action. And one of the best places to see these deer is in London especially the Royal Parks, Richmond, Bushy and Greenwich. I have stalked Red Deer in Highlands with little success and simply the secret is that the deer in London are more used to humans.

The rutting season is the period when males will fight for supremacy to mate with a collection of female deer (hinds). The males can weigh up to 240Kg (530lb), they are extremely aggressive and testosterone driven their singular aim to keep and mate with a harem of hinds and fight off other males who are intent with the same objective. You often hear the deer before you see them , they have a deep bellowing roar which they use to intimidate and warn off rival stags. If this doesn’t work then the stags will fight and often this will lead to serious injuries and on occasion even death.

One word of warning these are wild animals and as such must be approached with caution. An angry stag will charge at you, treat the animas with respect and keep your dog on a lead if walking near. I have photographed Red deer in Richmond Park for several years but this year I was astonished to see the numbers of photographers and watchers. I was also astounded at some pretty stupid behaviour – I.E those approaching a bellowing stag to take a picture on mobile phone. Do not get face to face with a stag ! Do not get between it and its hinds! Do not have ‘speared by red deer as an epitaph’

More information can be found about Red deer from The British Deer Society