The Wrong Side of the Path

Being caught on the cliff side of the coast path is never fun if you are a Roe Deer. Everything would have been nice and quiet early on but, as time moves on more people are around and the path gets a little busier. The route back to safety and the shade of the undergrowth must seem difficult when you are wary of people. Given a bit of space though, he chose his time and took his chance, disappearing into the trees on the right side of the path.
The Sun was directly behind the chap, so shots were difficult, but it is always great to see a Roe Deer.

Sika Seeker

Sometimes our local Sika are well behaved and pose nicely giving you plenty of time to take lovely, well composed shots! Sometimes they don't!

Tales From the River Bank

The Water Vole has long since been near the top of my ‘hit-list’ and the discovery of a couple of likely places to see these animals on the Isle of Purbeck is a bonus. We only have one large river here and that is the Frome, that gives us our northern border, but there are countless smaller steams and ponds that may or may not be home to a Vole or two. Today, whilst perched on the bank of one patch of water I was joined by a couple of Water Voles for just a few minutes as they swam along from right to left. They didn’t hang around though and I couldn’t get a shot of them out of the water, next time perhaps. 

A Land of Lizards

We are fortunate here on the Isle of Purbeck to be able to see all six native species of reptiles and if you work hard and are a little lucky, you can see them all in one day (plus the introduced Wall Lizard).

Yesterday the Sand Lizard was my preferred subject and they never disappoint. The colouring on these stunning animals is incredible and they really need to be looked at closely.

 

Sunday morning and almost Dragon hunt.

There was plenty going on this morning as the warmth of the Sun desperately tried to compete with the chilly wind. I decided to wander down to a favourite Dragonfly pond near Poole Harbour but there wasn’t much sign of any action and so I concentrated on a Great Spotted Woodpecker that flew from tree to tree looking for a new building site. This kept me amused until I found a Dartford Warbler to play with while the Stonechats chipped and chatted in distance (sounding just like two pebbles being struck together) fighting for the best seat on a pile of old logs. Robins, Dunnocks and Wrens provided the rest of the soundtrack and a couple of Buzzards flew in circles high above. There were no Foxes to be seen this morning which was good news for the dozens of Rabbits that charged around, ate the grass or just sat quietly having a wash.
Not a bad walk for a Sunday.

The Boar Hunt - Day 3. The Final Push

Our final morning dawned cold and clear but luckily not quite cold enough to freeze the zip on my tent this time. Getting up and out before sunrise is always special, regardless of how well you do with the camera, and this morning was no exception. The dawn chorus was incredible and it was this soundtrack that accompanied us as we made our way down the river bank for the last five hours of the Boar hunt. Once again we were in high spirits as the events of the previous day were dissected and examined in fine detail, giving us information and a direction in which to go. It was a strange feeling as, although we had succeeded in our goal of finding the Wild Boar, we still hadn’t come across the seemingly even more elusive big males. Ridiculous as it sounds, we were disappointed and needed to tick this final box and so we went high! Up the steep valley walls, through the woods and the mist that now shrouded them, past the thickets that we knew were where the Wild Boar families preferred to be and on and on and up and up.

Both my brother and I were tired, neither of us were as fit as we could have been and the previous day’s efforts were certainly telling. The climb was hard and difficult, more difficult than we thought and we were walking farther and deeper into the forest than we had planned. Again, the evidence of Boar was everywhere but we saw little wildlife and there was certainly no sighting of the big males. A rush of action deep within the trees caused us to stop but a small group of Fallow Deer exited stage right and a sight that should have been wonderful was almost bitter and disappointing.

That sounds extreme and of course it was, we were there to see not just the Boar but to find as much of the native wildlife as we could and watching the Fallow is always special. After giving myself a quick talking to, we continued onwards and upwards.

The early morning Sun that we had enjoyed for the last couple of hours was slowly being covered by a layer of light grey cloud, we didn’t think rain was on the way but taking photographs in the gloom of the undergrowth without the help of bright sunshine would be difficult. This was something I was going to have to deal with as, without any warning a big sow, followed by piglets and two more slightly smaller females crossed directly in front of us.

 

We watched as they crossed, single file, fully aware of our presence but in complete control of the situation. The grunts from the sow as she calls her litter were known to us now and it was satisfying to see that we the snippets of information we were slowly putting together seemed to be correct. We were learning about these animals and that felt good.

As we moved on we stayed quiet, happy at what we had seen but conscious of any sound we made, making sure that we kept the wind in our faces for as much time as possible. It was obvious that sound and smell were more important senses to the Wild Boar than sight and quite frankly we needed all the help we could get.

To our left, deep within the undergrowth came the familiar grunt and we knew there were more sows nearby. Slowly, taking as much care as possible, we followed fresh tracks that formed a path by the side of a thicket. Perfect Wild Boar territory! Another grunt, another family perhaps? We got closer, bit by bit, inch by inch. My camera was suddenly getting heavier, my legs and arms were aching and although I could only see a few faint black shapes within the gloom of the bracken I knew the Boar were near.

At that point there was another noise. Not a grunt this time but a snort of the sort a bull makes before it charges. This was a sound that we had not heard before and the menace within it was obvious. I looked at my brother who was about twenty feet behind me and he was as unsure as I was about what to do next. I wanted a shot of the big males that must have been around but the atmosphere had changed and the thrill I always feel when I get close to wildlife was slowly being replaced by uncertainty. These animals can be extremely dangerous, especially when they are with their piglets (and who can blame them) we were deep within their world not ours.

And then there was a shape! 

It was time to leave! Whether this was a male or a female, I do not know and to be honest I was in no mood to ask. Without any thought of silence, bravery or style I backed off to where my brother was, confident in the knowledge that if I could not outrun the Boar I could outrun my brother!

At this, with me feeling slightly cowardly but still buzzing with what I had seen we walked back towards our base. We had seen what we had wanted to see and learned at least a little about these animals. The weather had been kind to us at times but had thrown a proper tantrum at others and the Wild Boar had proved an impressive but elusive prey.

This had been an exhausting couple of days with us walking the best part of thirty miles and it was something that I couldn’t have done without the help of my brother, even though I was willing to sacrifice him to a Boar, just to get that last ‘big’ picture!