Fencing of the hide and why

Back up at the farm today to check the feeders, and with the aim to put the hide there on a semi permanent basis. This was achieved with a bit of effort and help from my wife. I was quite happy with how it turned out as there is room, if needed to put another hide there. The surprise of the day was to see the Goshawk fly over. I knew there were a couple in the area but had not seen one for about a year. The good things was Helen saw it too.

Feeders busy after I had refilled them and after we had stopped making noise.

Went for a walk after to see what else was about, nothing much disturbing however had a chat with Martin and his dad and they gave me a few locations to look for other wildlife on the farm. Also they have said that they have seen some of the young rabbits about. I still need to be there at first light either in the hide or on the farm looking for other wildlife.

Did notice that the light was staying on the feeders for longer today as before it had gone by 3 o'clock. This is good as it extends my time in the hide.

The next 2 weeks are going to be vital in what I see and are going to need a lot of time up on the farm to get more images to bolster my portfolio.

With the good weather, hopefully this will happen.

I have been in contact also with another friend who owns a couple of farms in Brecon to see what he has around there. The more the merrier in my opinion.

Filling of the feeders and the weather.

I went up to the farm today to refill the feeders and to check that every thing was ok. I wanted really to fence off the hide so that it could be left there. The new addition to the hide seems to be a success as the log was empty again of food. Refilled the feeders heavily so that I do not have to visit for a while as the weather is not very good for the next couple of days. However Sunday is good and I intend to fence off the hide with the help of my wife Helen. This also gives me the opportunity to show her what I have been up to.

See weather reports below. (Double click on them to open them in a new window).

For the weather reports I used the accuweather website I use this as I have it on my iphone. Also it allows you to see around 15 days in advance, which is great as this then allows to me to plan ahead when to go the hide.

Day 1 at the hide and the results

This is my first day in the hide. Couldn’t get up this morning as was busy doing other things. When I got here I noticed the light was fading a bit, I was thinking have I missed the best light.

I set up the hide refilled the feeders and went to check the camera. It had been set off however nothing had been captured. Battery is now dead so have had to take it home to recharge. Need to consider investing in a second battery so that I can just hot swap them.

Went to car and got camera gear. Sneaked up to hide and set up camera. Light not fantastic so decided to set up a remote camera to the right of the hide so that could if needed to have some fill in flash. Also by doing this I would test out my new radio triggers that I have invested in on the advice of Rik and John.

Nuthatch very busy today must be hungry. Have heard the woodpecker - however they are being very weary of me. I think that I need to leave the hide in place permanently so that they get used to it, like they have the cam net. I will discuss this with Martin the farmer.

Martin has agreed to me fencing off the hide, now need to find time to do it. He has also said he will help me as he knows what he is doing.

Results of the Day

Got some interesting results today. One image in particular I am very happy with as it is a shot of a nuthatch arching its body - a shot that has eluded me for years. Have looked at the results of the flash, this needs to be looked at. I think I need to use two of them and use the light meter to set them so that I can use my camera set to manual mode and this will allow me to have more control of the exposures. Need to look at where to set the flash guns to think about the lighting of the birds. Could consider snooting them.

The setting up of the feed station

1^st of March 2010, St David's Day.

I have decided how to set up the perch. I didn’t want it to be heavy and the props needed to be portable. I have invested in two broom handles which I will pre-drill so that the nails do not split them when I nail them home.

Arrived at the farm and firstly went to fill the feeders again, they were empty. Good sign that the birds are using it. Woodpecker flew off when I approached the feed station. After that I have decided to check the camera that is in place. Something has set it off so I am curious what has done it. I have a my Canon g10 so that I can look what has set it off. I think the it is a fox. I will have to wait till I get home to check this. I can't wait.

I have decided to set it to video to see if I can get a longer exposure of what is there. I have also moved the camera closer to the hole to see if I can get a better picture too.