Spring has finally arrived and the birds are resplendent in their breeding plumage and busy building nests.  I’ve been hoping to photograph Long Tailed Tits for several months but I’ve never been able catch these extremely busy birds in one spot for long enough.  However, through a bit of careful observation and a large slice of luck I recently located a Long Tailed Tit nest , so I set up my portable hide and waited for the chance to get a nice portrait of this delightful little bird.  I was fortunate to capture a few nice images when the birds and sun coincided at the nest, but what I was really hoping for was some nest building behaviour.  Fortunately the little birds didn’t disappoint when they arrived carrying a beak full of white downy feathers.  A magic moment.

Hopefully and with great care I’ll get back for this nest site on a few occasions over the next few weeks.

Another bird which made a very welcome appearance was the Great Crested Grebe, whose breeding plumage simply glowed in the late afternoon light at Titchmarsh reserve.

Tragic news from Ranthambhore National Park
Two sub adult tigers have been found dead (poisoned) on the edge of Ranthambhore National Park.
All evidence points to local villages taking revenge for the young tigers lifting their livestock.  This is another case where tigers have been badly let down by the authorities who are supposed to safeguard them, as there appears to have been no one monitoring them at this critical stage in their lives.  Also the tiny village had not been prioritised for relocation as part of a centrally funded scheme to safe guard the national park and improve villagers' lives.  Third, it seems that villagers rarely get the compensation they are entitled to when they lose livestock to tigers.

























Body of poisoned tiger




























Body of the second tiger

Images from http://ranthambhorediary.blogspot.com/


These cubs represent almost 2.5 years of investment by their mother, who they had recently separated from  In a tigress' life she may be lucky to have 3-4 litters only, they are the future for their species, which makes this event so very sad.

This sort of tragedy is occurring all over India.  Please, if you are moved by the images displayed, consider supporting one of the tiger charities listed here

A full account can be found at dickysingh.com

The red kite centre at Llanddeusant, near Brecon, is an amazing place to see this magnificent rare bird.  There must be in excess of 100 birds at feeding time offering great photographic opportunities. I took a valentine's day trip there recently as the weather was perfect in South Wales.  Alas to the north of the Black Mountains was an unbroken layer of cloud edging over the kite centre.  By the time the feeding started the stunning winter sun was gone !!!  Still it's a fabulous site to see and it's always great practice trying to photograph this agile bird, especially when there are so many of them.
There'll be other opportunities.....

Well it's officially the Chinese new year, the year of the tiger.  I wish all the world's tigers a safe future and with our help through conservation efforts, protection and financial support for tiger charities they can still have a place at the apex of a complex ecosystem.

Machali is the most famous wild tiger in the world, who has her own facebook site and was recipient of a Life time achievement award to Indian tourism !! Although she's actually Machali the 2nd, she was mistaken for her mother Machali by a BBC crew and the name stuck.  For years she's delighted wildlife enthusiasts, photographers and film makers by her confident and regular public appearences to the extent that no visit to Ranthambhore is complete without sighting her.

Our audience with the Queen of Ranthambhore came after a sad encounter with an 18 month old orphaned cub.  During mid 2009 the little Berda tigress and her brother were being fed supplementary meals by the forest department to give them a chance to learn the hunting skills following the death of their mother killed in a fight with a male tiger.  Having spent an hour or so waiting at a known hang out of the orphans our guide made a tiger call to see if they were around.  Instantly, a head popped up within a cave on the hillside. After a second call the little female replied with the soft cry of a cub, not the near adult tiger she was. Her call betrayed the fact she was still a young cub despite her size, a cub who'd been denied the chance to separate naturally from her mother.  It was heart breaking to see and hear how much she clearly still missed her dead mother. 


Our guide apologised quietly to the little female for raising her hopes, and we left upset by the unexpected response, yet privileged to have been given an insight into the emotional world of another species.

With heavy hearts we sat quietly as the jeep made its way back to the park gate.  The sun was low and we didn't have much time to get out of the park. As the jeep rounded a bend we were suddenly confronted by a tiger walking towards us up the centre of the road.  It was Machali, a 12 year old tigress, who until recently was the resident tigress of Rajbagh lakes. She's by far the most famous and photographed tiger in the world, and she was on a mission to re-establish her new territory after the recent visit of a male tiger.

Since my first visit to an India tiger reserve I'd dreamed of seeing a tiger walking directly toward me, eyes burning brightly, and here it finally was with the most famous tiger in the world. Wow.  The jeep was quickly reversed to allow us to stay in front of Machali so that we could watch her walking toward us, occasionally sniffing the ground, then scent marking, before letting out a series of roars.  Each time she got close the jeep was reversed and the cycle repeated.  At 12 years old, Machali is old for a wild tigress as indicated by the absence of three of her four canine teeth lost during one or more of the countless kills she's made or numerous fights she has had during her long reign as the Queen of Ranthambhore. She has successfully raised four litters of cubs but is unlikely to raise another, having been displaced by her daughter, T17 or Sundari, from the best territory in the park.

Eventually after a great deal of skillful driving we reached a place where the roadside undergrowth thinned allowing Machali to move off the road.  We stopped and allowed her to walk past.  At her closest approach to us she was roaring so loudly that we could feel our chests resonate.  Having passed our jeep she sat on the open ground admiring her territory and, like an old pro, provided some beautiful poses. 

Eventually we had to leave the venerable old lady, as we were in danger of being very late to the gate, but our spirits were soaring thanks to a gummy old tigress.

Happily, numerous sightings posted on facebook reveal that Machali is remains alive and well and is looking in good condition, so I hope that I will meet her again this May. Fingers crossed

Well I had a fantastic visit to one of my favourite wildlife parks/zoos at the weekend, Whipsnade ZSL.  It's a great place as the animals have pretty large enclosures with excellent viewing facilities.  In particular, the Amur Tiger exhibit has two very content looking cats with a large natural wooded area, large pool and if you like photography, the opportunity to get close to the fence to get clear images with natural looking backgrounds.  On this visit the late afternoon winter light was simply perfect while both tigers posed beautifully.




























































Whipsnade is pretty unique amongst the zoos I have visited in the respect that there are many small deer, wallabies and Mara roaming freely around the zoo, which together with the presence of prey species housed nearby, gives the big cats some intellectual stimulation!! Below is a picture taken in August 2009.  The Tigress stalked the deer for about 3 minutes creeping up to the fence and hiding behind every plant, tree and fence post in the process.  It was great to see the instinct kicking in.  If tigers have to be in captivity then these surroundings are pretty good.


































Given the cold weather the resident Lion pride was stretched out in a sun trap near the main viewing window to their exhibit.  Despite the dirty scratched windows they provided a great opportunity for some portrait shots. While they are clearly a pampered set of Lions, the pride male Spike clearly doesn't get his own way with the lionesses as revealed by his facial scars.