Our TAPS wildlife watchers have a new camera!

Hello everyone, Taps Wildlife team here again!

Well, it's been very quiet here on the wildlife front, especially for the birds. Following the breeding season, birds then moult. August is prime moulting season any earlier or later in the year they would get cold without their insulating feathers. They moult for about 5 weeks. Moulting is a drain on the birds’ resources and takes a lot of energy, that's why we don't see much of our common birds for a few weeks, as they are more vulnerable to predation at this time. Hopefully they will all return soon with their new plumage.

As some of you may know, some migrant birds from Australia/Africa/Asia came to breed in Trimingham. The bee-eaters are beautiful, brightly coloured birds, and the RSPB set up live cameras to watch their progress. We regularly tuned in to watch and eventually saw three chicks fledge. They have now left our shores but could return again with our warmer summers. According to the RSPB they won't return to the same spot each year, so who knows where they might visit next year!

There's always talk of climate change and this year we’ve experienced a very hot summer, leaving lots of wetland habitats very dry. Let's hope we get rain soon to help our wetland and wader birds. We have been learning about our wetland and wader birds in our weekly sessions. Jasmine made a great book to help us recognise all the different kinds, it's not an easy task, as so many are similar. We've added some photos Claire took on trips to Cley and Salthouse recently, a great place to see these birds.

Montage of wetland birds taken by Claire

The team are excited to have a new bridge camera to take pics of our birds and wildlife. Everyone is having a turn to use it.

Trying out the new camera

 

Testing the new camera

 

Claire in action with the new camera

 

Looking at shots on the new camera

 

Getting to grips with the new camera

So far Mark and Jasmine have taken some lovely shots, our favourite being Jasmine’s of a blackbird taking a wash in the bath soon after she had cleaned it. We've named that ‘gratitude’. I'm sure you'll agree it's a very professional pic.

Jasmine's fabulous blackbird pic

We've not seen a lot on our wildlife camera recently, due to all the building work going on next door to the Hub. Colleague Shirley has offered to help out by setting it up in her great wildlife-friendly garden, so we’re looking forward to seeing lots of new wildlife, we've already seen rabbits and deer.

As autumn approaches, we could see lots of new birds returning for the winter, so wherever you are, keep a lookout, and as usual if you spot anything let us know, we'd love to see your pics.

Until next time, keep watching wildlife and help where you can.

JASMINE, TIM, MARK, CRAIG, HELEN. LUCIE, STEPHEN, JUSTIN AND CLAIRE