raptora-isaacrice-blog

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Teaser version of an upcoming video on the Avon Wt at their Folly Farm nature reserve about the awesome conservation work they do throughout the year! They burn the scrub away to produce an open grassland which will help invertebrates thrive which will form the base of most other species diet, and a healthy ecosystem! #raptoramedia #raptora #isaacricephotography #nature #animals #wild #springwatch #wildlifephotography #photooftheday #bird #travel #britishbirds #naturelovers #beautiful #birds #photography #bbcearth #outdoors #britishwildlife #instanature #rspb #landscape #naturephotography #wwt #naturelover #summer #forest #nikon #natgeo

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This praying mantis is designed to be the perfect killer with bladed hands, huge bulbous eyes and camouflage in both aesthetics and behaviour. Spending some time filming them was incredible last week and putting together the story today was great fun, can't wait to share it with you all! #raptoramedia #raptora #isaacricephotography #nature #animals #wild #springwatch #wildlifephotography #photooftheday #bird #travel #britishbirds #naturelovers #beautiful #birds #photography #bbcearth #outdoors #britishwildlife #instanature #rspb #landscape #naturephotography #wwt #naturelover #summer #forest #nikon #natgeo

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The White Tailed Eagle is the dominant force in British skies since it's reintroduction to Scotland. Despite being mobbed and attacked by ravens, gulls, buzzards and even golden eagles it still comes out on top! As the most tenacious, varied in diet and hardier in times of low food, this eagle is here to stay. #raptoramedia #raptora #isaacricephotography #nature #animals #wild #springwatch #wildlifephotography #photooftheday #bird #travel #britishbirds #naturelovers #beautiful #birds #photography #bbcearth #outdoors #britishwildlife #instanature #rspb #landscape #naturephotography #wwt #naturelover #summer #forest #nikon #natgeo

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Few hours at it and the rewards just keep coming, what an amazing place the Isle of Mull is! No where else can you get such an intimate sighting of this awesome British Otter! #raptoramedia #raptora #isaacricephotography #nature #animals #wild #springwatch #wildlifephotography #photooftheday #bird #travel #britishbirds #naturelovers #beautiful #birds #photography #bbcearth #outdoors #britishwildlife #instanature #rspb #landscape #naturephotography #wwt #naturelover #summer #forest #nikon #natgeo

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This is the Red-Breasted Merganser, and is the most common of a group of ducks called the saw-bills, because of their long narrow beaks with serrated edges. This is the female of the pair raising the young alone as the males have gone along the coast away from the breeding grounds to moult. The saw-billed ducks are very athletic and when they aren't diving to catch fish and invertebrates underwater these mergansers can fly at astonishing speeds of up to 80mph! This is faster then the maximum horizontal speed of the peregrine falcon!

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The temperate rainforests of the Scottish Highlands have been a challenge today. Not only trying to film in the rain but also doing it while trying to make sure every inch of skin is covered! The midges here are like nothing I've ever experienced, if you are near water they possess a very particular set of skill that make them a nightmare for people like me, they will look for you, they will find you and they will.. bite you! A lot. On the face.. but pretty waterfalls make it a lot more bearable! #raptoramedia #raptora #isaacricephotography #nature #animals #wild #springwatch #wildlifephotography #photooftheday #bird #travel #britishbirds #naturelovers #beautiful #birds #photography #bbcearth #outdoors #britishwildlife #instanature #rspb #landscape #naturephotography #wwt #naturelover #summer #forest #nikon #natgeo

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The 3 auks which were stars of the show in Skomer! 3 quick facts: Puffins (left) live up to 20 years and may mate with the same partner each year. Razorbills (centre) have social synchronised swimming where they swim together in circles or swim in lines interweaving between each other. And guillemots (right) lay water repellent eggs which are self cleaning! #raptoramedia #raptora #isaacricephotography #nature #animals #wild #springwatch #wildlifephotography #photooftheday #bird #travel #britishbirds #naturelovers #beautiful #birds #photography #bbcearth #outdoors #britishwildlife #instanature #rspb #landscape #naturephotography #wwt #naturelover #summer #forest #nikon #natgeo (at Skomer)

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Managed the photo I went to Skomer dying to return with! The puffin feeds it's chicks many sand eels every day however a decline in sand eels numbers due to climate change causing plankton decline is ricocheting up the food chain to have an impact on the puffins! Complicated but scary idea :( . #raptoramedia #raptora #isaacricephotography #nature #animals #wild #springwatch #wildlifephotography #photooftheday #bird #travel #britishbirds #naturelovers #beautiful #birds #photography #bbcearth #outdoors #britishwildlife #instanature #rspb #landscape #naturephotography #wwt #naturelover #summer #forest #nikon #natgeo (at Skomer)

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So a hint as to where my next project has taken me with @tomcampbellphotography !! The beautiful island of Skomer! Stay posted for more lovely images of Britain's favourite sea bird! . #raptora #raptoramedia #isaacricephotography #nature #animals #wild #springwatch #wildlifephotography #photooftheday #bird #travel #britishbirds #naturelovers #beautiful #birds #photography #bbcearth #outdoors #britishwildlife #instanature #rspb #landscape #naturephotography #wwt #naturelover #summer #forest #nikon #natgeo

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Black headed gulls are a common sight in Britain, and for a good reason - they have been very successful recently! They can be heard calling from anywhere on Rye Meads reserve where they have 3 rafts on a lake. These birds nest gregariously so the rafts are packed full of nests with eggs until.. all at once these chicks hatched a couple of days previously and have such different plumage to the adults! This brown and speckled down feather pattern helps them camouflage into the marsh land they would be naturally raised. . #raptoramedia #raptora #isaacricephotography . #nature #animals #wild #animal #wildlifephotography #photooftheday #bird #travel #britishbirds #naturelovers #beautiful #birds #photography #bbcearth #outdoors #britishwildlife #instanature #rspb #landscape #naturephotography #wwt #naturelover #summer #forest #nikon #natgeo

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My first decent stills of a kestrel today to go with some great news.. In September I'll be starting a masters in Wildlife Filmmaking at UWE Bristol, couldn't be more excited and happy that the last year of intense and hard work has paid off! Buzzing is not a strong enough word.. . #raptoramedia #raptora #isaacricephotography . #nature #animals #wild #animal #wildlifephotography #photooftheday #bird #springwatch #britishbirds #naturelovers #beautiful #birds #photography #bbcearth #outdoors #britishwildlife #instanature #rspb #landscape #naturephotography #wwt #naturelover #summer #forest #nikon #natgeo (at Rye Meads)

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This is a cormorant, not to be confused with a shag which looks and behaves very similarly. They look slightly different in their slimmer build and much steeper forehead. Cormorants are diving birds, swimming under water for a relatively long time searching for their favourite food - fish. Their feathers are quite controversial as some people think they are waterproof, some think they aren't, and if they are the method of waterproofing is also debated... One thing for sure is that they do get waterlogged feathers as when they swim they sit very low on the water as seen here. They then will stand with their wings extended to dry them off . #raptoramedia #raptora #isaacricephotography . #nature #animals #wild #animal #wildlifephotography #photooftheday #bird #springwatch #britishbirds #naturelovers #beautiful #birds #photography #bbcearth #outdoors #britishwildlife #instanature #rspb #landscape #naturephotography #wwt #naturelover #summer #forest #nikon #natgeo

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Blackcaps have historically been very important to our knowledge of migration. A study using German blackcaps on the canary islands showed that they had a genetic cause for the urge to migrate, as they got very restless around the time they would migrate in Germany. Further study took blackcaps from Austria and Germany and swapped them, then looked at their direction of migration, amazongly this urge is also controlled by genes! . #raptoramedia #raptora #isaacricephotography . #nature #animals #wild #animal #wildlifephotography #photooftheday #bird #springwatch #britishbirds #naturelovers #beautiful #birds #photography #bbcearth #outdoors #britishwildlife #instanature #rspb #landscape #naturephotography #wwt #naturelover #summer #forest #nikon #natgeo (at Rye Meads)

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This beautiful female kingfisher is the star of my latest project, a film to show the breeding season of a few birds at RSPB Rye Meads, in particular a pair of kingfishers where I'll be talking about their home, their behaviours, their personalities (which I've got to know fairly well!) and their family! They should be fledging next week so hopefully I'll be able to get the last few shots I need and get the film out in the next couple of weeks.. watch this space . #raptoramedia #raptora #isaacricephotography . #nature #animals #wild #animal #wildlifephotography #photooftheday #bird #springwatch #britishbirds #naturelovers #beautiful #birds #photography #bbcearth #outdoors #britishwildlife #instanature #rspb #landscape #naturephotography #wwt #naturelover #summer #forest #nikon #natgeo

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Badgers!

As lots of people will have seen I have been following a badger family the last couple of months, seeing the family life, conflicts and behaviour that make this one of Britain’s most loved animal. This sett is on the edge of a wood near my village of Henham (I won’t say exactly where because sadly persecution of badgers is still fairly common). I have been using a camera trap to document the life of these amazing creatures!

They quickly spotted the camera trap and didn’t mind it’s presence in the slightest, in fact they quickly tried to mark it as their own with a jet of smelly badger urine!

When I started watching them back in March they were a family of 5 adults, I suspect 2 adults and 3 juveniles from a very successful breeding season last year! Although it could include visitors from elsewhere which have been accepted as one of the group as the wood is so resource rich. Group size and territory size are both dependent on the available resources in the area.

They seem surprisingly quite aggressive to each other just as much as they are affectionate. Fighting was a very common occurrence and what I previously thought was playing may actually have some interesting reasons behind it.

One of the badgers disappeared, leaving a family of 4 which made me think that maybe this fighting was the adults (probably the parents) driving off last year’s young in preparation for raising this year’s. Accompanying this with the fact that they were clearing out their sett regularly and we could have some very exciting news on our hands! Baby badgers below my feet!

Every single night these badgers had a very similar routine, they would come out and scratch for about 45 minutes and then fight for a little while.

One thing that did confuse me was if in fact there was a new badger cub then it will already have been born this late in the year. So why were the juveniles being driven off now? Why not before the birth to reduce the chance of infanticide? (I don’t even know if badgers partake in infanticide??) but surely driving them off earlier rather than later would reduce risk to the newborn? Or maybe they wait until it is as far out of winter as possible so that there is maximum potential for both sets of cubs? I need to look more into this, as one of the world’s most studied mammals, the information is surely out there!

Another interesting behaviour is social grooming. When scratching their clearly very intolerable fleas the badgers scratch their whole bodies and then scratch each others back’s, literally, as this is the only place they can’t reach! I thought this form of reciprocal altruism was only seen in highly social animals but there are a few more animals which socially groom than I thought including bees, bats, ravens, horses and of course primates!

And then finally, on May Day bank holiday was the first recorded outing of the new baby badger cub!

This new baby was an instant hit in my house with its playful and carefree behaviour! It was very interested in its new world but that was nowhere near as fun as climbing ontop of mum - with hilarious consequences!

The family of three are now heading out to forage every night where I’m sure baby badger is still causing trouble but undoubtedly learning how to survive in a brand new world, all in an Essex wood.

This jus shows yet again that there is exciting wildlife action happening everywhere, not just in those exotic locations you see on tv! Anyone can get out and see it. My camera trap was extremely cheap online and was one of the best things I have ever bought, its brought me hours of entertainment and joy. I would recommend everyone buying one and seeing what you can see around you!

Isaac

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Rye Meads Escape

After a couple of stressful days at work I needed some me time and there’s no better way for me to chill then escape to a nature reserve. Rye meads is the closest RSPB reserve to me so I thought it was about time I checked it out. I also heard they have some active kingfishers and after my brief sighting at Slimbridge last week I was dying to get another orange and blue hit.

Walking up to the reserve under the loud flight path of heathrow, I was having my doubts about how good this place could be… Walking into the entrance opposite the entrance to a sewage treatment plant certainly wasn’t filling me with confidence. However as soon as I met the smiling staff and pushed through the double doors into a luciously green paradise (me trying to be more literary just sounds like I’ve got the country wrong) I realised I was wrong.

The reserve has several hides but instead of any careful planning I got in the first one I saw.. typical. But it turns out that was a good shout as I got some great sightings of my first little grebe, a closer up of a couple of lapwings (although still not very close, but I’m getting there!) and a redshank.

The lapwings instantly made my favourites list with their big eyes, almost rainbow creating plumage and wing shape. I don’t know what it was about the shape of their wings that captivated me quite so much, perhaps the almost lobed ends reminded me of a dragon or something...

Next I headed to a couple of hides before settling into the kingfisher hide for what was possibly going to be a long wait… and it was. I had been informed by a note-taking expert who’s crazy big camera meant I instantly trusted him (that could be dangerous) that the rye meads kingfisher pair had been swapping incubation duties every 4 hours and they didn’t disappoint. Almost 3 hours after I started watching I got another sighting! A very quick exchange followed by a quick pose by the female and it was all over, 3 hours swapped for 30 seconds… absolutely worth it! Mission accomplished!

A few more photo opportunities with some of rye meads’ cuter occupants and a bit of drama with an tawny owlet (featured in my next blog) later and I was ready to head home after an extremely successful day. I can’t wait to come back in the next few weeks after the kingfisher eggs have hatched to see more of these enigmatic birds’ lives!

Keep looking up, Isaac

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Swan-ning up to WWT Slimbridge

So my latest adventure took me somewhere I’ve been dying to visit for ages, WWT Slimbridge! And got lucky by going with my mate and fellow wildlife filmmaking enthusiast Tom Campbell, who also works there so knows his way around and was my personal expert for the day! This is Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust (WWT) headquarters so is a pretty big deal. It is a really important place for wildlife conservation as the base of research, captive breeding and housing the largest collection of Wildfowl in the world! A great example of this is the captive breeding done by founder Sir Peter Scott involving the Hawaiian Goose which brought the species back from the brink of extinction!

When we walked in the sound of every type of bird song I could imagine hits you, including but not limited to quacking, honking, cooing, cawing, singing, chirping, chorusing, clucking trilling, shrieking, whistling, squawking but definitely no cock-a-doodle-doing.

We spent the day surrounded by the biggest of British birds: swans and geese and it’s the time of year for dramaaa despite the presence of the cutest little chicks, goslings and cygnets! This greylag goose and its gosling were sitting outside the entrance as if welcoming us. Which you’d find hilarious if you knew how much we were victims of aggression by the geese, all of the day… just so much aggression…

There were some really interesting species around that I hadn’t seen before like shelducks, cranes and godwits. And also my first glimpse of a beautiful lapwing!

But my personal favourite moment was my first ever sighting of a kingfisher! We spent about 15 minutes waiting in the hide before the pair came into good view going in and out of their hole and bathing. It didn’t last very long but it was incredibly special for me to see such an iconic species I’ve admired for years.

After that we went on the canoe safari which was actually even better than I thought, it was awesome! Such a peaceful place, quietly rowing through reeds and trees and wildlife, past herons in trees, otter access points and great crested grebes less than 2m away. Tom managed to find a swan’s egg shell too which was stunningly strong and solid, the cygnets busting out of those prison cells must come out absolute troopers! It will make a great part of the dead stuff collection I’ve started for our potential future house!

After that we played with a very trusting rook I originally named Ricky, we had him literally sitting with us at the table taking food very delicately from my hand as well as easily catching thrown crumbs from Tom every single time!

Slimbridge was an awesome place for me to have finally got the opportunity to visit and I can’t wait to get out there in the future for lots more days of photography and videography.

Keeping searching,

Isaac