Black-bellied Dipper

Website: www.wildlife-photos.co.uk
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/JoshJaggardPhotography

Today I went to photograph the Black-bellied Dipper which had been spotted again in Thetford. It was around for a month before Christmas then disappeared for awhile. It didn't take me long to find it, you cant miss the white throat dipping up and down in the water. It spent most of the day sitting on the bank and occasionally went into the water to feed. They are great little birds and not normally found in Norfolk.

This dipper is different to our resident white-throated dipper that we get in the UK. Its a subspecies which instead of having a brown chestnut belly, it has a black belly thus the name Black-bellied dipper. It is one of the continental species that breed in the north of Scandinavia and migrates south to escape the cold winters. The UK is sometimes lucky to get a few visitors each year. Norfolk is an unusual area for it to come, as we don't have any type of dipper in the county but I wont complain.

Here are a few shots from today and before Christmas.

Black-bellied Dipper looking up

Black-bellied Dipper portrait

Black-bellied Dipper

Black-bellied Dipper autumn colours

Black-bellied Dipper reflection

It was a good shoot and met some nice birders and photographers but it was ruined by a few. Two photographers turned up and had no respect for this bird. Their only aim was to get as close as possible and they didn't have any field-craft or care about the dipper. They spent 20 minutes continually getting too close and scaring the dipper further and further up the stream. This resulted in the stream ending and the dipper having to fly off down the main river where it had nowhere to land due to the height of the river.

Tips:

• Keep an eye out on local birding sites for unusual visitors.
• Fieldcraft is essential to get close without disturbing. Today I studied the dipper, to see its favorite spots. Then when it flew elsewhere, I positioned myself appropriately and the dipper return after 5-10min. I was in good range and didn't need to move, meaning I didn't disturb it.
• Still water makes for good reflections. So if you get a windy day, return on a calmer day and you can get some completely different shots.

Hope you enjoyed the blog, hopefully more images to come. Keep an eye on my facebook page for more:
https://www.facebook.com/JoshJaggardPhotography 

Morning Otter

Website: www.wildlife-photos.co.uk
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/JoshJaggardPhotography

In the past few months I have herd a few rumours about an otter on a local river, where I photograph regularly. After speaking to around 15 different people and visiting the site a number of times, I narrowed down the most likely area I would see it. But after reports that an otter had been killed on the road last week, my hopes weren't to high.

Two days ago I was luckily enough to see 2 otters briefly swimming down the river before disappearing, which was great news. This meant that there must be a family or a good number of otters in the area considering one was killed the other day and I had still seen 2.

This morning I got up in the frost and went in search once again. After about an hour of nothing but dog walkers, I decided to move to a different part of the river. This was a hard choice as the lighting in the other part of the river was extremely bad. None the less I decided to try.

Straight away I saw some bubbles moving around on the water surface. This is a key sign of an otter swimming under the surface. I followed it and moments later an otter popped its head up. I decided to watch it for 5 minutes and see where it was likely to go and its current behaviour. I found that it was hunting in a specific spot. So when it went underwater again I quickly ran to the waters edge and got as low as possible, to prevent being spotted and getting a low photography angle.

For the next 15 minutes it stayed in the area and I got the following shots.

Floating Otter

Intrigued Otter

Otter playing with some weed

Otter swimming towards me

Otter chewing on a small fish

Head shot of the Otter

Otter chewing some weeds

Curious Otter

This was a great experience and only my third ever encounter with an Otter. I am hoping to photograph them more in the coming weeks. The shot below was taken only half a meter away from me, Amazing experience.

Otter in hands reach

Tips:

• Speak to as many locals as possible. They know more then anyone, especially dog walkers!
• Take a flask of tea, to keep warm on these cold morning. You will last longer in the field.
• Good field-craft = Better shots and closer encounters. Study the behaviour.
• Patience and perseverance.
• With otters, look for signs of otter spraint (excrement) and also look for bubbles on the surface.

Hope you enjoyed the blog, hopefully more otters to come. Keep an eye on my facebook page for more:
https://www.facebook.com/JoshJaggardPhotography