Set the camera to auto and press the record button?

To take a very expensive state of the art proto-type camera rig to the dustiest, windiest and hottest (and pretty cold) least camera friendly environments on earth – well you wouldn’t do it would you? Well to be honest when I was asked by the producer/director of ‘Beautiful Freaks’ to suggest a good place to film, I wasn’t thinking of the welfare of this exotic collection of mirrors, glass, carbon fibre and computers – I was thinking of my slightly selfish desire to revisit one of the most stunning countries in Africa and to meet some of its many extreme creatures.

Well against all odds and sand storms we succeeded and thanks to the bloody-mindedness of the crew, oodles of determination, team work and just a little bit of canned-air we managed it and the outcome was (even if I say so myself) rather beautiful and surprising.

3D broadcasting is nothing new, but having been brought up in the era of such forgettable movies as Jaws 3D I’m from a generation that saw 3D being exploited first as a gimmick with everything that could detach itself from the screen being flung at a squealing audience wearing ridiculous glasses!
So I was at the beginning of this project a bit of a 3D sceptic, but this was soon to change. Without boring you with the details and the science (probably because I don’t really understand them properly myself) to shoot 3D that is comfortable to view and a little more subtle takes quite a bit of restraint and re-training of the mind, it also takes a mathematical grasp of exactly what creates the effect. Distances between the background, the main subject and the camera all need to be considered very carefully indeed. The outcome for the viewer is however spectacular, by its very essence trying to describe 3D in words doesn’t word very well, suffice to say, it’s just like real life! Textures are the thing that impresses me most, you can almost feel an Adders scales, the fluffiness of a fox or the spines of an Acacia and the way you watch the screen is very different too, 3D makes you want to look around a bit more, stay a little longer and linger.

Because of the need for such control, programmes up until now have had to be, very controllable and static or massive budget. This show ‘Beautiful Freaks’ aimed to attempt the impossible which was to use a camera that although still rather large and ungainly was relatively mobile for a 3D camera and could be applied to the sort of wildlife presenting style that I have become accustomed to. This was to be the first 3D presenter led wildlife show of its kind and to be honest I had no idea if I could pull it off!

So off we headed into the least camera friendly environment on earth, with the most delicate looking camera that had never before been used in the field (it had to be prized out of hands of Gordon from the Bristol production house Films@59 who had built it, caressed it and lovingly pampered it for several months previously – with promises to look after his baby and to trust us that we would put its welfare above our own) to make a show about Namibia’s bizarre and beautiful animals and landscapes. Oh and did I mention that the camera was so new it didn’t yet have an instruction manual?

Palmetto or Namib Web-footed Gecko

Well we did it Beautiful Freaks – a show about Namibia’s best and most bizarre life forms has been completed (and airs on Saturday the 14th January on both Discovery Channel and Sky3D at 9PM) and I have to say although it was a challenge for every single member of the dedicated team and anyone who touched the camera, picked up a flight case or pondered over the resultant footage it was worth every second of effort, angst, worry and doubt. It was truly a team effort and from my point of view I had to re-learn the discipline of being a presenter and relinquish the comfy seat to this highly strung, electrical diva…but it was worth it on many levels.

Not only did it give me plenty of time to play with the narrative and hone my moments but I also developed a pretty impressive bird list, I had time to take in and relish the places we visited (except for a horrible day of fever on the Skeleton coast) and because I was pre-warned by the producer Charlotte that I really would have to be patient and wait for my turn as the team prepared the camera (a task that on a bad day when dust and the circuitry didn’t want as to roll could take many hours) I took my new travel banjo (thanks Andy Banjo for that) and learned myself a few more chords.

The weight of the camera causes some problems. The solution? Stand around and laugh.

Thinking we might not make it out...the vultures watch and wait.

Over the next couple of weeks we bumped and jolted around Namibia in a couple of Land- cruisers with Caesar our safari guide behind the well worn wheel.
The image of a customised land-cruiser bus (which we fondly referred to as the ice cream van) bouncing about in pursuit of a desert Elephant while containing a hot and flustered film crew manning the very latest in camera technology was both amusing and rather incongruous, especially since in order to keep the camera cool, any fabric that could be found, sarongs, bed sheets and shirts were draped in the windows to keep the sun out, giving the whole ensemble, the somewhat dishevelled look or a lost hippy tour bus.

Me getting my freak on with an Armored Cricket

An Armoured Cricket - Tonka but no toy

So leaving technology and putting aside the sweet moment when I finally managed to get all the right fingers on all the right frets for the cord of  ‘D’ on the Banjo. What was my favourite thing about the whole trip? Well it’s a very difficult moment to distil as we really were spoilt to some of the most spectacular animals and moments. From playing hide and seek with a Desert Elephant, the bleak but exquisite beauty of the Skeleton coast, the finding of a perfect sun bleached Chameleon skull to the taste of a well earned Windhoek, and a moment with the only just re-discovered spotted rubber frog – it’s hard to choose, but….
My absolute favourite partly due to the surprise and partly the ease and unplanned nature with which we stumbled upon them were the Armoured Ground Crickets.
The moment was further gilded by the golden light of the rapidly descending sun. These brutish looking bugs have an almost gladiatorial look to them, having exchanged the elegance of the majority of the rest of the crickets and grasshopper family for a robust almost Tonka toy persona – they are chiefly vegetarian and consequently much more gentle than their appearances would belay. The tough look and armour plating for which they are well named are all about standing up against attack, I watched a stand-off between one of these insects and a Hornbill armed with a Scimitar of a beak and a birds intellect but after much lunging and bluffing, the bird thought better of the meal and gave in to go and look for a vulnerable grub or defenceless fruit instead.

Although very common when we were there, I’ve never met them before. This was possibly because of our timing; there had been some good rain prior to our trip and like much of Namibia’s wildlife their life-cycles are designed to cash in on any sudden abundance.

We did also have a magical moment with an animal I would have loved to have filmed for the programme but it just didn’t stick around for long enough and that was a truly beautiful freak; the Aardwolf. While heading back to our nightly refuge at a lodge in Etosha national park one of these rarely seen mammals skipped across the road in front of our vehicle – I managed to raise the camera and get one bad picture of it to prove the moment happened. But even a bad picture of an Aardwolf is worth getting.

Aardwolf -my kind of Mammal. A rare shot of the back end of a rarely seen African mammal.

This beast is ‘Aard’ – not because it is a kind of Hyena that has figured out a way of living in the most extremely arid environments but because this prefix (also found in Aardvark) means earth and refers to this creature’s habit of grubbing around for its staple diet; termites.
The habit of relying on the omnipresent insect life that even in the most arid environment is there, mostly out of site, chewing and chomping its way through any unappetising dead and dry plant material is a familiar one – and a survival tactic for another star of the show the Bat-eared fox (which we did film).

Poser? Moi? They made me do it!

Spotted Rubber Frog - Phrynomantis affinis - possibly the rarest animal I've ever seen?

I’m going to leave it here – there is simply no way I can write about all of what we enjoyed and experienced in the making of ‘Beautiful Freaks’ in one single blog – but I will leave you with a few more pictures and of course a reminder that the show airs here in the UK as a simulcast – both on Sky3D and on Discovery Channel at 9PM Saturday the 14th January. For all my Twitter followers (@bugboybaker) in case you want to follow, I will be jumping to another account and taking over @DiscoveryUK for the duration of the show and perhaps a little bit after – so if you have any questions or comments about the show feel free to ping them to me during what will be a live twitter frenzy, remember #beautifulfreaks

More press info and video interviews here and here….

http://press.discovery.com/uk/dsc/programs/nick-bakers-beautiful-freaks/

http://www.discoveryuk.com/the-loop/nick-bakers-beautiful-freaks/

Every naturalist I know whether a botanist, entomologist, amateur or professional simply cannot possibly have enough vessels to put things in. As a naturalist you find you become a connoisseur of the specimen tube. These glass ones are my favourite, they remain visually clear, are easily cleaned and last ages, the only downside is that being made of glass, you can’t put them in your back pocket, forget about them and sit down! Not only is this generally bad for the health and well being of the specimen but it can lead to glass shards lodged in your derrière – however having said that they are still the tubes of choice.

If you’re concerned about glass or will be working with clumsy young ‘uns then may I suggest the plastic equivalent, nearly as good but they do scratch with use.

I think these are as important a bit of kit as binoculars. The hand lens is an indispensible tool for nearly every one, this simple little loop, is literally a window into another world. They are worth investing in, stay clear of most plastic things, they don’t last and really belong in Christmas crackers. A well made one (Opticron are my favourites) will last for ages, stick it on a bit of string around your neck (naturalist bling?) or keep in a pocket. The small size means they are always at hand when you need them. A little tip, keep the screw tight – with use they can work loose, I stick a bit of thread-lock on mine to keep it secure.

The field Studies Council are an excellent organisation that have been forwarding scientific understanding, environmental training since 1943 they are purveyors of that good old field trip experience since.
They however are not the best at promoting themselves, so you would be forgiven for having not heard of them. On top of running field centres all around the country (yours truly runs family courses at both the Slapton and Flatford centres) they produce some excellent fold out, laminated field guides. These are useful, light-weight and long wearing and really handy for the beginner not quite ready to invest in the big books yet.
Probably the most sumptuous is the guide to British Butterflies, but I find the guide to Crickets and Grasshoppers very useful too, love the Ladybird one and my current favourite is the pictorial guide to the Harvestmen (a bit specialised, and some would say nerdy but it has certainly opened my eyes to another weird world).

For winter use a series of guides dedicated to the Lichens, the woodlouse key, Garden birds and Tracks and signs can all add an extra dimension to any family walk over the colder months.
What I like about these guides is that they cover so many subjects there will be one for everyone, from Granny to Grandson.

It’s not really a stocking filler, not unless you’ve got really big legs; but how about a nest box? The Schwegler 1B is an industry standard and although heavy the wood-crete construction means it has highly desirable thermal qualities, which make them some of the best on the market They are tough too, this nest box will last for ages (I’ve had one for nearly 18 years and it’s out lived and survived the fall of two trees!). This really is the gift that keeps giving and for an extra festive touch and to soften the sentiment of giving a heavy, German designed lump of wood-crete to a loved one you could fill it with other nice things as an extra surprise…nice undies for the wife, Chocolates for Granny are just a few serving suggestions.

I’m a big fan of camouflaged scrim net – it’s just useful stuff. Really handy for covering up any serious nature photographer/watcher but equally good stuff if you are out trekking and want to stash some equipment and make a base camp but not want it to draw attention in your absence. It is also great stuff for the kids too, what better way to make an instant den!

Dino-lite make excellent little USB microscopes – simply load the software provided and plug into your computer to create the perfect blend of technologies – a high quality microscope which will not only allow you to view your subjects but take pictures of them too. This is the entry level model in their range and is a good quality bit of kit, hence a price. While this may seem a bit steep it is much better than many others on the market that I’ve seen and well worth the extra. It’s quite steep in price for a stocking filler but at least it will fit.

After that last one you may be left gasping..so we’ll end up with a couple of the simplest and cheapest items on the website and ones that in my experience give hours and hours of informative pleasure for minimal outlay – how about a pooter for hunting and handling those fiddly little inverts and a magnifying bug pot to observe them in…simple.

Have a happy, informative, educational, fun and bio-diverse Christmas.

After beasts in all their glorious forms, books follow a close second in things I tend to get passionate about. Throw the two together and I start to quiver with excitement – I can’t help myself! It doesn’t matter how much I try and be professional and grown up about things, on my occasional visits to NHBS HQ here in Devon (incidentally, it’s not a shop so don’t just rock up; it’s not as glamorous as you might think and they have just taken over another large natural history/science supplier and the place is full of people tripping over boxes – it’s like a natural history answer to an Argos warehouse) I always end up speaking gibberish, getting distracted and finding several dozen books that I simply must own (not to mention a bird box or bat detector I didn’t know existed)

Personally I blame the manager Nigel and Katherine in marketing – they are simply too nice and polite, they seem to humour me and they allow me my overtly enthusiastic ramblings and digressions.

Now it seems they have their revenge…they’ve asked me to summarise their entire natural history book catalogue, and come up with 5 that I recommend putting on a naturalists Christmas list.

This, as you might imagine is an impossible task, given the variety of life and its infinite and intricate forms, and the countless humans who have been inspired, fascinated or driven enough to study it and put pen to paper and fingers to key pads.

Superimposed on this is you, the customer, the reader, the enlightened naturalists and enthusiasts of the world, it’s impossible for me to know what pushes your boats out or makes your toes curl!

However, below you will find my almost pointless attempts to achieve this impossible exercise.

I’m sorry if I digress in my task and you may find, if you tot up all the books mentioned, that I’ve gone over the prescribed number of 5! For that I can only apologise although I have always said to myself (moments before going broke) you can always justify a book, they are the only things that represent true value for money in this ‘rip off’ world.

Now I’ve left out very specialized books such as The Freshwater Algae of The British Isles even though I’ve been assured it’s very popular by those at NHBS and although a very much ‘birdy’ loved one would no doubt got apoplectic at receiving all 16 glorious volumes of The Handbook to the Birds of the World – it is beyond most people budget (an Aston Martin might be cheaper?). Instead I’m looking for either essential one off excellent books that you cannot be without on your shelf, including those that will change your life or simply make a nice read and help see you through the winter and get you a little closer to next year’s field season.

1. The only thing that beats seeing butterflies is reading about them. During the summer months let’s face it, those with a butterfly bug will spend most of it chasing them around the hedges, lanes and waysides. While at night, much of that bed-time reading window will be eaten into chasing, trapping and luring their nocturnal brethren.

So, for me, as long ago as I can remember (since learning to read I guess) those long winter nights are best spent reminiscing about the summer seasons gone and anticipating the one that lies ahead. This is the time for the armchair Aurelian.

The book of the year for me is definitely The Butterfly Isles by Patrick Barkham.

I was given my copy by a Butterfly enthusiast who has rapidly become a good friend of mine, Dr Dan Danahar. He sent me a copy as a thank you for taking part in what became a butterfly race around Brighton (25 species in a day) Several of the Characters that took part in this wonderful inspiring day full of Chalkhill Blues and White-letter Hairstreaks are in the book, many of the others; the Martin Warrens’, Mathew Oates’ and Jeremy Thomas’ of the world are all portrayed as passionately and as accurately as the insects that drive their lives (I speak with a little authority on this matter as I know most of them as over the years they’ve been my mentors, bosses and friends in the Butterfly chasing/saving business!)

The books premise is a simple sort of early mid-life crisis as the Author seeks to see all 58 Species of British breeding butterfly in a single year and at the same time re-kindle a father son bond over the butterflies they desired. The outcome is a very well written romp, true to the traditional eccentricities that is almost compulsory to those in the pursuit of these winged things. It’s a book about people as much as it is about the insects, it’s about conservation but not too heavy and all in all it tackles our deep seated relationship with nature and the British countryside and leaves you feeling at the end of it all proud to be living on this collection of islands we call home.

It’s the perfect gift, I should know I received it as such and if I wasn’t so selfish and want to keep it on my shelf I would pass it on to another (which is in away what I’m trying to do with this review!)

As an accompaniment to any Aurelian’s library is another book, The Butterflies of Britain and Ireland by Jeremy Thomas and Richard Lewington – It’s never going to be and was never intended to be a field guide; it’ll never fit in a pocket or indeed even the glove compartment of the car. This is however a perfect butterfly nuts reference book. It oozes quality rare in any book nowadays; it is the quintessential book for anybody interested in these winged wonders. Way back in 1991 the Author; butterfly Ecologist and thoroughly energetic champion of these insects, Jeremy Thomas teamed with the talented paintbrush pushing skills of Richard Lewington and together they created a special thing. The first edition of The Butterflies of Britain and Ireland (it sold out rather quickly and suddenly, leaving some of us (including the authors) with just one well thumbed and battered copy).

This second version is totally up to date with the current status changes and of course in the last 20 years much has been revealed of the intricate details, subtleties and ecological relationships of our 72 British species. Even if you have the first edition this is still worth getting (in fact I bought 2 this time, one for best and another for grubby working naturalists fingers – I know, don’t go there, I’ve already had it from my wife).

The winter is a great time to slip between its pages the first thing that strikes you is the illustrations, which like the first edition of this book are stunning and it makes it an immediately likeable book (who doesn’t like a book with nice pictures?).

With eyes rolling over the sumptuous pictures of every species and its life-cycle stages, you fall immediately; seduced and in love with the book and the butterflies and caterpillars on its pages. Then allow yourself to dip into the text and everything springs to life; Jeremy Thomas has a way of writing about his life’s charges with the sort of passion a child may have for the fairground but at the same time is threaded throughout with scientific knowledge, gravitas and the experience of someone who has dedicated his life to understanding the world according to these charismatic insects.

2. Guide to Garden Wildlife – This little beauty is a book that has been out a while and for some reason it has been largely overlooked. It may be that it comes from the stable of ‘British Wildlife Publishing’. This publisher, if you don’t know it, has produced a range of extremely high quality field guides; which have almost single handedly been responsible for causing the surge in interest in various taxonomic groups of insects such as moths and dragonflies. It seems that creating such specialist targeted, industry standards means they sell and self promote and with a long shelf life the word spreads among the demographic.

The down side of this ‘old fashioned’ way of publishing (not churned out quickly for max profit and short shelf life) is you will be hard pushed to find them on the shelves in Borders, Waterstones or garden centres which is where I believe this book should be!

It is both penned and illustrated by Richard Lewington (while he leaves the birds to his equally skilled brother Ian). This book does exactly what it says on the cover and is a truly excellent guide to many of the most commonly encountered garden species; from bees, birds, voles and moles and many others from the screamingly obvious to the more specialised such as harvestmen, thrips, and solitary bees and wasps, as well as slugs and snails!

The wonderful detailed text and observations within are in many cases clearly born from the actual experiences of the author and glow nearly as beautifully as Richards, now almost legendary illustrations. Scattered throughout are sections that may inspire you to create an even better wildlife garden with advice on creating ponds, building and positioning nest boxes and bird feeders.

I cannot recommend this book enough – if you have a garden and are interested in wildlife then you must have this on your shelf, and if you know of someone who has a garden make sure they’ve got this on their shelf and even if they are not interested in wildlife at any great level, (and find me a gardener that is not) this book may swing them, encourage them to know more about their garden inhabitants, even if it is being a more informed  gardener and being able to identify the enemy; and pinning down exactly who it is who has been nibbling their nasturtiums or picking over the pansies.

3. Mushrooms by John Wright

This isn’t a new book by any means; I’ve had my copy for several years now. I’m not even massively into fungi. I have a general interest and engage in a little bit of hedgerow foraging from time to time, so why did I fork out the £14.99 for this book?

Well the above reasons may account for this under normal circumstances but having said that I already have pretty much every other guide to identifying, eating and cooking British Fungi.

What made me buy this book was that it is not only well informed but it made me laugh! Yep, this is undoubtedly the funniest field guide I’ve ever read, it is so refreshing to find yourself with tears streaming down your face while, trying to concentrate on the finer points of separating..a Yellow Stainer from a Field Mushroom or indeed knowing that it is illegal to pick magic mushrooms, but not if you can’t identify them!

This book is rare; being informative, excellently written with personal passion and is both entertaining and peppered with all manner of identification tips and recipes for when you are 100% happy with your identification skills.

This is No.1 in a series of River Cottage Handbooks and if you are into foraging and enjoying the ultimate connection with nature and the environment they have also published also by John Right a guide to Hedgerows (No.7) and Edible Seashore (No.5) – both presented in his original and inimitable style.

4. Survivors by Richard Fortey. A while ago I had the pleasure of bumping into Richard Fortey while filming the Horseshoe crab episode of ‘Weird Creatures’. These bizarre arthropods are one of nature’s enduring design classics and watching them emerging from the ocean at dusk clunking, grinding to spawn on the beaches of Delaware bay in the United States is one of the most spectacular things any naturalist can witness.

There is also no better place to bump into a palaeontologist who’s life’s work, at the Natural History Museum in London, was in studying the superficially similar and distantly related Trilobites. It was after much discussion and sharing of thoughts and observations on the spectacle unfolding by our feet that Richard mentioned he was researching a new book. Having been a fan of two of his other books (Trilobite and Dry Store Room No.1) I’ve been awaiting with great anticipation for this his latest book to be published.

I can tell you it was well worth the wait, the writing style is in the same ball park of other great science popularists  of today (well written, not dumbed down and immensely readable) and the subject matter is those animals we often hear referred to as ‘living fossils’. Richard uses them as biological muses; looking into their lives for clues as to how the story of life on earth unfolded – the analogy of using these animals as ‘telescopes’ to somehow compress time and see back into the past is a good ‘un and one used within the pages.

Now I must confess I’ve just got my copy and so I haven’t completely absorbed it from cover to cover yet but the Horseshoe crab chapter didn’t disappoint (particularly satisfying for me was a subtle reference to a small film crew on the first page!). I’ve always like evolutionary stories, hence my love of natures oddities and it was this fact that put me on the trail of the Horseshoe crab in the first place and here we have a book full of beguiling beasts with some of the best back stories ever in the history of life on earth (some of which I’ve told televisually) with Tarsiers, Hellbenders, Velvet worms, lungfish and lampreys all covered within its pages.

5. Mammals of the British Isles Volume 4.

This is another big book, complying with the trend in producing high quality, comprehensive and scientifically up-to-date information in a sumptuous and seductive format. This publication by The Mammal Society is very much in line with the standard set by Lynx publications (Handbook to the Birds of the World, Handbook to the Mammals of the world and Threatened Amphibians of the world) it has even gone as far as calling it a handbook (which is incidentally the only grumble I have with it – its a phrase I hate, as unless you’ve got very big hands is totally inaccurate and misleading, bringing to mind the idea that you might have it to hand, where as nothing but an oversized shelf will do).

On publication it has immediately become a standard reference in its field.  It is definitely time to invest in heavy duty fixings and new robust shelves (now there are some ideas for stocking fillers!).

This is not a reading book exactly but it is one hell of an achievement! Even if it is how to turn our relatively paltry mammal fauna (thanks to the last ice age of course) into a huge book of some 799 pages. Expertly done it includes marine mammals and naturalised species which bolster the numbers considerably

A stunning book for those into fluffies in a big way! It is unashamedly a text book but it covers every mammal species found in, on and around the British Isles (including a few that only have a historic presence on our islands) in great detail. For anyone that has an interest whether professional or amateur in our mammal fauna then this the essential book. It is a large tome which despite the ambitious intent is easy to navigate with loads of glossy photographs and easy summery charts that help to ease your way through its neatly fairly formatted pages.

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An Ouzeller on a good day (note: the sun is shining!)

I had been tipped off about this post literally a day before the closing deadline, the timing in this respect was bad, what with the ensuing panic writing of a CV and rapid filling in of job application forms; but on the other hand the timing was rather good. Tired and jaded of the media world, a little fed up with skimming the surface of so many subjects but never having time to immerse myself in them and wanting in my own little way to do something real, something positive something that was more than an ephemeral piece of televisual entertainment. On getting the RSPB job the course of the next two summers was changed. I can now honestly say that Ring ouzels saved my soul and all I had to do in return was to do my bit to try and save them.
I had always loved this bird, every since seeing my first one, the first year I moved to the West Country. The day I remember vividly. I had caught a bus from Exeter to Moretonhampstead and then hitch-hiked into the very centre of the Dartmoor. Having slammed the door of the blue Montego and said a thank you to the only person alive on Dartmoor that day (and who had against all odds stopped and offered a lift to this odd-ball with binoculars) I remember the sound of the spluttering Austin, fading away, and feeling utterly alone as I was left standing at the side of the road, facing nothing more than white cloud. It was behind this veil of moisture that ‘where to watch birds in Devon and Cornwall’ told me ‘was one of the most productive places for watching birds on Dartmoor’ it was, it also helpfully informed me, also ‘the easiest place on Dartmoor for finding ring ouzels’. The only problem was I could not see further than a few metres in front of my nose.
I was alone on the Moor it seemed, no noise, life was muffled by the low cloud and the murk, I took one step off the asphalt onto the spongy grass when I heard the exception to the rule , somewhere not too far in front of me something let forth some sort of a song, a plaintive but strident tri-syllabic note emulating from an unseen syrynx. I didn’t realise it at the time but I had just heard my first ring ouzel. That first day didn’t really reveal the bird to me, I got one brief glimpse of what I’m sure was an ouzel but it could easily have been any other of the Turdus clan, maybe even an adventurous Blackbird (there are a few that nest here).
Since that day I have grown to love this bird. For me the ring ouzel is the true essence of our uplands. It epitomizes our wild places and what’s more it’s a real connoisseurs bird, a condition afforded to it by its habit of breeding in the lofty seats, more often than not with a big sky and a spectacular vista . As a consequence of its high throne and its secretive nature it is a bird rarely just stumbled upon, to experience this bird at its best you need to actively seek it out. Which is was just one reason why the idea of carrying out a productivity study of this bird for the RSPB appealed to me; the opportunity to get a privileged audience with Mr and Mrs Torquatus was irresistible. But superimposed on this ornithological challenge were other more long term and serious challenges.

An Ouzeller on a bad day (It's raining, the birds seem to have vanished and I've left my sandwiches in the car 2 miles away!)

Dartmoor is my home and I’ve come to think of the ring ouzel very much as the spirit of the wild places found here, the clitter slopes and lonely valleys just wouldn’t be the same without this guardian of the tors . But like many ‘birders’, Moorland ramblers and naturalists I’ve also come to miss the birds presence as even in the last twenty years it’s distribution on these southern moors has decreased, it is no longer found in the place I first discovered it over 20 years ago, having vanished rather suddenly a few years back. This sad state of affairs is a reflection of its status throughout its UK range with many breeding populations in decline and others such as Exmoor becoming effectively extinct with birds only seen here as birds destined for more northerly breeding bounce through on passage. But even in its UK stronghold the highlands of Scotland its numbers are on the slide.
It’ exclusivity is also reflected in its tasteful although subtle appearance; at a distance the casual eye may easily mistake it for its close and much more familiar relative the Blackbird. But up close the feathers, each gilded with a delicate pale edge give the bird hidden depths and dimensions It’s a bird of subtle attire, bordering on ecclesiastical, the male in particular with his dark body plumage and his white breast band or gorgette is rather lovely, the less often experienced female being a slightly less contrasting collection of brown tones, with a less clearly marked georgette (although the older the females get the bolder the gorgette and hence they look more and more male, especially at a distance)

A Ring Ouzel with its face-full. Earthworms form an important part of this birds diet and when the spring is a dry one, they can be difficult to find

Not any more it isn't

To sum it all up, I stumbled upon this, the very first page of print in the 1895 edition of D’Urban and Mathews ‘The Birds of Devon’. Turn the yellowing page and on the other side is a water colour of Yes Tor, described in the footnote as ‘Home of the ring Ouzel’ it is a sad thing to report that in 2010 it is no longer, and the big question is, (and what a small focussed group of individuals that call themselves ‘The Ring Ouzel Study Group’ are dedicated to trying to answer) why?

If you want to know any more about this magical migrant or indeed report your sightings or observations then it’s worth checking out the Ring Ouzel Study Group website.

I’ve also had a few enquiries about the ‘camo’ gear I’m wearing in the pictures; It is made by Rivers West this is excellent and very tough stuff, made of a water proof, soft and fleecy material – which is quiet, warm and dry, really it’s a little too warm for summer use (I use it a lot in the winter and it’s fine). Originally intended for the hunting market, it has a place in the  field naturalists wardrobe too.

This article was first part published last spring in Bird Watching magazine but this is just the beginning and in future blogs – I’ll be telling a few of the other stories about my work with this,  most addictive bird.

If you wish to  support the work done by the good folk of the RSPB then why not join in and join up?

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