A gift from Dad at Kent Falconry Centre

 

Hello everyone and sincere apologies for the lack of blog posts over the last few weeks, Benno is working his socks off every day, and we are currently adjusting to a new academic year of home education, so life has been pretty hectic, and this year seems to be disappearing at an alarming rate!

Yesterday, however, we were able to slow down and catch our breath when Evelyn and I got to do something really very special…

My dad never missed any of his grandchildren’s birthdays, and I have to say that it’s been tough this year, knowing that he’s not going to walk down the path, usually unannounced, card and present in hand, on mine and my children’s birthdays. The first of these sad days was just a week after he had died, when my eldest turned 18 – that was a bittersweet day.

Dad and my eldest on his second birthday

Anyway, to keep up tradition and to very much keep my dad’s memory alive for my children, this year I have got them each a birthday present from their “Grandad Eagle”, and Evelyn’s choice was something I think he would have really appreciated - a whole morning with beautiful birds of prey at the Kent Falconry Centre.

We were supposed to attend last week, but as the weather was so awful our session was rescheduled, and I am so glad that it was. We arrived at the stunning Belmont House and Gardens in Faversham just before our session. The skies were blue; the sun was shining and there was a gentle south westerly breeze.

 As we parked the car two red kites circled overhead and the sky was alive with buzzards and kestrels, so it appeared to be a good day for birds of prey.

 

Red Kites over the carpark

We were met in the carpark by Joe, and his long-legged Buzzard, Rufus, whose job it was to greet us and escort us down to the space where the other birds were waiting.

And all I can really say is, WOW!

 We spent the morning in the company of some beautiful birds of prey and Joe and Gemma, who run the business, and who are deeply knowledgeable about every bird that they own.

Evelyn wore the falconry glove and was able to hold and feed an array of different birds of prey, whilst I listened very carefully to all the details of each one, making careful notes for this blog, and taking photographs of each of the beautiful (and sometimes very funny) birds.

Evelyn started with a very sweet Burrowing Owl, which is native to North and South America, and as its name suggests, it lives in burrows underground. We watched Duke the Burrowing owl go through a little tunnel, and we listened to his squawks for more food! He was very cute!

 

Duke, the Burrowing Owl

Next things went up a few gears when we met Albert….

Albert is a Straited Caracara, a native bird of the Falkland Islands. As a species the Straited Caracara has been listed as Near Threatened and is therefore protected.

 

Straited Caracara 

Albert was extremely clever, if a bit unruly! He was very motivated by food and would fly up onto Evelyn’s glove for a snack and then fly off in search of more snacks. As an extremely intelligent bird, Albert was also able to see and differentiate between different coloured cones. He has learned that food is always under orange cones, and so he wandered between various coloured cones, tipping over the orange ones to find his food. It was incredible.

 

I hope he never lands in roadworks, he would cause some issues!

After the chaos of Albert, we needed some calm time, and Bear was just the owl for the job! Bear was beautiful and had a lovely time with Evelyn, eating from her hand and pecking at her glove, which we were informed was a sign of affection! I think Evelyn was grateful for the glove.

 

Bear, an African Spotted Eagle Owl

After Bear we had a little sit down to watch Inca the Red Backed Hawk soar above our heads with the other local birds of prey who were flying over. Red Backed Hawks are native to the Andes and Inca was loving the breeze that was blowing up from the valley, lifting her higher into the sky.

 

When Inca returned, Eva the Harris Hawk was brought out to see us, and she escorted us on a beautiful walk around the country estate. What a treat that was. She would fly off into different trees and then fly back to Evelyn’s glove for a snack, before taking off once more. Her colours blended beautifully with the autumn leaves. I could have watched her for hours. Evelyn informed me that she was one of the heavier birds, especially when she wanted to stay on the glove as Evelyn kept walking! I don’t think Evelyn minded though, what a special thing to be able to go for a walk with a Harris Hawk on your arm.

 

Eva was just stunning

For the last part of this incredible experience, we met Lenny the Lanner Falcon. Lenny took himself on a lengthy flight around the area, surveilling the grounds and the skies, before flying in at lightening speeds to try to catch his dinner which was on the end of a lure. He darted between us before returning up into the sky and coming back for another go. It was spectacular, as was the whole experience. Lenny eventually landed and had his lunch, and we went back home for our lunch too.

Lenny with Joe

I would like to say a massive thank you to Joe and Gemma and all the birds for such a brilliant experience, and for making Evelyn’s present from her “Grandad Eagle” so special. We will be going back again in 2027 and taking my mum and her camera, so keep your eyes peeled for that.

 

Sarah and Evelyn

 

 

Perch o'clock.

Perch are hands down my favourite species to fish for. I don’t mind if it’s lure fishing, dropshotting, live-baiting or static fishing for them, be that on the float or at range with the ledger tactics. This time of year is when I really start to focus on them, hoping to find that elusive 4lb fish that’s so far eluded me. My current pb is 3lb 14oz caught from our local river. I will never forget that day, my dad drove all the way over from Ramsgate just to see the fish and take a couple of photos, being able to share that moment with him means more to me now than catching the fish ever did.

A Perch and a moment I will never forget.

I am in the fortunate situation where I have got multiple waters available to me which could contain my target fish, the syndicate has apparently never produced a genuine 4, so it would have to be a lake record to come from there, but considering that it’s only me and my good friend Andy who fish for them in 40odd acres, there’s every possibility that one of us will have one, Andy has taken perch to 3:14 and I have had them to 3:11, so we’re on the right tracks. We are limited by the syndicate rules because we aren’t allowed to use live-baits, but that just means we have to think and adapt our tactics, which is what fishing should be about. Solving the puzzle which is put in front of you. 

My syndicate PB at 3:11.

Canterbury and district have a different set of rules, we are allowed to use live baits to fish for the perch, assuming that we have caught them from the same water in which we are going to to use them in and they’re released if not used. It’s well documented as far back as Isaac Walton and beyond that live baits are by far the best way to catch big perch. That being said, it’s not always easy to catch small enough baits to use for the perch. That’s been the biggest issue so far in fact, I have come up with a plan though, so hopefully won’t be a problem for long! 

3lb 2oz of CADAA magnificence.

I’ve only managed a few trips out so far but have already managed to land a fish of 2lb 2oz on a spinner, as well as a 1lb 10oz fish on a live bait. We’ve also accidentally discovered that dropshotting is a killer tactic for catching Rudd, so that will no doubt turn into a future project. 

2lb 2oz 

Rudd on the dropshot, who'd 'ave thought!

Hopefully theres a 4lber with my name on it somewhere this season, but if there isn't, I'll have to get better at catching them and try again next season!

Tight lines,

Benno.

Facing my Fear

 

As the nights start drawing in and the seasons shift once more, my house seems to become the local Air B&B for many uninvited but (mostly) welcome guests. 

Over the 17 years I’ve lived here, a whole menagerie of creatures have chosen to call my house their home for the colder months. We have had shrews in our shoes, a pheasant called Brian in the bathroom, endless mice, a few rats in the roof and a partridge on the sofa… 

But there is one creature that I have had to work very hard to learn to live along side, and it’s probably one of the smallest of them all… or sometimes not, in this 1700’s cottage! 

They lurk in dark corners, I find them in the washing basket, in the bathroom, on the blooming stairs in the middle of the night, and once, I even found one in my bed… I am of course talking about our 8-legged arachnid friends, spiders! 

Now you might be wondering how on earth Dylan’s daughter is scared of anything, let alone something so small as a spider. I grew up with moths in the fridge (waiting for an ID), fish in a bath in the shed, pigeons in my bedroom and even snakes in the caravan we went on holiday in, and to tell you the truth, I don’t know why I am scared of spiders.

My dad would call me a “silly arse,” I’m sure, but I have noted that he rarely interacted with these creatures either!

I know that I am not alone in my fear of spiders, it’s estimated that around 6% of the population have severe arachnophobia, and there is some argument for this irrational fear being an evolutionary phenomenon. However, there is no proof that this is the case.

It’s obviously a question that has been puzzling other minds as well because in November 2021 a team of zoology researchers, led by Daniel Frynter at Charles University, Prague, carried out a study on why people seemed to have such a strong fear of spiders.

Their hypothesis was that the fear was indeed evolutionary, but what our brains were actually fearful of was a relative on the spider, which had similar traits but was much more deadly to people -  the scorpion. The researchers believed that our brains have learned to over generalise the shape, and movement of spiders and scorpions and register them both as the same “dangerous” animal.

That would make sense as scorpions are estimated to be responsible for around 2,600 human deaths every year… a fact I never thought I would need to know! Spiders on the other hand, rarely cause the death of people anywhere in the world… although I still don’t fancy spending time with venomous spiders!

They studied the reaction and disgust levels of over 300 participants, towards 62 different types of arthropods, (including spiders, scorpions, cockroaches and more) and they found that

“Spiders, scorpions, and other arachnids scored the highest in fear and disgust, while beetles and crabs scored the highest in beauty.”

You can read the research report here: Emotions triggered by live arthropods shed light on spider phobia November 2021

They also found that the bigger the bug, the more fear it seemed to elicit in people. I can verify that bigger spiders definitely cause me more distress!

The conclusion of the study was this:

“Based on these results, we hypothesize that the fear of spiders might be triggered by a generalized fear of chelicerates, with scorpions being the original stimulus that signals danger.” 

I am aware that I have gone off at a tangent here… I do that often!

Anyway, over the past couple of years I have been doing my best to overcome my own fear of spiders, and I very bravely joined a Facebook group called the British Spider Identification Group, which has changed the way I look at spiders forever. Here are some photos of a few of these incredible creatures that I have taken during this time.

Flower Crab Spider in my garden

Nursery Web Spider

European Garden Spider

Nuctena Umbratica (Walnut Orb- Weaver)  The same as the first image in this post

Tarantula at the zoo, not in my house! But I would not have been happy to take this photo before I started trying to overcome my fear. 

To start with the images of spiders would make me jump every time they appeared on my screen, but over time I have developed an excitement every time I see an image of a spider that I haven’t seen before. (Maybe its middle age?!)

Thanks to the spider group I’ve learned so much and I am so grateful for their knowledge and kindness and their sheer love of all thing’s arachnid.

Here are some fascinating things I’ve learned about spiders whilst trying to overcome my fear.

• The position of the eyes on a spider’s face varies between families of spider and can be used to identify the genus of spider. Not all spiders have 8 eyes, some have 6, 4 or 2 eyes.

• Despite having all those eyes, many web dwelling spiders can’t see very well but can see light and dark. They like to be in the dark and that’s why they sometimes run towards us instead of away, because they think we are a big shadow! Hunting spiders, like jumping spiders and wolf spiders have much sharper vision.

• Male spiders have their reproductive organs (pedipalps) on their face!! A fact I find absolutely fascinating. 

• We have over 650 species of spider in the UK. 

• If a spider is dehydrated you can see it in their abdomen, it becomes smaller, wrinkled or deflated. A cotton bud soaked in water and taped to the wall near the spider often encourages them to drink. 

• Because spiders molt their exoskeleton so that they can grow, they can also grow back missing legs! 

I hope that this blog post has piqued your interest in these 8-legged fascinating animals and not traumatised too many of you! 

I am still not 100% cured of my fear and I still couldn’t have a spider on me and remain calm but am I now able to see a beauty and fascinating in these tiny creatures. I can now pick them up in a glass and look closely at them before releasing them in the garden shed and I am quite proud of that.

 

Giant House Spider - My latest catch in my house!

PS: I’ve just realised that whilst I have been typing this post a spider has been on the ceiling right above my head, probably making sure that I don’t spread any more untruths about spiders!

 

Long-Bodied Cellar Spider keeping and eye on me!

 

 

Bugs, Bats and Big Tench

I am essentially, deep down, still the same little boy who couldn't get to sleep if I knew my dad was going to take me fishing tomorrow, the same little boy who woke up hours before the alarm was meant to sound and then couldn't get back to sleep because I was too excited about a day out with my old man. This is why I was awake at 02:30 on Sunday morning and sat back with three rods in the water by 4am. This did however give me the opportunity to play with dad's bat detector. I know nothing about bats but it was great fun listening to them and trying to follow them across the lake. 

Bats!

It was unusually busy this weekend along my favoured bank which meant that I had to fish a new area of the lake, I was in one of the deeper swims, which it turns out, is absolutely full of 1lb eels. I genuinely lost count of how many of them were caught, I'll be honest, they started to give me the hump once I'd re-rigged the rods for the umpteenth time because they'd twisted the rigs into clock springs. 

It wasn't all eels though, because my swim dropped off into 12ft of water right under my feet, I was able to play with the centrepin and float rod in the margin, I still caught a load of eels on it, but it also turned up a couple of tench and my first ever carp from the venue, albeit possibly the lake record for the smallest carp ever caught from there. 

Lucky

How that little carp has survived in there is a miracle, the sheer amount of cormorants, grebes, kingfishers, perch, eels and pike that are trying to eat it every day must stack the odds against it monumentally. if it survives to see adulthood, it needs to be called "Lucky".

Possibly the biggest tench I've managed this season at 7lb 8oz

I’ve started taking dad’s camera fishing with me now, teamed up with the 100-400 zoom lens which he used for most of his wildlife photography. I don’t understand the settings on the camera properly yet, but thankfully my mum is always on hand for some advice. The time flies by when you’re chasing dragon and damselflies around trying to catch them perched in the sunlight for long enough to sort the focus out and take a picture. I’m not sure of the id of these, there were many other species buzzing around with them, they just wouldn’t pose long enough for a picture!  

Lessons learned from this weeks adventure, I certainly wont be fishing worms in the deep water again. Those tiny eels are enough to drive a person mad. I shall return for another crack in a different swim this weekend. 

Tight lines,

Benno.

August Moths

As well as adventures down by the river, photographing beavers, August has also seen Evelyn and I turning the moth trap on to see what we could find in the garden.

I was really surprised at the different moths that were in the trap, just a few weeks after the last time.

Again, I will reiterate that my knowledge of moths is not a patch on my dad’s, but the more I empty the trap, the more starts to come back to me! If I have identified them wrongly, please do let me know.

Here are some photos of some of the beautiful moths we caught this time.

Burnished Brass

Poplar Hawk-Moth

Spectacle Moth

Orange Swift on my shoe!

And this is my best effort of a full list of what we caught.

Common Wainscot	20
Poplar Hawk-Moth	2
Emerald Moth	1
Burnished Brass Moth	1
European Corn Borer	1
Clay Triple Lines	1
Common Purple and Gold	1
Spectacle Moth	3
Willow Beauty	1
Heart and Dart Moth	4
Setaceous Hebrew Character	1
Mother of Pearl Moth	5
Owlet moth? (I think)	1
Dark Spectacle Moth	1
Common Quaker Moth	1
Common Rustic Moth	2
Silver Y	1
Orange Swift	1
Common Carpet Moth	1

As well as night flying moths, we have also had an influx of hummingbird hawk moths in the garden, and Evelyn has rescued a couple of them from her poly tunnel, where she grows all of her tomatoes.

She seems to have some sort of magic touch,  because after very gently catching them in her hands she lifts her top hand off, and instead of flying away, more than one hummingbird hawk moth and several butterflies have just sat in her hands for a rest, before fluttering away! I’ve never seen that happen before, but she is very pleased with herself.

Hummingbird Hawk Moth

And away!

Now the weather is slightly cooler, we are looking forward to turning on the trap once more to see what we can find in September. We will keep you posted.

No moths were harmed in the creation of this blog post! 

Messing about by the river

With the exceptionally hot weather of late, getting outside with the children during daylight hours has felt somewhat of an impossibility, none of us cope well in the heat! So, it was a welcome relief to be able to join our mum, (Julie), and Benno (in his air-conditioned van) last Thursday evening, to sit on the cool banks of the River Stour and see a creature that I have never seen in the wild before...

The main reason for this trip really relates back to my dad, as all of these escapades seem to in some way or another.

As you all know if you have been following this blog for a while, Dylan (my dad) was a really good wildlife photographer, and he took some incredible images of the birds and animals that he found on his wanders through the wild. Here are some examples of how good he was with a camera.

A few weeks before we discovered he was very unwell, he had taken it upon himself to drive all the way to Burgess Hill to buy himself an enormous Cannon EF 600mm 1:4L IS USM lens, as a 70th birthday/ Christmas present. It is almost the same size as me! He always intended to take it out when he was feeling better, but sadly that never happened.

In the last few weeks of his life, when Benno and I said that we would like to continue with this blog, dad was really keen for us to learn to use his camera with the lens and take it out to do some wildlife photography. So, that’s exactly what we did. 

On a very warm summers evening, the three of us drove to a location along the River Stour, I can’t tell you where it is, not because it’s top secret, but because I have no sense of direction! Benno drove, I looked out of the window.

Thankfully our mum, is also a brilliant photographer, so, after we had carried all of the equipment to the riverbank, she was able to show Ben how to set the camera up and use it.

I don’t think that there is much better subject matter to photograph on this river than beavers in the wild. I had never seen one in the wild and I have to say that I was not disappointed, they came so close to us, I was able to film them with my phone. They seemed completely unfazed that three humans and a giant camera lens were staring right at them.

Here are some of the first images that Benno was able to take with dad’s lens. I’m sure dad would have been proud of our efforts and would have probably laughed at Benno carting a lens and a giant tripod up and down the banks of the river! I definitely giggled more than once.

There will be plenty more photos taken with that lens, I’m sure. It was a really special way to spend an evening and to remember dad. I wonder where we will go next…