Autumn at Cannop Ponds

Cannop Ponds in the Forest of Dean are man-made reservoirs that were designed to send a controlled flow of water to a water-powered wheel at Park End Iron works. They comprise two ponds and were built in 1825 (lower) and 1829 (upper). Today they are a popular tourist destination and a nature site.

 In recent years there was the possibility of the ponds being drained and the land returned to its former existence as a valley of the Cannop Brook. Fortunately this project was dropped and the habitats around the two ponds will be developed to benefit more wildlife. These two photographs were taken recently at the edges of the expanses of water.

photos © T. Boughen     Camera: Nikon Z 5

The mandarins' new colours

During summer after the hatching of eggs and the quick growth of ducklings the mandarin, like all other ducks, moults its feathers. This period is also known as "eclipse". It is most noticeable in the brightly coloured males that become predominantly brown though they can still be distinguished from the females by their distinctive beaks.

click image to enlarge
As autumn approaches a new set of feathers grows and quite quickly the males assume their multi-coloured best. On a recent visit to Cannop Ponds in the Forest of Dean we saw the mandarins by the waters edge, under the overhanging trees. Many birds were perched on the low branches of alders. The second photograph shows a bird standing on a section of submerged branch, its lower body reflected in the water, with real and reflected branches in the background

photos © T. Boughen     Camera: Nikon P900

Preening drake Mandarin

On a late April walk round Cannop Ponds in the Forest of Dean we came across a reduced number of mandarin ducks. This is probably accounted for by the fact that in April and May the ducks are nesting in cavities in trees in the area around the water. Of the remaining ducks all but one were males, and most of these were spending their time preening on branches overhanging the ponds. The biological imperatives that govern behaviour seemed to be at work here - the females doing the important stuff and the males making themselves look the best they can!

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Lumix FZ1000 2

The naturalized mandarin

The mandarin duck is a native of Eastern Asia, mainly China and Japan. It became known in Europe in 1599 through a painting brought to Rome by Japanese envoys. Live birds were introduced to Britain shortly before 1745 when it was known as the "Chinese teal". Drawings of the birds in the garden of Sir Matthew Decker in Surrey were made by the naturalist George Edwards. Thereafter many wealthy landowners tried, often successfully, to establish the bird in their grounds and pockets of mandarins developed across the British Isles. I recently acquired the book, "The Naturalized Animals of the British Isles" (Christoper Lever, Hutchinson, 1977) where the above facts (and many more) can be found. Interestingly the large colony at Cannop Ponds in the Forest of Dean isn't mentioned: perhaps it is of more recent establishment. The photograph shows a striking male mandarin at the Ponds, standing on ice.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Nikon P900

The branch in the pond

In time every tree branch that falls into water loses all its leaves and bark. Where the branch is below the water it goes dark with the water-logging. The part of the branch that remains above the water tends to become weatherd and bleached. This branch has followed that path. The reflection that produces a line of symmetry at the water level appealed to me. However, on the pond bank and through my viewfinder I only appreciated it in three dimensions. When I got it up on my computer screen the form in two dimensions jumped out at - it's a fish swimming left to right. You can even see its mouth!

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Lumix FZ1000 2

Bird photography backgrounds

How does the background of today's bird photograph fit with the idea of two basic backgrounds that I mentioned in the previous post? Well, it does show the habitat of the moorhen, though not very well: water is only a part of what a moorhen needs. However, I haven't posted this photograph because it is an exemplar of that style, but because it is a discomforting, almost semi-abstract, example of that genre. It's the sort of shot I can't not take!

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Lumix FZ1000 2

Mandarin drakes under the branches

The mandarin duck is a perching duck, closely related to the wood duck or Carolina duck. It is an introduced bird in Britain but one that has become an established breeding species to the extent that there are as many or more than in most of the eastern asiatic countries in which it is indigenous. In the Forest of Dean they are common, particularly at Cannop Ponds where the tree-surrounded pools offer an ideal habitat. These birds were enjoying the shelter of the bankside trees. Through the viewfinder the muted colours of the water and branches next to the strong colours of the drakes reminded me of the  compositions of some Japanese art.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Lumix FZ1000 2

Greylag Geese

The greylag goose, a species found across Europe and Asia, is probably the second most common wild goose seen in Britain after the introduced Canada goose. Like the Canadian species the greylag is very tolerant of people and can be found in urban parks as well as in open countryside. It is thought that the greylag was one of the first wild species to be domesticated by man, over 3,000 years ago, and today's domestic geese often interbreed with it. At lease one pair successfully hatched young on Cannop Ponds in the Forest of Dean this year where this very obliging group was photographed.

photos © T. Boughen     Camera: Lumix FZ1000 2

The solitary alligator

In one of the two stretches of water at Cannop Ponds in the Forest of Dean, near the point where the water exits down a spillway, lurks a large alligator. It can usually be seen there, dimly visible through the murk and reflections, if there hasn't been much recent rain. The other day I caught it with its eyes and nose projecting above the surface. You might wonder what an alligator is doing in a stretch of water in England since they are not native to the country. The fact is, it is made of concrete, and is presumably someone's joke. And not a bad one at that.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Nikon P900

Grey wagtail

The white wagtail is grey, the pied wagtail is black and white, the yellow wagtail is yellow and the grey wagtail is yellow too. This confusing state of affairs grew up naturally, over the centuries, as common bird names and names settled on by ornithologists were codified. Thank heavens for the Latin names! This grey wagtail, at Cannop Ponds, Gloucestershire, with its bright yellow body and grey head and back, was flitting around restlessly, its tail constantly moving as if to underline its name. It spent a few slightly calmer moments on a dam-associated wheel and the sunlight allowed a reasonable shutter speed that almost arrested its movement.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Nikon P900

Cormorant wing drying

One of the characteristics of the cormorant (Phalacrocorax carbo) is to perch on a tree, rock, buoy or some other place above water with its wings outspread. The purpose of this is to dry the bird's feathers which become very wet when it dives to catch its principal food, fish. Why, you may wonder do tufted ducks, dabchicks, gannet, terns and other diving birds not adopt this posture too? Apparently the cormorant's feathers are more "wettable" because they have less air trapped in them. This allows them to dive deeper and swim underwater for longer. This young cormorant was enjoying the late November sun that bathed Cannop Ponds in the Forest of Dean, Gloucestershire.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Nikon P900

Water lily

We used to live in a house with a pond that had water lilies. It was at this time that I found them to be good photographic subjects through most of the year, and especially in autumn when the leaves were dying off. Of course, when most people think of this plant they picture the large, beautiful flower, and I wasn't impervious to their attraction as a subject for the camera. Consequently when I came upon this one in Cannop Ponds I took a photograph. What particularly prompted my interest was the muted colours of the reflected sky and the leaves due to the position of the sun.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Sony DSC-RX100

Tree skeleton, Cannop Ponds

The maximising of productivity and an almost obsessive tidiness has resulted in the English landscape having fewer dead trees and consequently less variety of wildlife than a more relaxed attitude would produce. Dead trees that fall on land are quickly cut up to feed wood-burners, or to retain the productive capacity of the land they cover. Those falling into water, particularly water that serves the interests of scenery and wildlife frequently linger longer. This semi-submerged skeleton in Cannop Ponds in the Forest of Dean is slowly losing its bark and makes an interesting subject for the passing photographer.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Sony DSC-RX100

Another mandarin

As recent posts show I've been photographing some wildlife lately in the Forest of Dean. Ducks aren't usually associated with forests, but perching ducks like the mandarin build their nests in trees and frequent woodland ponds. Today's photograph is the third I've posted featuring a drake mandarin duck, and it's of an individual that let me get a little closer than usual so its spectacular colours dominate the shot.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Nikon P900

Mandarin ducks

The mandarin duck (Aix galericulata) was first brought to the Britain from China in the mid-eighteenth century as an ornamental addition to private lakes and ponds. Whether it became more widely distributed by further releases or by escaping from private collections isn't known. However, it fairly quickly found its way to woodland ponds and is now a naturalised species. Of all Britain's introduced birds the drake is widely regarded as the most colourful, with the only challenger being the cock pheasant. I've usually only seen them as singles or couples. However, the Cannop Ponds in the Forest of Dean, Gloucestershire, where I found this pair, supports a population of over 200 birds.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Nikon P900