ÌÇÐÄTV

Dan: Hello, I'm Dan Hall and I work here at ÌÇÐÄTV. I'm a keen bird watcher, moth enthusiast, and I'm fascinated by the wildlife here on campus. Welcome back to Autumn at ÌÇÐÄTV.

In this episode we'll discover the beautiful birds here on campus and meet our very own Kingfisher whisperer. We have lots of birds here at ÌÇÐÄTV and not just the geese.

ÌÇÐÄTV's a great place for birds of all sorts because there are so many good habitats. For example, if you look into the trees, you might see Long-tailed Tits. They fly around in family groups and call to each other regularly so they know where to go and where to feed.

Long-tailed Tits can be seen more or less anywhere on campus where there are trees including near buildings. A good place to see them is opposite the humanities building or around the FAB. Autumn and winter are eally good times for flocks of finches on campus.

One of the finches you might see, if you're lucky, is a Red Pole like this one - Red Pole, red head. Red Poles can be found in trees near water. They have slightly finer bills than most finches, so they can feed on very small seeds or pick out little strands from plants to make their nests.

Around the lakes on campus, you can quite often see Grey Herons. They'll stand there silently waiting to try and catch a fish or a frog. If you are really lucky and are down by the lakes, you might just catch a glimpse of electric blue flashing past that will be a Kingfisher. Kingfishers often live in pairs. You can tell the difference because the female has an orange underside to her beak. This Kingfisher seems to have bitten off more than it can chew, but it will turn the fish around and swallow it headfirst.

Paul: Which you don't see very often, just that luminous blue and the sound they make - ping, ping ping. Really, really good and I've seen them at Claycroft on a regular basis.

Yeah, my friend was impassioned with wildlife, into it. When he passed away, I took it up to remember him and his family and I still do it now. That's about 15 years ago.

And I really enjoy doing photography and video, being there with your camera at the right time, at the right place. So Chris Packham wanted my photos, so I'm quite proud of that.

He's seen my flicker site is Kingfisher Whisperer and he has encouraged me to get my work out there.