Thats what I use a sony SR58 camcorder with an 80gig hard drive, I used to do still photography then I tried out my brother in laws camcorder with the tapes & I was hooked I dont reckon I will go back to still photography although I do own a compact camera i dont use it that often.

Joseph Stephen Heaton wrote:

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Thanks for the reply John, last spring I filmed a pair of mute swans mating on westwood flash & as the cob mounted the pen her whole body was practically underwater & soon afterwards the pair were literally walking across the water in their displaying it was fantastic to see such a thing & that was also some fantastic footage
to get...........a while after I had to get out of the way of an angry cob mute swan as I think it had had enough of me sitting on the bank watching them.

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I used to film birds at houghton green flash years ago,until the day i visited Llandudno.and didn't realise the small tapes i used that lasted hours,had got to the end ,had re-winded itself,and i spent the day filming over a full years worth of black necked grebes displaying and every other bird that year without realising,and had no back up.no computers,etc.so i gave up and went back to still photography.
But with the new hard drive camcorders,it may be time for another bash at some point

Thanks for the reply John, last spring I filmed a pair of mute swans mating on westwood flash & as the cob mounted the pen her whole body was practically underwater & soon afterwards the pair were literally walking across the water in their displaying it was fantastic to see such a thing & that was also some fantastic footage
to get...........a while after I had to get out of the way of an angry cob mute swan as I think it had had enough of me sitting on the bank watching them.

Thank you for your interesting reply Bill & thanks for the comments.

Thank you for your interesting reply Peter.

Hi, the breeding biology of Ducks is one of the most advanced in the avian world.Most duck species start copulating during the winter, especially migrant species.The females can store the sperm for several weeks , keeping it viable in a highly adapted organ.In fact most females ducks copulate with several males . As anyone watching a group of Mallards on your local pond will testify, the rather aggresive scrum of males all trying to climb on the back of the female can appear to be both humourous and unpleasant, especially as the drowning of the female in the process is not uncommon.I saw a female drowned in this way just two weeks ago.The female sexual organs store the sperm from the various males but can eject any of it , as it wishes.
Species such as Goldeneye( which has a British breeding population of c200 pairs), get all the pairing up and mating sorted before their journey north.

Hi Joseph,

I read your post with interest. Very well done on capturing what sounds to be some very interesting footage. Birds copulating out of season would appear to be an unusual practice although your sighting jogged my memory and I found in my notes details of a pair of Shovelers seen copulating at Fairburn Ings near Castleford, Yorks on 3rd February 2008. That too involved the male mounting the female, whose head just about stayed above the waterline during the brief event. I certainly don't know enough about the breeding biology of birds (as well as on lots of other birding topics!) but logic might suggest that such activity does have some purpose - presumably to strengthen the pair bond? Again I'm presuming that their bodies and breeding organs are not sufficiently ready at this time of the year to be able to produce fertilised eggs? One would think also that such an activity is also costly in terms of energy to the birds but possibly that the benefits of such activity might outweigh the downsides? Lots of question marks in most post I'm afraid! But sightings such as yours makes us think about and marvel at the complexities of birds lives, some species of which we still know surprisingly little about.

Keep those cameras rolling!

Best wishes,


Bill.


-- Edited by Bill Myerscough on Thursday 20th of January 2011 08:53:47 AM

Joseph Stephen Heaton wrote:

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I am no bird expert and quite rightly I have been corrected on my mistake but as I have just put in a previous post either the male was taking a piggy back ride,trying to drown the female or was in the process of courtship and as this is the very first time I have seen these birds I was very pleased to get such footage.
I am now aware that golden eyes dont breed in the uk as I checked on the rspb site earlier this evening also I dont go to pennington my local patch is Wigan flashes apart from a trip to haigh country park now & again.

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They are cracking birds and well worth filming at this time of year,has the display is fantastic to watch,and not many people film birds,locally that I see,so you could eisily film something thats unique,on the wigan flasheskeep it up
john

-- Edited by JOHN TYMON on Thursday 20th of January 2011 07:56:46 AM

I am no bird expert and quite rightly I have been corrected on my mistake but as I have just put in a previous post either the male was taking a piggy back ride,trying to drown the female or was in the process of courtship and as this is the very first time I have seen these birds I was very pleased to get such footage.
I am now aware that golden eyes dont breed in the uk as I checked on the rspb site earlier this evening also I dont go to pennington my local patch is Wigan flashes apart from a trip to haigh country park now & again.

Well it was either as you say courtship or the male was taking a piggy back ride or trying to drown the female either way he was srtutting his stuff soon after or displaying
and thank you for correcting me.

Hi Joseph, by breeding I assume you mean 'in courtship'. Breeding infers in the act of nesting etc. There is also a very well established thread dedicated to the Wigan Flashes, which of course Pearsons is part of

Joseph Stephen Heaton wrote:

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I filmed a pair of goldeneye breeding on Pearsons this morning at the far end of the flash, I found a great place in which to sit right at the waters edge amongst the trees
I got there just as the sun was rising & thought it would be a nice sunny day but even though the fog did eventually put an end to my filming for the day I managed about 3 hours & got quite a lot of useful footage for my winter Dvd.

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Think you mean displaying,has goldeneye do not breed at the wigan flashes ,or anywhere in the UK apart from a few in northern Scotland, as far as im aware,but they are regularly seen at this time of year with males displaying to packs of females-there were 27 doing this at pennington flash on Sunday in one area.

I filmed a pair of goldeneye breeding on Pearsons this morning at the far end of the flash, I found a great place in which to sit right at the waters edge amongst the trees I got there just as the sun was rising & thought it would be a nice sunny day but even though the fog did eventually put an end to my filming for the day I managed about 3 hours & got quite a lot of useful footage for my winter Dvd.