Exciting Changes at the Set-up
A gorgeous long-tailed tit - my last picture taken before building the new hide.
The only time photography ever gets me down is when I can’t do photography. And that’s exactly what has been happening over the past couple of months. Work has been taking up a lot of my time, and the weather has been so bad lately that when I have days off, it always seems to have been raining! The header picture of the long-tailed tit was taken in January, and that was actually the last time I got out with the camera. Some of my most depressing days have been when I have been working and the weather has been nice. I get through those days by dreaming about being out in wildlife with my camera. There has been something to look forward to though . . .
Obviously I need to work to fund my photography, and especially my set-up. Whilst I haven’t been doing any photography at the set-up, I have been spending as much time as possible there working on the development of the set-up, which has involved building a hide. I say hide, as I write this is’t basically a shed, as there are no widows in it yet.
It has been hard work getting all of the materials to the location, and it hasn’t been helped by how wet the ground has been. Here in Wiltshire it feels like it has been raining for months! We spent time getting some coats of paint on the panels whist it was in the barn as even though the wood has been treated, I wanted to give it as much protection as possible before it was taken down to the set-up location. Getting the materials to the location was difficult. The distance from the barn to the set-up is roughly 430m, and I decided to use my van to get the aggregates down the main track which leads to the set-up. It saved a lot of time and exertion, but I did get the van stuck on the track whilst driving it back up to the barn. It then required a considerable effort by others to push it up the track! The shed panels and other wood were tied to a hand truck, which usually required three of us to push it down the track in the thick mud.
I know trying to build a shed/hide at this time of year is quite a stupid idea, but by purchasing the shed in winter I saved around £200 on its summer retail price. Also, getting it built now means that it will be ready for spring. Hopefully!
So what is there left to do? Obviously it needs some windows and shelving has to built inside for the gimbals. Weather and work permitting, it could be ready to use in a couple of weeks. But there’s a still a lot to do after the windows and shelving. Guttering has to be connected to a water butt, the walls need to be insulated and skinned and it needs more shelving for bits and bobs and the all-important gas stove and kettle. Then of course, the outside area needs tidying. We have made such a mess of the grass whilst working, it’s pretty much a mud bath around the shed at the moment.
I know that it will all be worth it though. The bird numbers are increasing and just yesterday I was measuring up for the windows and a male siskin came to the feeders multiple times. This was the first time I had seen a siskin at the feeders, and hopefully he’s a resident, rather than a winter migrant. The great spotted woodpeckers and jays continue to be regular visitors, as are goldfinches, long-tailed tits, blue tits, great tits, robins, dunnocks and theres a couple of chaffinches that have recently started putting in appearances.
I am very excited about the future of the set-up!
