00:00So hello my friends I hope you're all doing well. Today is a beautiful day after at least a week,
00:09ten days of just cloud, wind, rain and miserable weather.
00:15So I'm heading up the mountain basically to do some prep work for some filming I'd like to do in
00:23photography later on in the year.
00:26Last year, halfway through the breeding season, back in June I think it was, I discovered a plaque stalk nest
00:35up the mountain.
00:37And the chicks were already pretty well developed. So I want to go up now and see if I can
00:47find a better vantage point than I was able to back in the summer.
00:53Because I didn't want to create too much disturbance. So I just found the first point that I could, which
01:03was quite low down, and didn't have a good view into the nest.
01:08So I want to see if I can find a better location from which to shoot. And as well as
01:17a route to it and from it, it will not cause any disturbance of the stalks.
01:25And this time hopefully I will be able to get a more complete sequence, catching them early on in the
01:34season when they hopefully return to the same nest.
01:39And do their courtship behaviour. As well as later on once they produce their eggs. The eggs hatch and all
01:54the feeding behaviour of the little ones.
01:57And then, if luck shines upon me, maybe even the fledging we shall see.
02:07Anyway, that's the plant for today. Just to go up and check the roots. Check some sites. Maybe plant a
02:16trail cam or two. If there's any interesting spots.
02:24But yeah, I shall catch up with you at the top.
02:29There's a sites where there are all that I have.
02:30And look all the inferred – meet my friend and friend.
02:47There are lots of people who have 1400 permis of laying water cellberg bodies.
02:48Not going up with you but you may have a crossover map.
02:50Famous friends won the amount of meat焼 eight per amen.
02:51Thank you so much, thank you.
03:59The nest is still there.
04:00It still looks intact, although a little bit ragged after the winter.
04:07It also looks a lot smaller than it did back in the summer, with all the foliage and with
04:13the stalks in it.
04:16Okay, so what I'm going to do now is give you a quick look and show you the nest.
04:25Oh, so hopefully you can make it out.
04:31It is right up there in the crook of the tree.
04:48And what I'm going to do is see if I can walk up that embankment over there.
04:53There's a steep embankment on that side.
04:56And see if I can find a spot up there that can see down into the nest, giving me a
05:07better
05:07vantage point.
05:08And then I want to investigate over the brow of this embankment here on the other side
05:14to see if I can reach it from the other side.
05:18So I'm not coming up this path and disturbing the birds when it's nesting time.
05:26So, right, I shall go do that.
05:32Fantastic location.
05:34Hopefully, I mean the tracks, the car tracks, whatever they were, either hunters or loggers,
05:41they go up further past the nest.
05:43So hopefully they won't be using that again.
05:47This year the hunters had a free pass from the ministry to basically come up here and kill
05:53all the wild boar that they could because we had an outbreak of African swine flu.
06:01So they were out of control, going everywhere.
06:06So I'm hoping that's what it is and that now that hunting season is over they won't be back
06:10up here and that with the spring and the summer all this will close in again just like it was
06:15last year with lots of growth and foliage and what have you.
06:20And they will, the stalks will be left in peace.
06:24Okay, so let me go find, scramble up the other side there, see if I can find a route up
06:30and
06:31find a better vantage point.
07:05K
07:06So
07:17K
07:19K
07:21K
07:26K
07:27K
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07:57Okay, so it looks like I found a good spot.
08:01I've got a clear line through the branches, I just hope that it doesn't overgrow too much
08:09in the summer with leaves and what have you and block the view.
08:18So I can show you, I'll try and zoom in on it, so it's through the branches here.
08:32That's about as far as I can zoom in and it's just there is the nest and I've got a
08:39pretty
08:40clear sight all the way through to it from this position.
08:49I'd love to actually launch the drone and fly it through the trees here, I haven't
08:53used it in such a long time though, I'm not so sure about my flying skills, plus launching
08:58it off this embankment, which is not flat, I haven't got a flat spot, would be a bit risky.
09:05But it would be a cool shot to fly straight through the branches to the nest and show
09:09you the route through to the nest.
09:13Yeah, so that's cool, I've got a spot now with really good view into the nest.
09:21All I need to do is go up the top here and over the back and see if I can
09:26find a route
09:27from and to this spot so that I don't have to come up the pathway and disturb the birds
09:34once they're on the nest.
09:36Okay, so I'll go do that and maybe stop somewhere and have a cup of tea and a sandwich for
09:47lunch
09:49before I carry on.
09:59Okay, so I made it to the top of the embankment, which is quite a steep climb in the end.
10:09And I came out actually onto an animal trail.
10:14So, I'm going to go back in a second and put some trail cams up there, one facing each
10:21way down the trail, because it's quite a well-worn trail, just to see what comes up I suspect.
10:27It's mostly deer, but you never know what you might get.
10:33If we're really lucky you might get some wolf, jackal, martins, wild boar, who knows.
10:41So I'll put the two trail cams there and come back in a week or two to check on them
10:46and
10:46see what's been down here, and see if it's worth even for putting the camera trap there.
10:56So that position in the end is really nice, I've got a clear view, I'm pretty much level
11:01with the nest, I can't quite see down into it, but I think being level will give me some
11:08nice shots come the summer, hopefully.
11:11Fingers crossed, they come back, they're able to renovate the nest, and they have a successful
11:19breeding year.
11:20Unless, of course, some other bird hijacks the nest and takes it over between now and
11:29them returning.
11:31We shall see.
11:32Okay, so that's the trail cams put in place.
11:36I'll be back in a few days, a week or so, to check on them.
11:41I've established a route, or a position I should say, I'm yet to establish the route to it,
11:48to film the black storks.
11:52Sorry there's not been any fresh wildlife filming or photography in this one per se,
11:58but I wanted to share with you the sort of preparation that goes into setting up filming
12:03or photographing a story down the line, and doing the groundwork really helps set that
12:10up and give you better access, better images for it.
12:14So thank you so much for watching, I hope you've enjoyed Such As It Is, and I shall catch
12:19up with you again soon, bye to now.
12:26Thank you so much for watching.
12:29Bye, bye.
12:31Bye.
12:38Bye.
12:40Bye.
12:42Bye.
12:43Bye.
12:44Bye.
12:48Bye.
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