00:00So hello my friends, and this afternoon I've decided to come out here onto this massive
00:07meadow which is basically on the lake itself. In the next few days this will start getting
00:19waterlogged and then be under a foot of water or so as the authorities let the water level
00:27rise. And what I wanted to do is see if I can get some footage, maybe a photo or two,
00:36of
00:36the golden jackals. So basically to orientate you, the woods back here and the line of reeds
00:46that you see back there, that's where the jackals rest, that's where they have their
00:53dens, their nests, and that's where they rest during the day. And they come out in the evening
01:01and they cross this meadow here, and on the other side there, you probably won't be able
01:07to make it out because they're quite low on the horizon, are the pelican platforms. And
01:15to the left over there is the riparian forest where all the cormorants, herons, etc, they
01:22nest and breed. And they are not surrounded by water at the moment, so they're a destination
01:28as well for the jackals looking to nab a feed. And from what I understand the cormorants already
01:35have some chicks on their nests.
01:39So basically that's what I'm going to do, I'm going to set the hide up here in the lee
01:43of this bush, hopefully to hide my presence a bit. The wind is to my left, the breeze,
01:53slight breeze, which means my scent will hopefully be being carried away that way and they're going
02:00to be coming from that way. So they won't pick up my scent with any luck because they are
02:06super sensitive creatures. So that's what I'm going to do, I'm going to set up here, give
02:14me a good view over the meadow this side, sunsets in that direction, so I might get a nice sunset
02:23if the clouds allow. And maybe we'll get lucky and get some shots of the jackals. So let me
02:32set all that up and I'll get back to you once I'm in the hide again.
02:38.
02:38.
02:38.
02:38.
03:09So I'm pretty settled in the hide. I have a good view over the meadow in front and the reeds
03:16where I suspect they will come out. So it's just a question of waiting. I am quite early because I
03:25didn't want to risk any kind of disturbance at all. So I mean if I had come a bit later
03:31and they were already out then they would have shot off and that would be the end of it.
03:37So I've come quite early just to make sure. I mean they do come out in daylight in the last
03:50of the daylight so hopefully I will have some light to actually film them with and photograph them with.
04:27That's a pair.
04:32Okay so I'll be back with you hopefully in a while with something interesting in frame. So I'll see you
04:38then.
04:39Okay so I've been in here for about two hours now. The sun has started getting a bit lower at
04:46least and light is turning golden which is nice.
04:50Sight nor sound of them yet but I'm keeping as vigilant as I possibly can in the hope that I
04:57can catch them actually emerging from the reeds or the woods back there.
05:05Because that would be a nice shot to see them coming actually emerging from the reeds out onto the meadow.
05:16I can only imagine though that I'm going to get the briefest of time with them because there's nothing on
05:23the meadow as such.
05:26There's a few spoonbills and herons that are quite a distance away from me that are perched over a water
05:39hole there.
05:41But I've not seen them go for the herons before so I doubt they'll pay them much attention.
05:56So I can't imagine they'll hang around here very long but it would make a nice shot as part of
06:04a sequence to have them emerging out onto the meadow and then crossing.
06:10And then on another occasion I might try and go further along to where their hunting ground might be.
06:22Anyway, I'll get back to you as soon as I see anything.
07:08Now, I'll get back to you as soon as I see anything like that.
08:12Okay, so that was yesterday.
08:17I didn't do a closing piece yesterday evening to camera for reasons I will explain now.
08:25And basically, as you will have just seen in the last little sequence I put together, I
08:33got distracted by, I think it was a juvenile greatest spotted eagle that was being buzzed
08:42by a snake eagle, as well as at one point a buzzard and some crows.
08:52And so I was busy filming that and I was holding on, holding on in the hope that the jackals
09:00would turn up.
09:03And time was passing and it got late by the time the jackals did turn up and I missed them
09:09where they came out onto the meadow because I was distracted with the eagle and filming
09:16a little bit of the moonlight as it rose.
09:21And then I was just so anxious to get back because I'd left the dog for so many hours
09:26at home on his own that I just packed up and left with the idea that I would come back
09:33today,
09:34the next day, and try again.
09:38So the shots of the jackals I did manage to get were very distant, so they were not the
09:46best shots because there was a little bit of heat haze, there was absolutely no light
09:53to speak of at all, the sun had already gone down but there was a little bit of a glow
09:57in
09:58the sky and then it just turned blue and they drifted off into the distance over there.
10:07Over the meadow and I didn't get a shot, the shots that I wanted, so I'm back to try and
10:13get those.
10:14I really do want the shots of them coming out of the reeds behind the trees here and entering
10:23the meadow and the shot of them running across, just loping across the meadow toward their feeding
10:32ground which is the pelicans and the cormorant colony back there.
10:39So that's what I'm here to do this afternoon, I'm a little bit later than I was yesterday
10:46so I'll only have an hour hopefully in the hide before the light turns golden again and
10:52I can hope maybe that they make an earlier appearance, that's what I'm hoping for.
11:00So I'll get all set up and I shall speak to you again from inside the hide.
11:06Okay, so I'm back in the hide, I set it up today probably 50-60 metres further over from where
11:16I was yesterday underneath a tree in the hope that I can get just that little bit closer
11:23to them than I was yesterday.
11:29And hopefully today I won't be distracted as I've just been now by another stalk and actually
11:37pay more attention to where they might appear from.
11:41The thing is with them they just, it's as if they do appear out of nowhere sometimes.
11:47And the thing that I want to do is, those shots were okay I guess.
11:52They're not the best shots by any means, but I really want to be able to tie them in to
11:59a more complete story.
12:01So I want to have them exiting from the reed beds and the woods back there, sort of entering
12:12the meadow, crossing the meadow so that later on next week or the week after I can get some
12:19shots of them actually hunting, if I'm super lucky.
12:25Because you have to be lucky with these creatures.
12:30And that way I can tie it all together and make a more complete story.
12:35So it's important that these shots are quite good.
12:41So anyway, fingers crossed it'll all come together.
12:46We shall see.
12:49So all I have to do is just sit back and wait now and be patient and try and be
12:55a little
12:56bit more alert than I was yesterday.
13:00So I'll catch up with you in a bit.
13:02I'd like someone to explain to me how not to get distracted when you have this beautiful
13:08white stalk shot and so close as well.
13:18Which is kind of reassuring in that he is unaware of my presence.
13:30And there's also a pair of ducks on the little pond just where he's feeding.
13:39So he's walking along grazing and picking up, I don't know, little frogs, bugs, beetles,
13:46whatever he finds, right near the pond.
13:53And the ducks are just over to his right.
14:00I'll get a shot of the duck as well.
14:03And the, if I can focus, the mallards are particularly flighty and sensitive to any human presence.
14:21So the fact that they're unaware of me as well is doubly reassuring.
14:29Okay, back to watching for the jackals.
14:32Okay, so for a good few minutes the stalk was stood to attention.
14:40Looking over at the trees.
14:47He stopped doing what he was doing, foraging.
14:51And he was just paying really close attention to the trees and his surroundings.
14:56And then he just flew off now.
14:59So I'm wondering if he sensed something.
15:06Of course it would be just my luck for them to have gone round and be right behind me.
15:14But he was looking in the direction of the trees.
15:17I think I have, what, ten minutes left of light.
15:31So the light is really, really, really the last of it.
15:36So unless they make an appearance now, I'm not going to get anything again.
15:49Ah, there they are.
15:52There's three of them, I think.
16:00Don't focus.
16:20Just on the edge of the, um, between the reeds and the woods.
16:37I've lost them now.
16:42They went right behind that clump of trees there.
17:04There they are again.
17:07They went right behind that clump of trees there in the trees and over the forest.
17:21They wrapped the wood in the trees.
17:21Not just, they found mildness and I've got them right behind the trees.
17:22There's a contrôle of trees.
17:22There they were indeed catching.
17:22It's very close enough to the tree.
17:24There we go.
17:24Theyéqu rounds down it again.
17:30You should remove them against Ethiopia.
17:30Try to put the olive tua and cover them together.
17:30There's a lightery of fire with the trees.
17:32I gotta讓 them come out.
17:35Going along in a fair trial, just following the line of reeds, in between the reeds and
17:47the trees there.
17:49Okay, he's gone behind a mound again.
17:52Okay, give me an opportunity to change my ISO because it's now super dark again.
17:59I'm going to lose them in a minute, once they turn round and come back this way again.
18:08I can't pan further right unless I stick the camera out of the hide, which I don't particularly
18:16want to do.
18:19So that's three together.
18:44Okay, so they've gone so far to the right that I can't actually pan far enough around.
18:50I was expecting them to come across.
18:54Let's see if there's any...
19:04Any others just left behind?
19:07No, I can't see a little.
19:09All the science literature that I have read about golden jackals say that they are not pack animals.
19:26I'm just going to stick the camera out a little bit further.
19:41Straighten it up.
19:48Okay, I've found them again.
19:57Okay, I've found them again.
20:11That's four now.
20:17So, I don't know what to believe.
20:21Whether it's parents and children, they all look to be fully grown to me.
20:27These ones.
20:33Can I punch any further?
20:37Just slightly further.
20:55Yeah, but they, here at the lake, and also in Greece generally from other people that I've spoken to, that
21:07has observed jackals,
21:08here in Greece, observes them as pack animals, and they're all nuzzling each other, and it's really rather nice.
21:24I just wish they'd come out this way closer to me.
21:45Pause that one.
21:47Okay, they're heading back along the line of reeds.
22:06Okay, I need to move my seats.
22:12It's really hard to focus in this light as well.
22:28It actually looks like he's looking at me, one of them.
22:31I don't think he is.
22:36The one yesterday as well actually looked like he was looking at me, but again, I don't think he was.
22:48The wind picked up as well, just now.
22:55And this thing might be making a bit of noise, so maybe that's what they can hear.
23:01God knows.
23:05They really are quite far away though to be hearing this.
23:19Ah, there's a car behind me.
23:24So that spooked them.
23:27That's what they were looking at.
23:30There's somebody driving behind me along the track.
23:34Probably one of the park wardens or one of the buffalo people.
24:03There's a car behind me.
24:20Okay, so what happened and what happened next after last night's rude interruption?
24:29So basically, it was three guys in a 4x4, ostensibly wildlife photographers, who saw my hide and decided to come
24:44investigate.
24:47And their arrival, just as the jackals had come out and were starting to display some natural behavior, bolted as
25:00soon as the car pulled up behind me.
25:04And that was the end of that.
25:07So I then exited the hide, made my feelings known to them, and they drove off sheepishly.
25:22And that brings on two points, really, that I think are worth raising.
25:28The first is one of ethics, especially in wildlife photography.
25:37And that is, firstly, do not enter areas that are prohibited like those guys did.
25:46Because they had come from where the pelican platforms are located.
25:53So they had obviously been up that track, looking to see what shots they can get and how close they
25:59could get to the pelicans.
26:01So, you know, this is breeding season, and pelicans are very sensitive to human presence and abandon their nests at
26:10the slightest.
26:12So, you know, you have to respect that and just not approach, not in any way, shape or form.
26:24Secondly, if you're in an area, whether you're allowed to be there or not, is don't stray off the tracks.
26:33Because you don't know what you're crushing, you know, under the wheels.
26:38Flora, fauna, whatever it might be, you are being destructive.
26:45So, stick to the tracks.
26:49You know, just because you have a 4x4 that can get you to a lot of places off-road, doesn't
26:57mean that you should.
27:01So, you know, a little bit of common sense and restraint when it comes to going off-road, especially if
27:11you're in a national park or any wildlife area.
27:17And then there's the point of common courtesy.
27:20If you see somebody doing, trying to do some work, you know, photographing whatever in a hide or not even
27:30in a hide, don't disturb them.
27:32And what's the, I mean, there's nothing to be gained from that.
27:37And you can, you don't know what they're focused on, you know, something that you might not be able to
27:43see.
27:44And if you approach, you will, you know, there's a very good possibility that you will disturb whatever it is
27:51that they're either waiting for or in the process of photographing at that moment.
27:59Savvy, get back.
28:01Good boy.
28:01Go on, get back.
28:07So, yeah.
28:12That's, that's about all I have to say on that matter.
28:15Anyway, seeing as I didn't do a proper wrap-up yesterday of the video, I'll do that now.
28:23So thank you again so much for watching and especially if you've lasted this long into the video, as I
28:29think it would probably be a fairly long one.
28:34I really do appreciate all your likes and subscribes and all of that.
28:39So thank you again for that as well.
28:42And this is hopefully just the beginning of several videos that I'll be doing in my efforts to film the
28:51golden jackals here at the lake.
28:55So, yeah, look out for the next one and I shall see you all again very soon, hopefully.
29:02So thanks again and bye for now.
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