Archived & Upcoming Images of the Day
The carrion crow on the ground is being threatened by one coming in from top right. These birds have no sense of artistic composition when it comes to being in-frame.
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Its rained so much in the last week that the ponds are almost full again. This bedraggled robin look really uncomfortable but was see again later complete with it's mate dry and well preened.
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Blossom this year has been fantastic - now it is the turn of the Hawthorn which is just as prolific as the Blackthorn, Apple, plum and Pear.
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Another breakfast of mixed insects for the little-ones in the nest.
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We often see the odd snail on the logs (almost in 'animation' as you flick through reject shots) but on this wet night these 3 beautifully shelled individuals appeared together.
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We have to assume that the fieldmouse (wood mouse) on the left is feeling amorous.
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The delivery flight for the 06:15 breakfast of green caterpillars to a nestful of youngsters we know not where - there are lots of good places to nest.
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A particularly pristine Great Tit for once bang-on the focus plane
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An 'oversized' view over the main pond - you may need to scroll right to see it all. Top Left to Bottom right:- Black poplar just leafing, Lombardy Poplar in leaf, Copper beech, Hawthorn in flower, Horse Chestnut in flower, Willow, Dogwood in flower, Willow & Ash (on island), Yellow Flag Iris (water edges) with moorhen nest hidden in leftmost clump.
Perhaps the fastest and the slowest. It certainly wasn't the snails that leapt up to break the beam.
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We haven't seen 2 Magpies together at this site before. Is the one at the back collecting nesting material?
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More detail of another apple tree's blossom.
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The orchard apples, plum and pear trees are smothered in blossom like we never remember before. Here is an 80yr old apple tree. Note the nestbox bottom right.
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We tend to think of magpies as hungry voracious bullies, but this one was delicately picking up a single grain of corn.
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We don't know whether a pair of Yellowhammer together is good or bad regarding nesting success, but here they are (NOT a montage).
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As new leaves emerge last years are pushed off. Here a leaf glides down as the chaffinch triggered the photo.
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This pair of mallard seem almost 'tame' and swim quietly to the other side of any pond we approach. Bit different to the 'peck your ankles for food' birds at a local park though!
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Excellent year for blossom. This is a cluster on a 80yr old crab apple no longer in its prime but covered in blossom.
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In this pair of fieldmice (wood mice) one seems to be pontificating about the calorific content of the peanuts.
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This site produces endless fieldmouse (wood mouse) portraits - this one is particularly 'cuddly'.
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A regular visitor to our new camera site is a pair of yellowhammer of which this is the female.
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The heron caught this newt and swallowed it in about 30 seconds (not the many minutes an immature heron spent some years back). From another image we identify the newt as the Great Crested, a protected species just as it was last time. Oh dear!
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A heron has started visiting the ponds. Here he is hunting opposite kitchen window. Tomorrow - what he caught.
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Unusual position for the fieldmouse (wood mouse) who is tucking into peanut.
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This robin took off with most of one of last year blackberries. Also seen with insects and various other items.
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Who 'blinks' first. Actually the camera, but he/she moved off while we stood still.
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This is a montage of a pair of Chaffinches that visited the site an hour apart. The female is on the left with a corn grain in her beak.
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All the hedges around us are 'hung with snow' as Housman's poem describes. Photographs don't really do it justice, but here we have tried to capture a patch. The hedge at the top contains just one or two Blackthorn.
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The Carrion crows are nesting again this year but they have chosen a site we can't photograph although it is close to this camera. They routinely carry off large pieces of food, and this one is probably disappointed there is just corn. That eye looking straight at the camera makes us feel almost guilty.
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This Muntjac (horns just visible) wandered about for some minutes in the fading evening light.
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We have a lot of fieldmice (wood mice) at this site which we found already had a mouse hole right under the fence. These also do amazing leaping tricks.
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