Archived & Upcoming Images of the Day
Aaaahhhh - a romantic supper of cherries for this pair of collared doves.
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A first - two foxes in one frame. We don't know how they are related.
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The fluffed-up feathers on this robin show up the structure unusually well.
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Could this fieldmouse (wood mouse) cram any more food into its mouth?
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At least two different foxes are now regularly visiting the camera sites. This is a young fox with wonderful pristine fur.
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A buzzard gliding across the site showing some good detail.
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Tiny Speedwell and Scarlet Pimpernel flowers fortuitously next to each other on another unworkable area of soil.
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The wet weather has made some of the vegetable beds unworkable and they have become wild flower meadows. This one is covered in thistles on which this hover-fly was resting.
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These iridescent beetles really catch the eye. At the time we unknowingly photographed male (bulbous legs) and female 3 minutes apart on the same patch. Get to it!
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A fox photographed itself 3 times in an hour. In this last image it has come back into the plot through a hole in the fence. The many shiny black items are slugs on which it may well be feasting.
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Mid afternoon the parents frantically refurbished an old brood platform ready for the new arrivals, tugging like mad at this dead lily frond with leg braced against the stems. Note the beak marks on the live foliage.
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One of the chicks who has just taken a beakful of wiggly about to be offered some more by Mum or Dad.
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'Our' moorhens have just produced another 7 chicks, with the two parents & 2 juveniles from this years earlier brood feeding them. Never did get all 11 birds in one frame, so here are all the chicks, 1 parent & a juvenile.
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The plot is delightfully full of unidentifiable juvenile brown birds of various sizes! But we are fairly sure this is a juvenile Blackbird.
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For a few seconds a Buzzard turned into the wind and hovered keeping position as impressively as a kestrel. This sequence of 7 images plays in approximately real-time.
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Robins used this patch of hedge to pause with beaks full of food before diving across the path into a dense growth on the other side where the nest must be.
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After a top-up of the chopped bark that keep the site from becoming a sea of mud, 3 fieldmice (wood mice) and a field vole have a feed without any obvious squabbling.
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Another newly 'permanent' resident is the carrion crows. The tree they nested in this year is a transplanted Cupressus Leylandii which is toppling and will have to be felled this autumn.
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They break the nut feeders (including the one featured on 9 July), dig up the bulbs, and kill tree branches. But from a yearly visit they have moved to adults and youngsters around all day, so we will just enjoy them, and buy some better feeders!
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This male Chaffinch is flying off with some morsel from the offered food.
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Adult Great tit takes classic pose for portrait.
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Good comparison of Field Vole and Fieldmouse (Wood Mouse). The fieldmouse (wood mouse) is one we see regularly with a truncated tail and torn ear, but seems otherwise healthy
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This Great tit family of 9 youngsters (9th is round the back) have been introduced to the 'big' peanut feeder. The sparrowhawk is making regular appearances to catch young birds, but none of this family so far.
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We don't usually 'go' for back views of which we get altogether too many, but this collared dove particularly appeals. Think of a Victorian lady with bustle and fantail skirt (but no corset!).
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The impression is of a who-gives-way confrontation. Probably a moment later the mouse walked over the slug.
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We just love the curvacious beak of the yellowhammer.
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A lot of people don't like crows, but they are not (yet?) a problem here. You have to admire their cheek.
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As the rains continue we have here 4 fieldmice (wood mice) (one is behind the mouse at the top) retreat to the only dry bits.
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Another rain storm floods our little site. The fieldmouse (wood mouse) in the air has a paw between us and the nearest mouse,so we wish we had another photo 1 second later as it landed in the puddle!
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Try to make up your own non-anthropomorphic caption. If you can think of a good one do email it to us!
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Comparing images for 2003-2007 years has shown us that the Pink form of wild rose has first flowered 2 to 3 weeks later than the white form each year. We don't know whether this is local or more general. Even the Woodland trust 'first flower' records treat all 'dog rose' as equivalent and match our 'white rose' timings. Much less perfume from the pinks than the whites.
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