Archived & Upcoming Images of the Day
An argumentative 'Rabble of Rooks'.
Groups of Rooks are 'properly' called Building,
Rookery, Parliament or
Clamour.
Whatever you call it, it is Black and noisy.
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Gangway!
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Our iridescent necked female pheasant lit so as to colour her throat, and show how the feathers are brown when lit/viewed at different angles.
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Mother Muntjac Deer having a midnight snack on a windfall apple - something we see daily on Trail cams. We adore the tiny hooves - all over the site we find 4cm deep pits in the endless wet clay where the little hooves have sunk about the amount you see wet on her left front and right rear legs.
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We have several partial images of the female Muntjac deer at this site, but this one nicely illustrates the crossed over legs tangles they manage. Perhaps Walt Disney's 'Bambi' doesn't exaggerate that much.
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A glimpse of the Muntjac deer fawn behind the site. We don't know what triggered the automatic camera - possibly mother closer but out of frame.
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A Great Tit swerves in to land, quietly watched by a female Chaffinch at the back.
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A flock of about 15 Fieldfare arrived in this tree, but as we walked along the path all but 2 birds disappeared. The two remaining were Redwing, a generally less nervous bird than fieldfares. This one was on a twig barely strong enough, and the wind was moving the bird up and down by about the birds height every second or two. It didn't look comfortable, and soon moved to a sturdier twig obscured from us. 2 in 15 fits our about typically 10% of Redwing in a Fieldfare flock.
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We don't often see voles at the moment, and seeing them eating from their paws is even less usual. The animal seems to bring the back feet forward and use the tail to make a tripod, freeing the front paws without the upright posture you see in mice.
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This female pheasant seems to come off best on encounters with Grey squirrels. The re-appearance of the female pheasants prompted attacks by the grey squirrels, but this pheasant at least seems able to defend herself.
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2 minutes later it is the pheasant that has control of the site.
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Here we see how the pheasant's uses her claws in defensive mode.
4 minutes later she was alone at the site. Since these encounters
Grey Squirrels stay in the background until the pheasant leaves.
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Looks rather tasty even to us (the fruit, not the slug)!
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Mouth open in anticipation?
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Shall I lick you now, or later?
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This seems to be this years 'male pheasant' paying a visit just after dawn.
This image shows the whole camera frame at this
automatic camera site.
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The Grey Squirrels need both 'Food and Board'
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The Grey Squirrels need both 'Food and Board (well bedding anyway)'
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Grab everything you can manage and take it away before something else tries to grab it - 3 carrot tops for this Grey Squirrel!
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Our first sighting of a female pheasant at the high-resolution photo sites, and we see a feature we have not recorded before - iridescent blue feathers on the neck.
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A better view of the iridescent blue feathers on the neck as a detail from the above. A different angled photo days later at another site shows the same effect on what looks like the same individual.
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This male Chaffinch about to enjoy what looks like a Sunflower kernel
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A male chaffinch flies over the site, nicely sharp.
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An elegant Bluetit hanging from the edge of the stone
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A surprise - a Wood Pigeon threatening a Magpie?
We are sure Magpies take Pigeon eggs in season, but wild pigeons
are not obviously brave souls.
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Our female Muntjac deer providing a really good view of her head.
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The windfall apples continue to fuel mother Muntjac at this covert IR lit site
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Our mother Muntjac made her first visit to a high resolution photo site for this rather nice portrait just before dawn. This is a best of several images so she is not excessively disturbed by the camera, but we have not seen her fawn at these sites.
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The covert IR cameras caught several images of Mother and Fawn of which we like this one the most.
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The mice mostly appear at night, scouring the area of the remaining food (and finding it caught in cracks). This one has a corn grain by it's right front paw.
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This female Muntjac Deer has been seen with her fawn, and she is undoubtedly hungry while producing milk. Mother deer just LOVES our windfall apples, and now we have gathered some at this photo site seems to be eating several a day. This montage was probably taken over about 6 seconds (the camera is variable over its still frame rate).
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4 hours later after dark, another apple goes 'down the hatch', as did another before the dawn. We do hope the fawn likes apple flavoured milk!
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2 Grey squirrels were feeding peacefully at the site, and this one seems to find it's apple peeling a delight!
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"This stone is mine"
Meanwhile, well out of this crop on the left, a Tit nipped
in unseen to grab a few seeds while the Chaffinch was distracted!
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Half an hour later, the chaffinch had gone and a Great Tit found this corn grain - a decent reward for turning up at the right time!
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We don't see much of the Bramblings in the Woodland area this is the first sighting at the tree-stump. Judging from encounters elsewhere the Chaffinch on the left will be an even match.
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This black beaked Blackbird eating a bit of apple obviously retains the yellow interior of his beak that normally shows outside. We think the black coating may be a camouflage adaptation - the yellow beak is what we often spot first on the 'normal' males.
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This robin has landed just after the stone top was restocked with food, and the bird looks like it can't wait to get started.
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One of many Bluetits eating the buds from one of two Viburnum Birkwoodii at the back of the pond that flower in December and brighten an otherwise dull time of year. Of course the birds eating the buds is itself attractive, but it does reduce the floral display!
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We just LOVE Grey wagtails!
Enjoy the bird, it's shadow, and the lichen on the slates.
All Wagtails wag their tales (doh) but Grey wagtails just never seem to stop.
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We haven't noticed a Brambling - male Chaffinch encounter before. They are similar size and with similar claws and beaks, so we guess the Bramblings put up a good defence when provoked.
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The Great Tits had a good breeding season.
(We are sure the Sparrowhawk will be pleased as well)
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