Archived & Upcoming Images of the Day
The male Muntjac Deer wandered over the rought grass meadow and found green stuff growing in the shelter. He quietly ate in a chomping motion with the green gradually disappearing into the mouth that is larger than it looks. Read these images right to left and notice the open gape in the middle.
(r+mb id@1024).jpg)
Here is a Tawny Owl landing on the post - love those claws!
 1 of 3 (crop)(r+mb id@768).jpg)
Two Robin having a scrap. Could be fighting or checking out each other's defensive capabilities while pairing.
(r+mb id@768).jpg)
A Robin chasing away some other bird we can see, but not identify, as a pair of legs at the top of the frame.
 above(r+mb id@576).jpg)
A lovely portrait of the male Muntjac Deer coming in through the 'back' of the hedge. He had passed through the orchard about 90 minutes earlier probably looking for as yet unconsumed windfall apples.
(r+mb id@768).jpg)
A threatening sunrise heralded the indicated 'bad day'
(r+mb id@768).jpg)
A speck in the sky becomes this magnificent creation.
.jpg)
Grey squirrels get a lots of bad press as 'flea ridden tree rats', but we see ours spending many hours grooming.
.jpg)
This years male Pheasant is this one with the white 'cap', as well as this seemingly oversized tail.
.jpg)
Taken 3 minutes apart, front and rear views of the same male Pheasant
(r+mb id@768).jpg)
Several more Tawny Owl visits reveals 2 different individuals with distinctly different feather colour and patterning.
 1+6+3 of 6 (montage)(r+mb id@1024).jpg)
Several more Tawny Owl visits reveals 2 different individuals with distinctly different feather colour and patterning. This one made a very active 12 minute visit. How about the landing while looking the other way?
 01+07+08 of 10 (montage)(r+mb id@1024).jpg)
A Tawny Owl made a short visit - the first Owl sighting for 4 weeks.
(r+mb id@1024).jpg)
That lean forward on the far right before Tawny Owl flew was aimed at photo site FB5, and by good fortune we got a photo (in one corner of the camera frame) of the bird attacking. At this position it could not have triggered the camera, so we have to assume that the camera was triggered by a fleeing Rodent. Here we have montaged in the Fieldmouse (Wood Mouse) from the previous frame 5 minutes earlier to represent what most likely took place.
(r+mb id@576).jpg)
Near the end of the day, the camera intended primarily for photographing Owl overnight caught the local Buzzard making one of his occasional visits to the centre of our patch.
(r+mb id@1024).jpg)
Near the end of the day, the camera intended primarily for photographing Owl overnight caught the local Buzzard making one of his occasional visits to the centre of our patch.
(r+mb id@1024).jpg)
The local Buzzard took off from a nearby Ash tree but turned back on itself in flight and then made this abrupt change in direction in only about a third of a second. Bird positions are arbitrary here, but the first 6 frames (moving downwards) are contiguous over about 1 second.
(r+mb id@768).jpg)
This female Green Woodpecker spent several minutes hunting over the rough grass between the main pond and the kitchen window. Although they mostly probe ant hills, they are not averse to anything they can find in suitably soft soil.
(r+mb id@768).jpg)
This female Green Woodpecker spent several minutes hunting over the rough grass between the main pond and the kitchen window. Although they mostly probe ant hills, they are not averse to anything they can find in suitably soft soil.
(r+mb id@768).jpg)
This female Green Woodpecker is here just about to take another 'lucky tip' into the soft mud.
(r+mb id@768).jpg)
Here is a lovely view of the red 'crest' neither of us had noticed can be 'raised' to make a prominent ridge.
(r+mb id@576).jpg)
Robin decorating the hedge in some fitful sunshine.
.jpg)
A Robin out before sunrise in a hard frost, looking for something for breakfast.
.jpg)
A high speed attack ... Ouch.
.jpg)
What looks like a thoroughly irritable Grey Squirrel - there may be one of their aggressive hissing calls to go with this. A corvid (some sort of crow) is passing behind.
.jpg)
A Fox looking for breakfast or supper a couple of hours before sunrise.
.jpg)
The various Tits are still doing their best to strip the Willow trees of buds. Here the buds are not yet ready for destruction by this Blue Tit!
.jpg)
A few small groups of Goldfinches preference is Birch seeds.
(r+mb id@576).jpg)
The local 'Buzzard' spent about 15 minutes hunting from the post in the meadow.
As the bird lands notice here the movement blurred tail of the middle image -
each time the bird landed it swung the tail left and right at high speed
presumably to settle the feathers into place.
 21+22+26 of 63 (montage)(r+mb id@1024).jpg)
Here the Buzzard launches, presumably towards some potential prey.
 36-38 of 63 (montage)(r+mb id@768).jpg)
The 'local' Buzzard perched quietly on the post
 30 of 63 (crop)(r+mb id@768).jpg)
A piece of this rotten apple seems to be relished by this Grey squirrel.
.jpg)
A few hours later this young fox has found the now much depleted apple and has decided to eat it now or carry it away. Anyway - both had gone the next frame!
.jpg)
A male Pheasant glowing almost as much as the sunrise behind him.
.jpg)
The second female Pheasant seems to have become a regular in the last few days. Here in a genuine single frame the 'old' and 'new' seem to get on fine together as you would expect.
.jpg)
A Blue Tit pausing in it's 'attack' on the just opening Pussy Willow buds. The desiccated leaves make some interesting shapes.
(r+mb id@768).jpg)
A small group of Redpolls were feeding on the frosty Great Willowherb seed heads outside the living room window. Our record show our only previous sighting was in April 2013. This first bird shows the characteristic pink breast.
(r+mb id@768).jpg)
This Redpoll has no obvious Red Breast. Redpolls come in several varieties: Common, Greater, Lesser, Arctic and Mealy (some of which may be different names for the same variant) and not usefully differentiated in our ID books, so just 'Redpoll' will have to do.
(r+mb id@768).jpg)
A Fox catches a Rodent just 1 minute after the Fieldmice (Wood Mice) were chasing about at the log. It is probably a Mouse but maybe a Vole. Only 9 minutes later a Fieldmouse (Wood Mouse) braved the outside again in search of food.
(r+mb id@768).jpg)
Brrr - a Bank Vole out in a hard frost.
We can barely imagine how a creature this small, even with
wonderful fur, can keep warm at sub-zero temperatures.
.jpg)
A pair of Wagtails frequent the concrete roads around our patch - what seems to be one Pied and one White Wagtail. They are said to interbreed. Wagtails make speedy progress walking over roads, paths, grass, and our sloping slate roof, in search of something to eat.
.jpg)
Here a wagtail has found a squashed insect on the farm road. It looks to us that it is an earwig or similar. But they also search concrete roads where no vehicles go for weeks on end.
) from concrete road 1+6 of 6 (montage)(r+mb id@768).jpg)
The 'local' Buzzard decided on a new perch on the (cringe) 11kv cables - not as usual on a crossbar but on one of the links where the cables change direction. The first few are accurately montaged alternate frames, but then the bird had difficulty balancing on the 'thin' cable at the joiner, and spent about 4 seconds gaining its composure, illustrated here by generating a most unlikely sequence of wire joiners off to the right.
(r+mb id@1024).jpg)
The 'local' Buzzard making a high-speed arrival at the broken Ash tree.
All of the frames are accurately montaged, but after
the first 9 there are gaps in the sequence so that the result is better than a
brown confusion.
(r+mb id@1024).jpg)
A few birds in a flock of about 50 lapwing.
(r+mb id@576).jpg)
The flock of 50 lapwing seems to be a 'loose' affair with groups breaking off to feed. Here about 20 Lapwing landed on the far side of the farm in an unexpectedly straight line. You can just make out the beautiful crests these birds often raise when perched.
(r+mb id@1024).jpg)
We slogged though the mud around the farm perimeter for a better view, but before they came into view they flew back past us.
(r+mb id@1024).jpg)
Over 5 minutes 'our' female pheasant arrives at the feeding site and is allowed a few minutes before the Squirrel decides it wants the place to itself.
(r+mb id@1024).jpg)
A better view of the female Pheasant taking off.
This the natural orientation - we mirrored the montage of the events
to help it make more sense to us Left-to-Right westerners.
(r+mb id@576).jpg)
"These camera boxes are a great place to leap onto your opposition"
.jpg)
A nice portrait of a Dunnock photobombed by this female Blackbird much closer to the camera and out of focus, obviously having a bit of a battle with the worm trying to wrap itself around her beak.
(r+mb id@768).jpg)