Archived & Upcoming Images of the Day
A bit of Courtship feeding high up in the Black Poplar tree. Males feed the females to demonstrate that they will be able to provide for the youngsters, and of course help her make 'his' eggs.
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One of the many pairs of Rook flew together to land on the 11kV cables, one carrying a large clump of some sort of soft vegetation intended for nest lining. But the lump is so big the jerk of landing shook half it free and it dropped to the ground. The remainder got taken off to the nest, but from our vantage point outside our patch, we never saw which nest it was.
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The abnormally warm patch of late winter weather has coaxed several ground-level wild flowers into their first showing of the year
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The abnormally warm patch of late winter weather has coaxed several ground-level wild flowers into their first showing of the year
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The abnormally warm patch of late winter weather has coaxed several ground-level wild flowers into their first showing of the year
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Just one close encounter with a Red Kite this week.
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Just one close encounter with a Red Kite this week.
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Just one close encounter with a Red Kite this week.
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Shortly before midnight the little Reeve's Muntjac Deer family make a group visit to the end of the orchard but soon move on down the path (upper left).
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2 days after seeing the Reeve's Muntjac family in the orchard, here they are a little less tightly grouped walking past Round pond. On the left is the Fawn partly obscured by the Daffodils, along with mother, and within one minute we see Dad with his little sharp antlers.
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The Reeve's Muntjac Deer Fawn stick close to Mum at the beginning of the night.
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The Pair of Rooks that 'own' the one surviving nest from last year are taking
the business of 'refurbishment' really seriously. This arriving bird, with beak
full of nest lining, is flying in to the nest where 'his' partner is already on
the nest.
A not quite 'accurate' montage and with a few twig 'anomalies' but true to the event.
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There are now 4 Rook nests being built in Black Poplar tree nearest the house. Here one of the more experienced birds makes sure all the others know that it is guarding THIS pile of sticks!
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One of the Blue Tits caught exiting, with lovely shadow against the front of the box.
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Here a complete Blue Tit exit at about 7fps - it is obviously cleaning out the box.
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Outside the window we see 'steam' from the beak of this singing Dunnock.
The morning is cold and very still (wind free).
We thought there must be a proper name for the 'steam' and 'plumes of breath' we
use here because it much more obvious in humans. It is obviously not 'steam'
even if it looks a bit like it, but you can't really call it fog or mist either.
A hole in the English vocabulary.
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This pristine Badger makes it's way across the site, heading
right for the mound where we will see 2 Badgers about 2 hours
later.
An unusually clear view of the front claws.
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This pair of Badgers seem to be enjoying a major 'frolic'.
The Ref: field explains the order.
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The mother Reeve's Muntjac Deer walks quietly past the main pond, followed by her tiny Fawn. She looks back to check that the youngster is following before walking out of frame.
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As the cameraman walks up the side of the house a Squirrel unexpectedly leaps
away into a bit of hedge, and immediately the Reeve's Muntjac Deer Fawn comes
leaping out the other way to scamper across the front of the house into the
woodland. Here the frightened little creature looks back to see if it is being
followed.
After dark the CCTV relayed several minutes of continuous Deer barks - we
assume that Mum came back to find her 'parked' Fawn gone, and started calling to
find it.
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The Grey Squirrel scurries by, sending the ground debris flying, watched by the male Pheasant in high dudgeon. All that Testosterone boiling over turns a run-for-it creature into a stalwart of determination
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The Grey Squirrels are all making the most of the Willow catkins.
At the back of the main pond, viewed in very poor light after sunset,
this Grey Squirrel clambers up a vertical willow stem which bends right over. The
Squirrel started to feed, but the oscillating branch makes it lose footing and it
falls to the ground about 3 metres below, out of our sight. Wondering if it
might be hurt, a minute later it climbs the same twig again. This time it
stops above the catkin laden section, bites through the wood to free about 40cm
of catkins, climbs back up the stem and then down to the stump of this
pollarded willow to eat the prize.
Don't ever tell us that many animals can't plan intelligent strategies!
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A Buff-tailed Bumble Bee enjoys feeding on the Viburnum flowers.
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The female Brimstone butterfly was also enjoying the Viburnum flowers.
In flight she did not show the vivid yellow on the top of the wings that the male sports.
When we reported this sighting to 'Natures
Calendar' for 21 Feb it was said to be 'earlier than expected'.
We looked through our 20 years of photos and indeed have only a single record for
mid-March and otherwise all April or May. Ask for more details if you would find
them useful.
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We have Rooks now in constant attendance, the birds are obviously 'pairing up' ready to start breeding.
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There are 4 nests in the Black Poplar tree nearest the house. Last year's single survivor is now being refurbished - this bird is carrying a substantial twig to add to the existing tangle.
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The newest of the 4 nests in the Black Poplar tree nearest the house
is being constructed by an obviously inexperienced pair that have yet
to learn how to manage the sticks, or make them stay in place. We keep seeing
their attempts as a few sticks appear and then there are none again.
Here we have Stick in beak, Stick in beak the other way, stick held by one
claw, stick falls and lands on concrete track beneath as we
watched.
Oh well - try again.
A week later they have a small pad of sticks that at last seems to be stable.
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A day of heavy rain doesn't put the 'dampers' on the Carrion Crows.
As this Carrion Crow flies in to the post you can see water splashing above
it's head.
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5 minutes later what is probably the same crow, still in the rain,
looks to see what food the rain might have forced up out of the mud.
The camera window is splashed with rain - hence the blurry patches.
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A Grey squirrel enjoys a piece of Banana peel, oblivious to the glowing sunset behind.
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Here you see how well a Grey squirrel is camouflaged when it lurks on a tree-trunk.
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We love the control that birds have on their feathers, lifting and flattening as they choose.
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Our male Pheasant calls at irregular intervals throughout the day.
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A male Chaffinch showing the first traces of the Blue coating on his beak - getting ready to breed.
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A pair of Mallard ducks visit the meadow feeding site, still wet from whichever pond they have been dabbling in.
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A pair of Mallard ducks visit the meadow feeding site, still wet from whichever pond they have been dabbling in.
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This pair of Mallard Ducks stayed for hours, the female feeding far more than the male.
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A tiny Crocus that the Squirrels have missed, hiding at the edge of a pot with water drops clinging to the tips of the leaves.
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A Pair of obviously cultivated Crocuses look up at us - or more likely the sunshine. They 'close' at night - this is as open as they get.
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As the sun rises we catch this absurdly beautiful little Reeve's Muntjac Fawn photographing itself at the edge of the frame. We can't say that we had noticed an obviously pregnant doe.
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7 hours later we catch the fawn following Mum along the bottom of the mound.
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Next day from the house we see the female Reeve's Muntjac Deer quietly browsing by a dense patch of Snowdrops on the other side of the pond. At that time we didn't know about a Fawn, and she would have been below the bank anyway.
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This Tawny owl landed on the kitchen window bird table, catching this single frame before the bird flew off.
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"I See You".
A 'zoom' in on the Tawny Owl image above - those fantastic eyes are so big that
owls can barely move them, and rely on their wonderful necks to steer their vision.
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This Chinook Helicopter thudded it's way overhead, leaving a few visible
vapour trail arcs behind it, something we don't remember seeing before.
The Vapour trail follows the tips of the revolving blades. Looking upward,
anticlockwise at the back, and clockwise at the front mostly swept away
by the rear blades. More info, a movie, and other peoples pics at
https://www.metabunk.org/helicopter-aerodynamic-dashed-linear-contrail.t7959/
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First landing at a tree-stump in the woodland 70m from this post (head out of original shot and not included here) the Buzzard arrived at this post and stayed here for a few minutes. Left and centre images are about half a second apart.
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As the afternoon light fades, the camera flash shows us this vivid male Pheasant, with breast feathers showing as an iridescent purple.
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A Visit by the Buzzard starts with a wings-spread arrival, both Alula (anti-stall feathers sticking up half-way along the wing) fully extended for the slow approach.
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Just half a second later what a different view. The Rook has appeared from 'nowhere' to try to see-off the Buzzard, but is not successful ...
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... because the Buzzard then spent 6 minutes in watchful contemplation.
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A female Reeve's Muntjac Deer calls into the night. We thought only the males called, but a check (i.e. Google search :-( ) finds that females do call for males! Next night we see a female pattering by with a very interested male in gentle pursuit.
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Earlier on the second afternoon above, this lovely male Reeve's Muntjac Deer stands quietly in the dappled light from the lowering sun through the adjacent hedge.
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2 hours later he visits the hedge bottom camera site, before being photographed pursuing the doe at Round pond.
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The night after his assignation with the female, the male Reeve's Muntjac Deer trots (or whatever this gait is called) through the woodland.
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Spotting some Long-tail Tits on the peanut feeder outside the Window, all stop for a bit of bird watching of these lovely little birds flitting between a bramble infested Buddleia and this feeder. Here are 8 of these birds crammed into the squirrel proof cage.
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As the Long-tailed Tits flitted between peanut feeder and brambles, we got this chance for an image of one not 'behind bars'.
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An hour before midnight this handsome Brock shuffles and snuffles over a likely area to find food.
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For half an hour this pair of Badgers wandered over the mound, rubbing and sniffing each other.
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We watched this Buzzard skimming low over the Wheat crop perhaps 200m from us (there are aerodynamic advantages to flying low over ground or water) before using the bird's speed to rise up and land on the top of this hedge (about 2m high) to survey the scene.
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A Red Kite flies by, apparently giving us a suspicious look.
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A bit of a squabble between these two Robins - the claws don't seem to be 'out in earnest'. Possible a potential pair trying to get used to having another Robin in their territory.
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As the breeding season approaches, Robins lie in wait for us in the hope (normally fulfilled) of a scattering of corn.
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As the breeding season approaches, Robins lie in wait for us in the hope (normally fulfilled) of a scattering of corn.
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A detail of the above showing this Robin using a Blackthorn 'thorn' to take his weight, while wrapping the other claw round the stem to provide stability.
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A male Pheasant with frost over back and tail, visits near sunrise.
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Here is the Tree-stump at the end of Thursday and first visitor on Friday morning. The east wind (from behind the camera) has stuck the snow on to the side this quite smooth wood.
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A moment when the surface of the Round Pond is unblemished catches these reflections of the setting-sun lit trees.
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All the ponds are frozen over, but nowhere is the ice thick enough to 'walk' on.
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