Archived & Upcoming Images of the Day
Grey Squirrels can be really N A S T Y !
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What seems to us to be an entirely different encounter - an opportunity to do the 'Squirrel-making thing'?
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This Squirrel equivalent of 'Bambi' - a juvenile with big eyes and rounded ears.
This seems to be the youngest Grey Squirrel we have ever managed to
photograph.
Cooing is permitted.
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When you watch a bird singing we sort of imagined that both halves of the beak open and close. But just like human teeth, the top of the beak is actually formed over part of the skull and only the bottom half moves. (On a human the top lip moves a bit, but on a bird there is nothing flexible to move - hence the 'birds don't have expressions idea). If you look at the beak here you can see that the bottom half has a sharp cut-off near the hinge that neatly fits the head when the beak is closed.
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After the female Yellowhammer, A chance to compare the sizes of a male Yellowhammer and male Chaffinch.
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Things don't always go according to plan.
A 'Woodcrete' nest box on our tallest tree has become a nest for bees.
Next year some birds will probably re-establish possession.
This is the second time we have seen a nest-box converted to a tiny Bee-hive.
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Things don't always go according to plan.
We have seen this Robin a few times, with what looks like down feathers
sticking out of his back. He sings well and flies fine and seems likely
to be holding this territory.
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This amazing sky, looking North East, greeted a lunchtime walk.
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Who's been scribbling on the sky?
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A Little Owl (true common name for the species) has made a few visits each
year for the last 5 years. These two images are from the first two visits this year,
3 days apart.
On the right you see the real eye.
On the left you see a facial illusion of the back of the birds head -
whether this is just chance, or a survival development (an attacker might
think it has already seen you so no point in stealthy attack) we don't
know.
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3 separate passages through the Orchard for this Fox, each with something quite
large in its mouth. Intervals left to right are 15 & 3 minutes suggesting that
the Den can't be that far away.
The resolution of the pics doesn't allow a definitive ID, but it seems that
the Fox has found a nest, den or burrow of youngsters to raid.
Be sad for those youngsters, but happy for the Fox Cubs.
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The local female Kestrel is on one of her favourite perches on the foot-rest of a disused telephone pole along the south hedge.
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When she decides to leave the South boundary (above) she invariably
flies round the corner to the east. Here she is in shade and even manipulating
the colour to correct for the sky-blue cast she almost look like a different bird.
Don't believe that the camera doesn't lie - but we try not to mislead you.
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This female Beautiful Demoiselle Damselfly quietly perched giving us a view of the intricate wing veins - now strengthening struts but once used to 'pump-up' the wings in the final stage of metamorphosis.
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A female Beautiful Demoiselle Damselfly makes final approach to land on this fresh
leaf. Beautiful and Banded Demoiselle Damselflies are the largest UK species at
about 48mm long, while more often seen Damselflies like the Common Blue are about
35mm long and appear much more delicate
These creatures are Midge hunters & have no interest in vegetation apart from
somewhere to perch.
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A male Beautiful Demoiselle clearly showing his iridescent colour and details of his tail end clasper he uses to grab the female 'by the neck'.
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A male common blue Damselfly warming himself in the sunshine.
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Based on sizes relative to Mum, we THINK that we now have THREE
Reeve's Muntjac Fawns (and therefore three mothers) visiting our
patch.
Here Mum, and maybe the youngster, stop by the Duck-shaped pond for a drink.
We rate this Fawn as the 'middle sized' one.
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3 hours later this obviously smaller Fawn still easily fits under Mum to access the 'Milk Bar' (Top). A minute later the automatic camera sees them wandering off together (lower left pair).
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Here we surprise a Fawn and Mother on the verge outside our patch. This Fawn is the biggest of the 3 (even allowing for 4 days growth) and much more independent. Mum took a hard look at us and decided to depart, walking away down the hedge line until she vanished down the increasing slope. The Fawn watched us for a few more seconds and then trotted after Mum.
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A male Roe Deer out on the access track with a clear view of his antlers. His position suggests that he has just come through the hole cut in the pig-net at this point, but it just doesn't seem to us that he could fit!
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This male Chaffinch has a beakful of insect(s). Most likely one of the huge number of Craneflies (Daddy long legs) has been crammed in the gape to be taken to hungry beaks at the nest.
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At the hedge bottom this young Robin looks healthy and perky. His red feathers will appear piecemeal over the next several weeks.
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As the wonderful show of Dandelions comes to a close, Buttercups, and here Daisies move in to take their place decorating the mown grass areas.
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The Farmland margins are getting a bit untidy - that's fine with us - perfect wildlife management! The Buttercups are mostly about 30cm high and carpet large areas. Here you see them looking down on them 'as the sun sees them - with no shadows'
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This Brown Argus Butterfly is a good deal smaller than the even the Small Tortoiseshell. We tend to see one every 2 or three years. Here we catch two views perched on a weed showing the upper and lower surfaces of the wings.
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Our first sighting this year of a Common Blue Butterfly, complete with a
Buttercup providing scale.
This is a male - the upper side of females is brown.
The black bar is not a marking but some sort of damage.
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While this Tortoiseshell Butterfly is feeding on a Blackberry flower the photographer has time to move round to get these two different perspectives on the same event. On the right you can see the proboscis reaching down into the flower.
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Over the meadow area there are dozens of these Azure Damselflies. This is a male in flight.
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A visitor not seen for 5 years - a female large Red Damselfly.
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This slightly scruffy bird appears to be a young Long-tailed Tit calling for food.
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The young Long-tailed tit flew up to an 11kV cable, which seems to dwarf it.
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This female Beautiful Demoiselle Damselfly spent a minute or two perched on this leaf, a few times opening her wings as if to take off but not doing so. The sun is nearly vertically above her providing shadows through the wings.
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A male Beautiful Demoiselle Damselfly perched elegantly on a leaf.
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There are several favourite places to find Beautiful Demoiselle Dragonflies, typically 10 to 15 insects in each when in sunshine, plus ones and twos in almost every sheltered sunny patch, so estimate that there are at least 50 individuals currently in our little haven.
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We don't often see the male Kestrel inside our patch, but here he makes a brief appearance on the meadow post.
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The local female Kestrel also made an appearance, initially perched on a disused
telephone pole foot-rest cum hand-hold, she decides to fly across to continue
her hunt from one of the 11kV cables.
We have seen these two bird hunting adjacent area without conflict, the female
recently 'vanished' for a few weeks as the male continued hunting, and
we believe they are a pair breeding away from our patch.
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Two days later our local female Kestrel was out hunting 15 minutes before sunrise.
Left: Landing on the meadow post lit by camera flash.
Middle: about a third of a second later by natural light. Colour was so inaccurate we
decided black and white was more accurate!
Right: One minute later giving the world a good stare.
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This male Kestrel spent a few minutes in the sky overhead, mostly trying to ignore the pesky Jackdaw that wanted the Kestrel to go 'anywhere but here'.
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This male Kestrel shows his claws to the pesky Jackdaw.
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The Jackdaw continues to Harass the male Kestrel.
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The male Kestrel finally decided to do what the Jackdaw wanted, and flew into the distance.
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Quite a large Hover-fly this, feeding on Garlic Mustard flowers.
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A young Magpie moulting into his first set of adult plumage.
We hope it isn't as uncomfortable as it looks.
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It's no good, we can't stop thinking that this Grey Squirrel's open mouth is showing a little smile of anticipation for her food.
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We see badgers most nights on the IR lit silent cameras, but it nice to see one in full colour. This one seems to be genuinely running past the camera with no visible contact with the ground.
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This Little Egret made an extended flight along the line of the brook, starting a quarter of a mile to our west to disappear to the east towards the M1 motorway. These pics at about 10 frames per second.
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This Little Egret made an extended flight along the line of the brook, starting a quarter of a mile to our west to disappear to the east towards the M1 motorway. These pics at about 10 frames per second.
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Next day saw another sighting of a Little Egret, not spotted in the days that follow.
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A pair of Mallard ducks making a lunchtime visit to the meadow site.
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A pair of Mallard Ducks whizz by.
This is all in less than one third of a second - Ducks fly FAST!
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A few years ago we found a fawn dead and headless, so we do worry about them in their first few months. So we are pleased to see them around the photo sites. This one is tearing round in circles at the end of the orchard.
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The Reeve's Muntjac Deer Fawn ventures onto the hedge bottom camera site with Mum in close attendance on the path behind.
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Here the Reeve's Muntjac Fawn explores the area by the pond, but Mum behind doesn't let the little one get too far from her protection.
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A Reeve's Muntjac Deer stops by the pond. She may have stopped for a drink that the camera missed.
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... continued
The Photographer and the Reeve's Muntjac Deer fawn spent about 5 minutes
watching each other.
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The Photographer and the Reeve's Muntjac Deer fawn spent about 5 minutes watching each other.
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After about 5 minutes the Fawn finally decided to depart in the direction that Mum had gone. Perhaps Mum called the little creature in a way that we didn't hear.
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After seeing the female Reeve's Muntjac Deer through the window, the photographer stepped outdoor to find her fawn just 10 metres away. The Fawn was apparently only interested in, rather than frightened by, the human. The Grey Squirrel on the gate just didn't know whether to attack or flee this strange creature, and seemed frozen to the spot.
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The Reeve's Muntjac Deer fawn watches the photographer watching them.
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The Reeve's Muntjac Deer fawn watches the photographer watching
them.
Continued tomorrow ...
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High in a partially dead Pear tree this Robin sings to everybody near and far.
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This male Chaffinch is putting his whole being into making sure his song carries as far and loud as he can.
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Dandelion Clocks are just beautiful constructions
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With the crop wet with overnight dew, the Groundsel seems to stay dry
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As the Dandelions wind down for the year, the Buttercups wind up.
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A montage of 3 moments to get all three members of the Reeve's Muntjac Deer family in the frame at once, in the positions they actually occupied. Left to right: Mum, Fawn and a male that we assume must be Dad.
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This Fox waits hopefully for a Rabbit to appear at the Rabbit hole under this step. The Fox was out of luck this time.
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We rarely see the sun with a complete and consistent Halo when we have a wide enough angle lens to catch it all. We have enhanced the colour a bit to show the 'rainbow' effect - red inside.
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A male Orange tip butterfly feeding on the flower of its caterpillar's food plant, the Garlic Mustard.
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This moth fluttered past us and landed on this stinging nettle. It is the fairly common 'Silver Y' Moth that flies both day and night. The Latin name (Autographa gamma) just seem so apt!
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Our North boundary at the end of the day, when it sees a bit of sunshine is about 100 metres long. Several of the Hawthorn plants in the inner hedge have been allowed to grow into trees, now producing huge splashes of blossom that you really can't see from anywhere inside our patch :-(
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At the unusual double hedges we allow Hawthorn trees to grow on the inner hedge. It produces this lovely drapery effect as the trees grow over the outer almost entirely self-set Blackthorn over a barbed wire fence. This closer view is on the east hedge.
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