Archived & Upcoming Images of the Day
In early morning sunlight, a 'wall' of Crab-apple blossom make a visual treat.
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This is some Crab Apple Blossom at the top of a bit of overgrown hedge at the entrance end of our access track.
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A very early morning visit to the woodland tree-stump by the local Sparrowhawk.
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And finally, a Little Owl spent a few minutes on the Meadow Post. Little Owls also hunt in full daylight, so we will be looking for this visitor in the daytime as well
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For us the real start of the insect season is the first sightings of Bee-flies.
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A small white butterfly feeds on the Lady's smock (Cuckoo flower) that the deer have not eaten.
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As we turn the corner to walk down this path, this Reeve's Muntjac Deer has already heard our footfalls and looks back to discover the cause. Once she knew it was 'only them' she went back to the more important business of eating the hedge.
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One of the female Reeve's Muntjac Deer working on tidying up the new 'browse line'.
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Pear blossom is more interestingly patterned inside the flowers than we realised.
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In one of the farm hedges, some Crab-apple blossom shines out.
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Stepping quietly over the long grass by the pond we get this portrait which shows the feet we describe as 'lobed' - a compromise for walking on pond weeds, swimming, and walking on land - less awkward on land than the webbed feet on ducks but still good in the pond.
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Following a few more sightings of original bird, here (not a montage) we catch (what we assume is) a 'pair' of Moorhen swimming towards each other on the Round Pond. The camera was kindly triggered by the resident female Reeves Muntjac Deer in the foreground.
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3 days later from the house we catch these two images of two moorhen feeding simultaneously but separately on the main pond. The easiest way to tell Moorhen apart is by the variable line between the red bulk and yellow tip of the beak. Using this we can see the bird on the right is our original arrival, while the more cautious bird hiding in the Iris fronds is the new arrival.
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Often seeing a couple of different colours of Forget-me-not flowers on a single plant,
this little group on a single stem sports 5 different tints.
We wondered if this was unusual, and found no on-line pics with this many
colours on one plant. But also discovered that there are about 70 recorded
species of Forget-me-nots with a wild variety of single colours, and about 500
species altogether, mostly not classified.
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The Reeve's Muntjac Deer Fawn follows Mum.
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Ahh! - the Reeve's Muntjac Deer Fawn is caught in just this moment at the east hedge gap. This image is 2 weeks after the one with mother above, and the Fawn is now often seen without Mum.
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Here a patch of Dandelions just outside the back door shows Dandelion
opening and closing in sympathy with the sunlight, with gaps of about 1
hour then two half-hours as the sun starts to shine past the side of a conifer.
Many flowers It seems like quite an 'expensive' strategy to have
evolved to have the ability to close your flowers, but if it
didn't pay-off they wouldn't have evolved it.
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'Bluebells' are starting to flower in the less shaded spots, and this female
Brimstone Butterfly is enjoying a nectar from this one.
This is not a genuine 'English' Bluebell - decades ago when we
bought the bulbs it was not well known that many commercial
'Bluebells' are actually more robust foreign species. The insects
don't care, so we are not purists enough to disturb what we have.
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Our first sighting 2021 of a Speckled Wood Butterfly - once they arrive we tend to see them for months, mostly at the woodland edges.
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24 hours later this Speckled Wood butterfly provide a clear view of the underside of the wings.
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This Oak tree is just starting to bud, and the squirrels are swinging all over the branches to fill their little bellies with as many buds as they can stuff in. In this montage the Squirrel left worked the way right, nearly lost his grip, and swung underneath to climb back up.
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One frame later, confidence regained, just one paw at each end is considered sufficient.
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A disagreeable Grey Squirrel attacks first the male Pheasant, 2 minutes later the female, but 4 minutes later the calmer pair have taken 'ownership' of the feeding site.
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The female Reeves Muntjac Deer gets onto this pond's island by delicately walking on the Iris roots.
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The 'resident' Reeve's Muntjac Deer seems to like Iris fronds.
Eat as many as you want!
Keeping Iris plants under control on just this pond is a major problem.
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This male Roe Deer made this night-time visit to our access track. This male's antlers have already shed their 'velvet'.
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5 days later this lovely male Roe Deer (Antlers still 'in Velvet') made a speedy
pass through our plot. So we have at least TWO visiting male Roe Deer in
different stages of Antler development.
The deer's body is covered in similar scrape marks like the healed one we see on
our resident 'Muntjac'.
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A few weeks after our first sighting of a Chinese Water Deer here we see (judging from the missing nape fur) the same individual, out in the evening quietly exploring the edge of the crop to the fields to the South (perhaps almost a quarter of a mile away).
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This female Reeve's Muntjac Deer knows where to get a drink, and makes directly for the Duck-shaped pond shortly after dark.
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In 30 years here we have never before seen Pheasants mating. The Mallard Drake swimming slowly by doesn't seem the slightest bit impressed.
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Sunset with Pheasants OR Pheasants at sunset.
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"En-Guard!"
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Around the blocked gate we often find a singing Robin, here perched on a nearby 11kV cable, but also in various trees and hedges.
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From the tip of a conifer by the garage this Robin delivers his ownership decree, surrounded by a cloud of Midges.
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The female Blackbird at this site gathers nest lining.
We are surprised she can see where she is going with load on board.
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The Magpie nest is built, now some pretty coloured twigs for the interior - not.
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NOT a montage - one lucky frame catching this moment Grey Squirrel of exuberance.
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A battle of wills - Grey Squirrel vs. Pheasant, Claws vs. Spurs.
We don't know what happened :-(
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A pair of rooks 'Courtship feeding' at their nest. The males basically feed the females who do most of the incubation, but the males do their stints on the eggs as well.
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A male Orange-tip Butterfly feeding on Lady's Smock (Cuckoo Flower).
The pattern at the tops of the orange patch seem to be atypically dark.
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Normally we see female Orange-tip Butterflies a week or two after the first see the males, but this year we saw first emergence at the same time. The females don't have the orange tip, but still have the delicate green tracery under the wing that you can JUST see showing through as a green haze on the rear wings. The Green tracery is present on the males as well but the picture of the male above wasn't optimised to show it.
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A few days later this female Orange-tip Butterfly was resting on a Lady's Smock (Cuckoo Flower) flower-head, wings fully folded so we get a great view of the wonderful green tracery.
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At the bend of the farm road a Yellowhammer appears every time we walk toward the concrete block where we leave some corn. He waits for us on the block, flees to one of the nearby trees as we approach with a few metres to go, and then promptly returns to the block top, or in this case the concrete track below where the wind immediately blew the corn.
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A Yellowhammer perched on the top of a Blackthorn hedge.
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Ahh - togetherness Pheasant style.
Even if he does have at least two more girls in his harem.
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The male Pheasant proudly watches THREE of his ladies
Maybe Gentlemen prefer Blondes (2:1 here) but we are quite sure
he would welcome ANY colour.
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Less than a handful of picture of Fieldmice (Wood Mice) this week, so we consider it fortunate that one of them is this little pair of Squeaks up to who knows what in the hours before dawn.
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The number of mice seen in Spring has been unusually low this year - This is the ONLY mouse seen this week.
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No more fights spotted recently between the Squirrel and Pheasant, but plenty of 'dirty looks!
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The male Pheasant makes a quick exit - upwards.
So much for the truce we mentioned above.
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A pair of Mallard Ducks visit the meadow site still scattered with food.
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Eight hours later the Ducks are on the water of Round Pond. The Badger spent several minutes watching them.
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Across the pond we catch a Fox, complete with reflection in the rippling water, looking longingly at the two Mallard Ducks, tantalisingly out of reach.
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The female Mallard Duck swims up to the male on the bank, leaving
a tell-tale trail through the Duckweed.
In our more 'natural' surroundings the females actively seek the protection of
individual males who will face up to threats for his 'girl'.
At public parks groups of males desperate to mate will often gang up on any female
they see, and sometimes drown them in the frenzy - a sad outcome of the
unnatural compression of wildlife into unsuitably small spaces.
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A bit of fun with pics taken 4 days apart.
First the local male Blackbird stepping up onto the stone,
and 4 days later the same individual stepping down.
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The female Blackbird owning this site is presumably taking a few minutes off the eggs to feed and preen.
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Next morning the male Blackbird is very animated.
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What are trees for if not to run round & round while chasing your friend / rival / lover.
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"This is the life!"
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All of the Black Poplars inside our site were grown from fallen wood 30 years ago,
and are now all at least 10 metres tall. The tiny speck just below the bottom left
corner of the insert is a Grey Squirrel enlarged in the box, busy eating Catkins
from the tree. If the Squirrel falls from this height he will have to grab a branch
to avoid serious injury.
Reminds us of the 'Avatar' Jake's falling down the tree sequence.
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The 'resident' female Reeve's Muntjac Deer seems to find plenty to eat in the Woodland.
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We often seem to catch a moment where male Reeve's Muntjac Deer rub their foreheads on the ground as you see here. We suspect that the emerged antlers are uncomfortable at the base where the velvet was attached to the blood supply.
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Our first sighting of a Small Tortoiseshell Butterfly this year - a species that hibernates through the winter. This one is remarkably pristine for 6 months old.
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This Peacock Butterfly awake after overwintering is in quite good condition for a 6 month hibernation. Nevertheless she has some bird peck damage to the left wing.
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A female Reeve's Muntjac Deer (left of bar) has a drink from the Round Pond, and is shortly replaced (right of bar) by the male as another female walks in to make a triplet.
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A delightful sighting of a Reeve's Muntjac Deer Fawn and mother quietly walking through the orchard.
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Two days later the Fawn is out in the daytime.
With no sign on Mum anywhere, the Fawn spends a few minutes in
the sunshine near Duck Pond.
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In the early hours of next morning the youngster visits the Meadow site apparently
on their own and takes this glorious selfie. Mum is probably somewhere quite
close.
Cooing is permitted!
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A heavy but short snow shower laid 1 to 1.5cm of snow,
melting to 1.3mm in the rain gauge.
10:1 seems to be about the ratio of snow depth to equivalent water
depth.
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Grey Squirrels have dense enough tails that they can use them as an umbrella. We see this behaviour in snow, rain and strong winds.
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As darkness falls a couple of Magpies forage over the feeding site.
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The still flowering Viburnum at the back of the pond looks rather nice with these white highlights.
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