Archived & Upcoming Images of the Day
This accurately positioned montage is built from just 3 images taken in less than 10 minutes. The Leopard Slug suspending itself between the stone and a lump of (unidentified) fruit stayed almost motionless throughout.
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A chance moment of 2 Fieldmice (Wood Mice), one making a very awkward looking landing
from which they undoubtedly 'bounced' unharmed, along with 3 leopard
slugs in the surrounding leaf litter.
Where are the slugs - under the horizontal mouse, another in front of the
horizontal mouse, and another just 'above' that one, half buried in the leaf litter.
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After a disappointing few weeks for sightings of Jays, we finally have some good views of this elegant bird.
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As the day ends this Jay lands on the Meadow Post (right) and within 400mS
is already persuaded to leave by an arriving Magpie.
We have often commented that the various Corvid (Crows, Rooks, Jackdaws
and Magpies) usually tolerate each other well. Jays are also Corvids but
it looks like the others may not consider them 'part of the clan'.
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A Jay foraging on the ground takes this selfie.
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Ah! We have a new Reeve's Muntjac Fawn to watch!
We have to admit that we hadn't noticed that any of the females were pregnant.
These two moments were caught soon after dark ...
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... and here 9 hours later, an hour or two before first light, we see the fawn again, on their own this time, at the same site. Mum was undoubtedly nearby.
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At the meadow site this male Reeve's Muntjac Deer provides a good view of one of the Antlers, and at the mouth, one of his little tusks.
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At around the same time next day this male Reeve's Muntjac Deer has spotted this litter of leafy twigs and stops off to eat some.
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This Red Kite swings round to fly over and land near this bird kill in an adjoining field. The landing bird is accurately montaged at 8 fps skipping the frames as indicated. The right hand landed bird is shifted right for clarity. A second bird (lower left) basically stands still throughout the 2 seconds.
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A vividly coloured Red Kite flies in to the same kill.
At 8 frames per second this just fits using successive frames.
No, its NOT the same bird pic 5 times - look at the subtle changes in tail and wing tips.
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When this bird arrives the other had gone. Again the final pic is shifted right.
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20 minutes later we find 2 Red Kites perched by the kill. One takes off, here caught departing.
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This is the third time this week that we have this (or maybe several) Grey Squirrel(s) entering this site in the same direction with a mouthful of foliage with several Sloe Berries (Blackthorn fruit).
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This Grey squirrel under an outside table, on top of a damaged traffic cone (dumped decades ago) is eating a lump of apple peel grabbed from a knocked over box of items intended for compost. Taking no notice of the humans 3 metres away, the little creature quietly eats the whole piece before scampering off.
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Just after midnight this Tawny Owl did a mini-tour of two of 'owl friendly' photo sites.
Left to right: Landing on the meadow post but soon leaving, and then 30 minutes
later arriving at the perch outside of the kitchen window. Just 3 minutes later the
Owl arrives back at the Meadow post for a several minutes stay.
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Next morning it is the female Kestrels turn to spend several minutes on the top of the meadow post ...
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... and another visit 4 hours later.
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Hours after dark this Yellow Slug (the common name) slithers over the side of the stone. We have only seen this species a couple of times before.
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This montage shows that we have two male Reeve's Muntjac deer around the site with markedly different antler lengths.
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The shorter antlered male Reeve's Muntjac Deer rubs his forehead on the side of the ditch.
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The local female Kestrel watches us briefly as we approach her perched in the Conifer at the SE corner of out patch, viewed from outside.
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The same bird photographed from a different angle, ignoring the humans as she has an extensive preen.
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This immaculate female Kestrel make an elegant landing on the Meadow post. This is NOT our regular moderately human tolerant bird but another female with a 'perfect' tail.
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This Red Kite flying towards us starts to bank and turn off to the side ...
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... before sweeping past over the Farm Road. These are accurately positioned at 7 fps (about 140mS between frames) ...
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... before sweeping back overhead for this back-lit view before flying away. A busy 1 minute of camera action.
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A female Kestrel hunting from the 11kV cables spots something interesting and flies down to the field to our west out of site by the tall hedge.
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A closer view of the second image above.
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In the morning sunshine our regular female Kestrel warms in the sunshine and watches us walk past.
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This lovely bird was first spotted on another post - a thin one supporting the IR sense beam transmitter some 25m further away than the 'meadow post'. She left this post and 'vanished', but returned to this 'proper' post a few minutes later for this 'formal portrait' from the patient automatic camera.
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We have only seen Grey squirrels mating a couple of times before:- June 2012 at the Woodland site, and December 2016 on the Kitchen Bird Table! Here a couple have chosen the bole of the tree next to the south entrance for their encounter. At the end it looks like they both fell off and rolled into the ditch!
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In the morning sunshine on the east hedge, this Grey squirrel is stretched
out along a branch on the inner hedge. Just before getting this photo we saw
the Squirrel turn round on the branch, presumably to warm the other side!
That's the life!
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The only regular Butterfly sightings this October are a few pristine Red Admirals,
mostly using our Yellow Buddleia for fuel.
Our venerable (30 years old) Butterfly ID book says that these migrants mostly die
when winter arrives, but a few survive to spring. But it seems that decades on
they do overwinter but don't 'Hibernate'. An article from George Pilkington's
site 'Nurturing Nature' discusses the whole issue at
https://nurturing-nature.co.uk/wildlife-garden-videos/red-admiral-butterflies-do-they-hibernate-in-britain/
.
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This Common Darter Dragonfly was warming on the ground in the sunshine on
an otherwise cold day, remarkably well camouflaged . Here are two views blended into one picture.
The colouration is typical of this species when well past the prime of life.
Dragonflies and Damselflies die in the Autumn, but their
eggs will have hatched in the depth of ponds to make nymphs that feed and grow
for between 1 and 3 years. They emerge in the Spring or Summer as flying adults.
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Through a house window we see this female Kestrel trying to balance on one of our 3 swaying 'phone' cables (only one of which works) spanning the field to our west.
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A different montage of the same 3 frames.
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3 moments from an extended hover by this female Kestrel on the far side of the hedge across from the front door.
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The Kestrel spotted something from the extended hover and makes a controlled but speedy descent out of sight on the other side of the hedge as usual :-(
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A male Reeve's Muntjac Deer with his little Antlers now on proper display.
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A female Reeve's Muntjac Deer eats the leaves from a fallen 'hand' of leaves from the tree whose trunk is at the upper left in this photo.
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This Fox Cub makes their first visit to any of the photo sites.
We hope the flash and click wasn't too much of a shock in the quiet of night.
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These two photos, about half an hour apart, appear to be of the same adult Fox roaming the site.
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One of the Red Foxes that visit takes a look about before setting off on the nights hunt.
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We now have Fieldmice (Wood Mice) at all three ground level sites, and sadly several a day in the house as well. Here at the meadow site they seem to be jumping for joy. A short life but packed with action.
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For most of the year our photo-sites are Rat free. But each year the harvest
disturbs the wildlife and for a couple on months we see Rats at some ground
level photo sites.
Is this Rat a gift of nature clean-up squad (outside),
or horrible vermin (in the house)?
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The local female Kestrel in one her favourite Apple trees in our orchard for a little hunting.
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While the Kestrel was hunting on the south of the house, this female Sparrowhawk
paused on the bird table on the north side outside the Kitchen.
The hunting pattern of south side flyby then followed by north side flyby has
been the norm for the Sparrowhawk now for a few weeks.
Actually 'flyby' doesn't catch the speed of these passes - several times faster
than any other bird we see.
We estimate at least 25 mph including a wide 180 degree turn.
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Two hours after our last encounter with a Red Kite, the bird returns.
They know we are watching - and couldn't care less!
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Four Red Kites weaving in and out of the area we can see.
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This individual, head twisted sideways, has some sort of prey in their claws from which the bird is biting pieces from.
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This Red Kite provided a couple of minutes delight ...
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Frankenpheasant !!!
The original frame of this line-of-site whimsy.
We have to admit what while passing through the 4,000 pics for
this half week we both thought 'Pheasant', kept it for the next pass,
and then had a surprise.
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"Where's my dinner!"
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Just after midday this Buzzard glided by.
Accurately spaced at 7 fps.
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We think that this must be a different buzzard perched on the 11kV cables over the Bridleway to the north. Only the lighter juveniles regularly perch on the cables - the mature birds rarely stay long on the hard small area of the cables and prefer the more comfortable crossbars.
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This female Kestrel allows us within about 10m of her as she perches in this Ash tree.
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What we think is a juvenile male Kestrel spent several second hovering aligned with the insulators behind, before a series of drops and hovers approaching some morsel on the ground. Unfortunately the prospective prey was on the 'wrong' side of the hedge for us to see more.
 hovering by 11kv pole then dropping down progressively 04+08-10 of 12 (impression montage)(r+mb id@768).jpg)
3 minutes later the Kestrel flew over the grass in front of us and leapt upon
something obscured even in the freshly mown grass. When the bird started to fly
back we could see a Fieldmouse (Wood Mouse) grasped in his beak. We lost sight of him as flew
off with it.
We are more used to seeing Kestrels carrying their prey in their claws, and were
surprised to see this 'Owl' style transport. But a web search shows its about
50-50 claws or beak. We couldn't see any pattern to what prey is carried
how.
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When the sun appears for more than a few minutes various Dragonflies appear.
Here is a Migrant Hawker Dragonfly in flight.
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This Migrant Hawker Dragonfly was flying along the avenue of Lombardy Poplar trees. Here shown at 8 frames per second accurately montaged.
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Darter Dragonflies are still about on sunny days. This one found a garden bench a good place to warm in the sunshine.
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Squirrel Heaven - a seemingly endless supply of fir cones in the row of Lodgepole Pines!
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A Grey squirrel selects the most exotic fruit skin from the offerings.
Only the upper crust of Squirrels here?
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Never too soon to make yet more Grey squirrels - this female looks like she might be starting to lactate already.
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This female Grey Squirrel, out of the wind and in a sunny spot, is probably pleased for a few minutes peace from a dray of hungry youngsters.
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A couple of male Chaffinches, neither willing to give up the contest.
He will swerve First!|
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A more peaceful moment as this Spick-and-span Dunnock perched perkily on the stone.
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This male Reeve's Muntjac Deer wanders past the south access through the hedge.
Right to left:-
Scratching at the 'velvet' still shedding from the bottom of the Antler using his left hoof.
Barking his call.
Nibbling the grass.
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Many foxes visit our patch overnight. Here we believe we see three different individuals. We see them so often at this patch near the south entrance that they must be using it to scent mark - we rarely 'bait' this patch.
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One of the foxes, probably on his way home to the south, pauses in the Orchard to investigate some activity off frame to the right.
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Here a third Fox stops at the east entrance to rub his face with the side of his leg.
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Oops - I should have flowered 4 months ago!
Along the north hedge and facing north this single Burnet Rose is flowering in the hedge.
There was another one about a metre away which had flowered unnoticed and withered.
Sniffing this little flower brought back memories of perfume drenched Spring when there
were banks of hundreds of these flowers.
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This delicate Cornflower lifts it's head above the weeds in the flowerpot
holding our rain gauge. It looks a bit odd at first - the whole flower is
smothered by the morning dew as close spaced droplets.
NO we didn't spray it with water - genuine dew drops.
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