Archived & Upcoming Images of the Day
First of the year - male Brimstone Butterfly whizzing about over the garden bushes,
hedges etc. This time we got lucky with a hand-held camera to get a reasonable
image of this delight-in-flight.
We hope this year to refurbish the kit we use to photograph insects in flight.
You can see our efforts over the last few years as about 400 images starting at page
http://www.moorhen.me.uk/iodsubject/insects_in_flight_in_controlled_setup_01.htm#01
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6 Goldfinches sparsely spread among the Pussy-willows.
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Photographer gets the - Oh it only you - brush off from this Kite who found a thermal above where we are standing.
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Rooks almost always chase away a Kestrel in their territory, and in the breeding season are especially diligent. Here from one long sequence we build 3 accurate montages:-
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On a concrete block to our south a male Chaffinch has become very 'brave' at approaching us for food. This bird's beak shows the earliest tinge of the blue breeding coating ...
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... while next day we find this individual singing his heart out in one of our hedges. This bird has the full blue beak coating - ready to breed!
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This Dunnock, and their mate, who live in a wood pile 'temporarily' dumped at the blocked end of our access track, is becoming habituated to us. Somewhere in this pile the pair made a nest last year, so we are now very reluctant to 'tidy up'.
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Views of a Wren are usually 'what was that', but this one spent an atypical several minutes rooting about near the main pond edge - for once time to grab a camera and focus on the subject.
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The Robin dives down at the threatening male Chaffinch, both atypically in accurate focus.
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A moment of tranquillity at the Round Pond, complete with shadows and reflections.
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Not so tranquil - there is more fruit here than both of these Squirrels could eat in one go, but they will squabble over them anyway.
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Strawberries for the Squirrels?
It's us that must be nuts!
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Except when the sun is high in the sky in summer, the North West corner of the main pond is mostly in shade. Here a shaft of morning sunlight skims past the east end of the house for a brief glow on the bank of Snowdrops. This pic taken across the pond.
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The previous evening a single shaft of light found its way through the intervening 'jungle'. This pic taken from behind the bank of the pond.
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With a couple of hours of darkness left in the night, this female Reeves' Muntjac Deer stops by for a feed for several minutes.
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4 hours later, the sun has risen as this male Reeves' Muntjac Deer, with fully emerged antlers, stops by for a feed. There seems to be a scar at the top of his left front leg.
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A pair of Badgers amble in side-by-side formation into the patch.
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20 minutes later just one Badger (possibly not even one of the pair) walks up to Round Pond.
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Magpies have heard the nest-building starting gun!
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Eyes bigger than the Beak?
There are lots of pieces of Blackthorn twig lying around from hedge cutting,
but they are really at the limit of what a Magpie can handle.
Balancing it better would help - we don't know what the Magpie actually did.
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A Magpie makes the characteristic tail rise to balance after landing.
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Our little brown Reeves' Muntjac Deer is in this same patch of brambles about every other time we pass.
A quick 'snap' and gone doesn't bother her.
She is well camouflaged - one eye is just below centre.
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Here 10 minutes apart, hours after dark, we see this female Reeves' Muntjac Deer quietly collecting corn left over by the afternoon visitors.
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About 9 hours later, on a truly grey day we first see the male Reeves' Muntjac Deer (right) with the fully emerged Antlers, and then another 4 hours of a different male (left) with Antlers still in Velvet.
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This years 'nervous' Kestrel has been out and about, almost entirely photographed by an automated camera on the post in the meadow.
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Two hours after the short visit, the female Kestrel stops by for about 10 minutes.
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4 days later we select another visit, the wind now increased and blowing around her feathers.
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Another half-an-hour later we catch her leaving after a 4 minute stay.
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A male Pheasant steps over the log as a Wood Pigeon watches.
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A Wood Pigeon makes a symmetrical touchdown.
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From the living room window, this silhouetted Wood Pigeon decorates a somewhat threatening Sunrise.
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Seeing the arrival of the photographer along this path along the inner hedge, this female Reeves' Muntjac Deer takes a careful look before wandering into the thicket on the right.
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We have just discovered that one of the female Reeves' Muntjac deer regularly 'hides' during the day in a patch of bramble hedge alongside the garage. It is fairly sheltered and we can't see how anything could get near her without making warning noise.
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This immaculate Barn Owl lands on the post but doesn't stay.
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This Red Kite glides the skies, visually for us over the distant tower of Hanslope Church.
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This female Kestrel makes a short stop on the Meadow Post.
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This first visit by the female Kestrel to the meadow post lasted 6 minutes ...
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... returning almost exactly an hour later for a brief stop.
We always enjoy seeing the bird's Alula - the anti-stall 'flaps' half way along the wing.
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The quick brown Fox jumps over the lazy dog fallen log.
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In the hour before midnight, this Fox walks along the edge of Round Pond before stopping for a drink.
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Left to right what we assume is the same fox enters the site at the South-West, visits the Duck shaped pond near the South-East corner, finally meets a 'friend' at the mound to the North-East, each visit almost exactly 15 minutes apart.
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A Dunnock lifts the wings in preparation to launch from the stone.
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A pristine male Blackbird - if only he would wipe the mud from his beak!
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This Barn Owl pays a 4 minute visit to the meadow post.
On the CCTV recording we were able to see the bird actively moving about on the
post top looking for prey, before launching off into the darkness.
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We found a hole dug in the ground on a little-used path. We couldn't identify the 'owner', so placed the trail-cam to see what used it. The main outcome was 'no visits to the hole', but we were surprised by the number of times creatures wandered in and out of the 'tunnel'. Here a male Reeves' Muntjac Deer wanders into the main path and provides a good view of his antlers.
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On the same day another trail cam sees a quiet afternoon together for these two female Reeves' Muntjac Deer.
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This female Kestrel has an unusually long 26 minute visit to the Meadow post, apparently enjoying an extensive preen.
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The 10 minute start of what turns out to be a whole series of overnight visits to this woodland site by what seems to be the same female Reeves' Muntjac Deer. Here it looks like the Magpie is taking the chance to nip in and grab something to eat.
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For the rest of the night at typically 2 hourly intervals the Deer returns for short stays. Always approaching in the same direction, here are one image from all six visits after the initial long stay.
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A day later this female Reeves' Muntjac Deer stops to groom her front leg
with her incredibly long tongue you can see here under her chin.
Humans are tongue and tail deprived!
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Across the main pond we spot this female Sparrowhawk trying to sun herself in the pollarded willow tree out of the wind.
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But the Grey Squirrels likes this tree as well, so when one arrives on the bole
of the tree a few metres below the Sparrowhawk decides to move.
She flies about 10 metres to land on top of an old post ...
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... where she spends several minutes sunbathing while keeping her eye on the humans watching her from the window some 20 metres away.
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A female Kestrel lands face to camera on the Meadow Post.
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The untidy centre of the raised tail (2nd from left) makes us think that this might be our original human tolerant female Kestrel landing on the meadow post and staying for several minutes.
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One of the female Kestrels high on an 11kV power cable over the Bridleway much more interested in something below than the pesky humans.
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The small hours sees this Barn Owl landing on the Meadow post. The bird didn't stay this time - maybe it quickly spotted something tasty on the ground beneath
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Dead on midnight, this Badger stops off at the hedge bottom.
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This pair of badgers wandered the plot together for several hours before indulging in what looks like a bit of rough-love.
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The female Kestrel made a brief visit to the Meadow Post.
The half-bird on the left is NOT a Damian Hurst inspired artistic effect!
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2 days later this female Kestrel makes a very short stop to give her feathers a little reef out.
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The male Pheasant out in some sunshine.
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These two pics of the male Pheasant 7 minutes apart overcame any resistance to making this surprisingly symmetrical accurate montage.
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A Dunnock diving to the ground broke the sense beam just nicely in focus.
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The female Sparrowhawk stops off at the kitchen window perch.
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The female Sparrowhawk this time flies by the kitchen feeder.
We notice such passes once or twice a day, so she must be passing
many times hoping to catch out a Blue Tit or other small bird
visiting the peanut feeder here and on the other side of the house.
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One of the visiting Foxes wanders along the edge of Round Pond and sits for a minute before wandering off.
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A Fox on the mound suddenly glances upwards.
Sometimes when out before sunrise we disturb both Pigeons and sometimes
Pheasants that are roosting in the treetops in this area.
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A last look around before this Fox wanders home at the end of the night.
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