Archived & Upcoming Images of the Day
More usually Kestrels around here hunt from perches on the numerous cables and their support posts. But with a decent wind this one follows the traditional behaviour for a 'Windhover' of hanging staggeringly stationary head-on into the breeze using judicious wing flaps and manoeuvring her various flight feathers and tail. She suddenly dived down behind a hedge and, for us, disappeared.
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This female Kestrel is perched on an 11kV cable over the Bridleway to the north. Images from the north and from the bridleway. We left her to continue her not very intensive hunt.
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This tatty Red Kite glides overhead, balefully glaring at us as they pass over.
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A flurry of feathers a bit before midnight heralds the arrival of this Tawny Owl for a short visit.
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Another Field Grasshopper less camouflaged than the last one but along the same path. There are now several along the same 20m path on warm days.
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A Green Shieldbug (species common name) is walking along the edge of our potted Mullein plant.
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It looks like the female Kestrel has captured some sort of small bird.
She seems to have a small piece of it in her beak.
We tried to find a more informative viewpoint through a gap in the farm hedge
kept open for farm machinery, but she took off immediately we re-appeared.
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One of the female Kestrels is here having a really hard time balancing on this swaying
cable, tail sweeping backwards and forwards every second of so to retain balance.
Of the 3 cables, she has chosen the Fibre-optic cable. It is much lighter than the other
copper/aluminium cables and this bird, that on average weighs only '184 g (6+1/2 oz),
is able to noticeably bend the cable where she stands.
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At the other end of the biological flight scale this rather Tatty Red Kite made a few lazy circles in the sky above us.
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we had a couple of days seeing Migrant Hawker Dragonflies at various of their favourite haunts.
This first montage is more tightly spaced than reality.
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This montage is accurately spaced at about 7 frames per second.
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We are graced with a visit from this male Roe Deer - probably looking for a drink.
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A male Reeves' Muntjac Deer may here be calling at an hour past midnight. Muntjac Deer are much smaller than the Roe Deer - imagine a creature about the size of a medium Dog.
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Foraging near the South hedge gap this male Reeves' Muntjac Deer collects his breakfast.
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The Fieldmice (Wood Mice) are back with a vengeance, first here at the camera site in the Meadow.
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Proper detail of the obvious individual above.
Doing the "Indian tail trick"?
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Not so many Fieldmice (Wood Mice) at the hedge bottom as we see at the Meadow site, but we think that the bird at the top probably holds this year's high-jump record. You can see his shadow just left of the bottom of the hedge trunk on the right.
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Sadly mice in the house have to be promptly stopped before they breed under
the floorboards and becomes a major problem. This speaks from experience :-(
Many mice are caught and released from live traps, but some individuals won't use them.
We put the sad little bodies on the tree-stump where one or more Magpies reliably
collect them. These two moments are on different days but make a rather interesting
montage of an imaginary take-off.
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A Dunnock probably about to 'hop' down to the ground.
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This looks to us like a heavy collision between two Dunnocks both apparently flying in to land in opposite directions. It not a line of site effect - the shadow of the bird on the left clearly shows an almost zero gap between them. No injuries as far as we know.
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This perfect male Migrant Hawker Dragonfly teased us a bit before perching about 2 metres up in a hedge where we could get his portrait.
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As the afternoon warmed up we found this Migrant Hawker Dragonfly hunting near the blocked gate - one of their favourite places every year. The small Hover-fly was only spotted as we prepared the image.
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This flying Migrant hawker dragonfly montage is accurately spaced at 7 frames per second.
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Even a few Dragonflies bring along visits from the Hobby who specialise in hunting these insects. We miss most of them of course, but here caught this one flying overhead.
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A Small White Butterfly feeds on a Great Willowherb flower.
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In a self-set Mullen plant in a pot protected outside a window, this Sloe Bug
is wandering around.
Shieldbugs and Squashbugs are fascinating insects with multiple
appearances as they develop into adults.
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In a sheltered spot by the side of the Conservatory door we find this perfect Dandelion seed head.
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Details from the centre. All that intricacy just to hold about 200 seed 'parachutes'.
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These bracket fungi fruiting bodies are on a Willow branch broken in a storm a couple of years ago. We had a go at identifying the species in our 640 page 2400 species ID book, but found sufficient near matches to leave us stumped. So 'Bracket Fungus' it remains.
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More detail.
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We rarely see Mute Swans here, so this flyby by just this one Swan was especially welcome. The corvids on the 11kV cables and poles couldn't care less.
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More Detail of the three images at the left.
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A few minutes later we see this Pigeon flying 'under the moon'.
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Brock strolls in - what's on the menu tonight?
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A badger quietly forages the slope of the mound.
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This Tawny Owl spent several minutes visiting the Meadow Post.
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A Barn Owl makes a short stop visit a little after midnight. You can't see their face, but even the rear plumage is wonderful.
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A fine Great Tit with left foot on a tiny twig we doubt that the bird has even noticed is there.
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This Robin is excavating at the bottom of the stone.
It it more normal to see them, perkily perched hoping for a handout!
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This Great Spotted Woodpecker appears to be a male just losing his juvenile plumage.
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A somewhat tatty Red Kite glides overhead.
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A couple of Buzzards seem to have settled on this area as as much of a 'home' as they have before the nesting season, moving between the power poles and sometimes cables to hunt. We don't have any idea whether they are a 'pair'.
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A Weasel visits the meadow site for a couple of minutes. Here the two views the camera took are accurately montaged (left first). The 'top' view on the right manages to hide all of the distinguishing details.
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A week later the Weasel pays another visit to the Meadow site.
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6 hours later what looks like the same Weasel makes another transit.
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A selection from 14 pics (over 3 days) of Fieldmice (Wood Mice) at the meadow site turned into a little celebration. A Vole (much darker fur centre & lowest) muscled into a couple of the pics, here appearing in the same original frame as the mouse on the right.
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The hedge bottom shows far less Rodent activity, but we rather liked this one of a Fieldmouse (Wood Mouse) carrying off a whole Blackberry
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A Green-veined White Butterfly enjoys a mint flower
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Here is a closer look at just the Green-veined white Butterfly on a mint flower.
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The same individual Green-veined White Butterfly goes on to visit this thistle flower, surrounded by withering flowers and a tangle of seeds ready to be blown to pastures new.
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A Hare bounds into our patch through the east hedge gap, momentarily pauses for a sharp selfie, before carrying on into the plot.
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Two hours after midnight, in walks the Fox intent on several more hours of 'mischief'.
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A female Sparrowhawk lands on the kitchen perch. Once or twice some days we see her doing the 'bird feeder' circuit.
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A male Chaffinch lands on the tree stump, providing a fine view of the normally hidden green feathered back.
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A gorgeous Barn Owl drops in for a few minutes on the Meadow Post.
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The image at the left in the montage in more detail.
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We have a good number of Migrant Hawker Dragonflies this year. This montage just over half a second of flight catches the chaotic manoeuvring of these insects. Top left downward, then vertically upwards.
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A closer look at a male Migrant Hawker Dragonfly hunting over a concrete access track that acts as a suntrap.
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Not many Darter Dragonflies (intermediate in size between Hawker Dragonflies and Damselflies) so far this year. This one is perched on what looks like a seed head. Down the stem is a rather nice Spider's web, though a fly caught in it would disagree.
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We have recently seen 3 juvenile Green Woodpeckers outside our patch. Here one of them spent several minutes coming and going from the Meadow post. This one looks like a male.
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Another image from the Green Woodpecker sequence.
Our anthropomorphic eyes can not help but see this creature as 'Mr Grumpy'.
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We are sure that the Hares in the surrounding field feel rather dispossessed after harvest and harrowing. Woodland are not quite their 'thing', but their occasional visits are most welcome.
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We nowadays see very few Rabbits in our patch, but this fox has obviously found one and appears to be carrying it out of the plot through the east hedge gap. Another less clear instance occurred on the next night.
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100 metres away this Fox apparently notices the trail cam's dull red glow, and takes a look, the night time optimised eyes acting as reflectors.
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An immaculate Great Tit stops for a moment on the edge of the stone.
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This Great Tit has 'won' what to us is a tiny seed - to the bird a decent high protein beakful.
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Chaffinches have had a good year - here are 7 (NOT a montage) rootling about at the hedge bottom.
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A perky young Robin now with breast almost completely 'red'
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Lots of things to eat for this female Grey Squirrel.
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A nice fresh piece of Banana Peel gets nibbled like a stick of celery.
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We were startled by a whoosh of wings followed by a loud avian scream right over our heads.
This Buzzard had just landed on the top of the 11kv power pole right by us,
realised the mistake of landing near humans, and immediately took off.
The Buzzard made several more calls as they flew away, as you see here
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We generally try to avoid pictures of birds with their nictitating membrane (a
semi transparent second eyelid) over the eye.
But here the bird is using it to 'blink' closed for less than 140mS (seventh of a second)
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Finally a detailed look at the Buzzard in flight.
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