Archived & Upcoming Images of the Day
In a strong and steady South East wind we enjoyed this Kestrel apparently just
hanging on the wind without a wing flap in sight.
This 1 second of images show the mass of adjustments the bird makes to her wings,
tail, and maybe even claws, to maintain the almost perfectly stationary head.
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These 4 pics rather simplify an interaction between Fox and Badger, and the Badger
is obviously the winner of the pecking (or should it be biting) order.
Top Left: The Fox spent a few minutes at a scrape on the Round Mound before suddenly
reacting to the arrival of a Badger coming up the mound.
Top Right: The Fox makes a hurried departure - thats the blur upper middle!
Bottom Left: The Fox watches from a distance as the Badger scrapes at the same place.
Bottom Right: 20 minutes later the Badger has gone and the Fox returns, but is already
reacting to something down the slope.
The target of their scrapes is a new Rabbit hole in this patch of the mound.
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High in a Black Poplar near the house, this Rook takes a disdainful look at the ground beneath.
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Rook nests are in various stages of construction.
Here what looks like two twigs being transported to build the nest ...
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... and here another Rook carrying some nest lining to a more complete build.
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High in a Black Poplar we get the feeling of disdain from this handsome Rook.
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The female Kestrels are about, but not visiting the Meadow Post in the same numbers as the previous few weeks.
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The 'Blonde' female Kestrel perhaps 50m away across the fields hunting from one of the 11kV cables.
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If you are hungry it doesn't matter that it is raining.
This is a Jackdaw ...
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... and 3 hours later the rain has stopped for this Rook.
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This Rook makes a majestic landing on the Meadow Post.
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Male Blackbirds are spectacular with their black plumage and brilliant yellow
beaks, but the females have a quiet delight of their own.
Who's been probing the mud then!
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For a trail cam this is a remarkably good image of a Pigeon in flight.
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From the kitchen window we see this magpie foraging about around the newly emerging Irises. The water provides an interesting reflection. The mild winter has allowed the Irises to reach about 30cm tall and it is still February.
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Warming itself in the sunshine high on a south facing wall, is this large Bumble Bee, apparently the same species seen occasionally flying by over the last few days.
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26 hours later (by chance to the minute) we see a member of the same species, possibly the same individual, rooting around in the grass outside the back door.
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A Rook guarding the phone cables?
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The landing Rook has no bad intentions towards the Pigeon, who nevertheless 'gets clear of the landing zone'.
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This magnificent Rook takes a selfie.
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A Gourmet Squirrel checks out the Catkins on a Willow tree behind main
pond.
"Yes - I can stuff myself on these"
Reminds us of a kid in a sweet shop!
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The same Squirrel spends several minutes selecting new Catkins and eating the smaller Catkins directly from the tree, while larger ones are pulled forward with a paw, bitten or broken off, and then eaten down the length like a Banana.
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In a more distant Willow tree two Grey Squirrels are quite close together as they feast on the barely open catkins.
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This female Kestrel made 2 visits to the Meadow post in 6 minutes, firstly the image on the right and on the second visit returning with what looks like Short-tail Field Vole in her beak. She didn't stay to eat it on the top of the post.
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This image of the landing Kestrel was taken about half a second after the image in the montage. The Kestrel has stopped, so the hanging vole swings forward.
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This Kestrel makes what looks like a slightly skewed landing in a blustery wind.
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This Kestrel seem to be landing into a strong north wind (from the left). Read this right to left.
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A calm morning moment as this pair of Reeves' Muntjac Deer spend a few minutes feeding at the hedge bottom. Neither is an adult male, but beyond that we could only guess.
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A tranquil moment on the grass beside the Duck Pond - Reeves' Muntjac Deer and Grey Squirrel quietly feeding among two clumps of Snowdrops.
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Moving along the edge of the south ditch inspecting the flooding we cross from the original third-acre garden and orchard into the 2 acre patch of pasture we planted, and came face-to-face with this Muntjac Deer. The Deer was momentarily panicked but quickly seem to decide that we mostly harmless. The little creature watches us watching them, intermittently nibbling grass while keeping an eye on the humans. Eventually the Deer walking into the undergrowth beside the path, and for us 'vanished'
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One of the nightly Foxes hunting over the Round Mound.
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An hour later this Fox looks like they stumbled at the Rabbit hole.
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A rather Kooky moment as this Fox glances up at the red glow from the Trail cam currently watching the Rabbit hole. This camera's IR lamp is almost invisible, but it is only about 1.5 metres away.
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We see a Polecat in some years- usually just a fleeting passage. Here it looks as if the Polecat has arrived from the left along the dry section of the ditch and clambered out to carry on the journey without going through the sticky mud where the ditch is blocked where it goes under the access track on the right.
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This newly arrived male Pheasant is BIG!
This is the three clearest pics of 7 pics over 3 days as he explores the whole site.
Left: Woodland site; Top right: South West corner ditch;
Bottom right: Back of main pond viewed from kitchen window.
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Right outside the living room window we keep seeing a Wren dashing about
in the scruffy hedge. Here they are collecting moss as bedding for a
nest.
We think the nest is about half a metre from the top of the hedge
at the right end of the window, but are reluctant to have a close look
from the outside for fear of triggering a desertion.
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At the moment if we get a sighting of a Chinese Water Deer the view usually
consists of two ear tips sticking above the grass. If you are lucky you might
spot another pair 10 or so metres away.
So this solitary Deer (or at least the only one standing up) was a pleasant
surprise in the distance across the field to the east.
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Our second sighting this week of Chinese Water Deer are these two pairs of ears poking above the 'fallow' field, as described earlier!
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A detail from a clump of Snowdrops, showing the raindrops clinging to the petal tips.
At the right edge one drop is shared by 2 petals.
No fiddling with a sprayer - genuine rain!
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An unfurling wild Rose leaf still drenched in morning rain.
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A virtual 'down' of Hares. These images, probably of the same Hare each time, are assembled over 4 days. Real 'downs' (collective name for Hares) are pretty rare - they are rather solitary creatures.
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Around dawn this Hare stays still long enough for this decent portrait. We see Hares at this site several times a week - normally lolloping through making a blurred mess not worth showing.
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A lucky timing as this Tawny Owl launches exactly 1 minute after landing. The empty post and the bird at the left are accurately positioned.
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One of the female Kestrels makes a 2 minutes visit to the Meadow Post. The final pic on the right looks like she is preparing to depart.
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We DO know how lucky we are to see Kestrels on most days, both in the automatic cameras and in the trees or in flight as we walk the paths.
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After the above visit to the Meadow Post, she moves to the tall trunk of the pollarded willow behind the Duck Pond. We only have a trail cam here, so the images are not prime quality, but it is good to see her making the most of all the hunting posts, and this camera also more reliably catches moments of departure.
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"What's that small bird on the top of the post?"
Oh - as you were - its the head of a woodpecker - twice.
Different posts - different peckers - same illusion.
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Here a green woodpecker spends a few minutes probing the pollarded willow at the back of Duck Pond before launching back towards the centre of the meadow, beak tip lost out of frame.
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A male Great Spotted Woodpecker on the Kitchen Peanut feeder was disturbed by movement at the Kitchen Window, and flew to a nearby willow trunk to wait for the disturbance to end.
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A few Fieldmice (Wood Mice) sightings at the hedge bottom. Mostly blurred images in rain, this pair (single frame) is by far the most attractive sighting as they share a midnight feast
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Just this one pic of a mouse at the Woodland site this week, and its another inexplicable leaping mouse.
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Watching this Kestrel hunting on this 11kV crossbar is interrupted by this
Rook arriving to remove this potential danger to their eggs-to-be.
Read top right downwards, then top middle to left (these accurately montaged).
We omitted the Rook flying off after the top centre image to provide clarity.
This lot took over an hour to 'get right' on the screen so we hope you like it!
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A closer look at the closest approach.
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This is probably the same Rook that has just chased away a Kestrel, landing on one of the 11kV cables, perhaps with a glow of satisfaction at a successful eviction?
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Returning from a walk we turn into the apology of a lawn to meet one of this year Fawn licking their face with their super-long tongue. If you haven't got hands their long tongue can even wipe over the eyes!
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A few pleasant minutes watching each other, as the Deer chomps away at some of the more exuberant grass stems.
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Perhaps a 10 or 20 times each year we catch an image of (only) a male Reeves' Muntjac Deer rubbing his forehead on grass like you see here. We assume its is something to do with the endless cycle of growth and shedding of his Antlers needing some help to remove the skin over the new ones, and later dislodging what are probably irritating end-of-use discards.
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Great Tits (above) and Blue Tit match their adjectival names to some extent.
Actually nest box holes for these birds are very precise - 28mm for Blue Tits
is too small for Great Tits that need 32mm, and can shared with Tree Sparrows.
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A glowing Blue Tit lands on the kitchen perch
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This male Chaffinch is already resplendent with his quite positively blue coated beak ready to start the years breeding.
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A small 'family' of Long-tailed Tits pops up momentarily around the house, but is intolerant of humans. So after seeing 4 on a peanut feeder at one though the study window, we catch this queuing bird waiting his turn.
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Just a single Fieldmouse (Wood Mouse) image at the hedge bottom this whole week, and it turns out to be this little delight.
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This week we see mice at two sites, but only one pic at each. Here a pair frisking about at the Meadow site ...
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... while only 20 minutes later and some 80 metres away we catch this absurd moment at the Woodland site. The Mouse must have leapt this high - a drop from above would be vertically blurred and anyway would not yet have triggered the photo from the pencil-wide IR beam running perhaps 10cm over the ground.
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The female Kestrels make regular visits to our patch, often to where we have no camera. Here one makes a spectacular landing on top of the Meadow Post.
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During the morning we thought that a single female Kestrel was spending a lot of time at the Meadow Post. Examining the photos show us that we had several visits by two different female Kestrels - first the one we have named 'Blondie' & then 'Brunette'.
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The new railings along all of the Farm boundaries provides some new
places for wildlife to 'do their thing'.
Here a Rook spent several minutes making sure the whole world knew
of their presence.
The previous farm owners surrounded the land with posts and barbed wire,
and the posts were very 'popular' with both Tawny and Barn Owls who
hunted their way along from post to the next post or two.
Whether this behaviour will return for this wooden style of railings we
have yet to discover.
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Owls and many other birds make a bee-line for any post on which
they can land - they get a 360 degree view of land to hunt.
On one night, though 4 hours apart, we see a Tawny Owl on the Pollard
at the back of Duck Pond (the poor monochrome Trail cam image), and then a
visit by probably the same Owl 4 hours later on the Meadow Post.
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More detail from the centre image in the montage - not yet quite making full contact with the Meadow Post
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A moment of perfect symmetry as this Wood Pigeon touches down.
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A rather magnificent Wood Pigeon lands on the meadow post, not bothered by smoke from a nearby bonfire.
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A dramatic and rather strange aerobraking Pigeon about to land at the Woodland site. The Wood Pigeon is 'caught' still a few centimetres from the ground.
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On most afternoons one window inevitably sees a few passages of a Sparrowhawk flash past. Occasionally one lands on the Kitchen perch. This time it appears to be the male, a smaller bird than the more often glimpsed female. Whether one or both flash past the window we have no idea.
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A closer view of the male Sparrowhawk
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This year Snowdrops are flowering in abundance in many of their traditional places These are at the base of the largest (Apple) tree in the orchard. The clump on the left are every year behind the clump on the right.
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A Reeves' Muntjac Deer visits the Hedge bottom in mid-morning.
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In the camera version we discover that these Deer actually have
quite long whiskers both above and below the muzzle.
We have photographed these deer for years and never caught the
light just right to see them.
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At the soggy woodland site this Reeves' Muntjac Deer visits near mid-day to pick up some of the remaining corn.
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