Archived & Upcoming Images of the Day
This Tawny Owl plonks down on the Kitchen Perch (visit duration unknown) ...
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... and 20 minutes later arrives at the Meadow Post in almost identical fashion.
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An hour after midnight this beautiful Barn Own is first sighted making this back-to-camera landing on the Kitchen Perch ...
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.... but a few minutes later they land on the Meadow post for a few minutes ...
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... before returning after another few minutes later for a short stop
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A different montage of the same event to provide more Owl detail.
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A Wood Pigeon lands at the Meadow Site at rather higher speed than we suspect the bird intended. Add your own imaginary 'Go Faster' stripes.
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One of the 'Kitchen Pigeons' placidly awaits the arrival of their mate, trusting that there will not be any sort of collision. The static bird's head is nicely shadowed on the breast of the arrival.
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One of several male Pheasants picks his way over the Round Mound. The top of this one's head is rather flat and a dull grey.
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What seems to be a different male Pheasant takes this selfie.
This individual has a noticeably dark variation of plumage.
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A very elegant Rook doesn't look quite so refined once you notice that they are standing in a puddle of mud.
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There seem to be a group of about 10 mixed Rooks and Jackdaws that arrive at certain sites for a joint feed, possibly following the humans doling out food at the photo sites and elsewhere.
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At midday this Rook arrives to check out the Hedge Bottom.
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No serious rain for days but the ditches are still awash from agricultural run-off and all the paths are slippery enough to need care. This male Reeves' Muntjac Deer may have stopped at the water for a drink.
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This male Reeves' Muntjac deer is rubbing the ground with the scent glands hidden on the front of his face.
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2 Reeves' Muntjac Deer here, one obvious in the foreground while another is on the path a few metres behind. It is very difficult to judge the relative sizes, and we don't see any tell-tale antlers, so the mostly hidden Deer MIGHT by a juvenile still following Mum around.
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We are seeing both Green and Great Spotted Woodpeckers at the moment. Here is a female Green Woodpecker in their characteristic position hanging on to the side of a post or tree trunk.
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This female Green Woodpecker likes the edge of the Meadow Post.
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The best pic this year of a Jay, atypically at the hedge bottom.
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A rather silly montage of this Grey Squirrel spending 11 minutes working their way along the stone picking up corn. We haven't even tried to hide the joins.
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This Grey Squirrel, surrounded by nutritious Catkins, is dozing as they digest their prize, ready to cram in some more..
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The falling tree now forming the tree-stump was rather inexpertly felled by yours truly, leaving this uneven surface. We don't often see birds choosing to perch with their legs at different heights .
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3 images of (we think the same) Robin over 50 minutes montaged into the impression of a land - pause - depart sequence.
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Barn Owl visits are infrequent, but here we get landings at the Meadow Post and the Kitchen perch inside about 2 minutes.
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Here is more detail of the landing in front of the kitchen window. This Barn Owl has been ringed, but we can't quite read enough of it to be useful.
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Time to go
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This single Rook makes an elegant rise and landing onto an 11kV cable
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We can't remember whether the Rook already on the cable is the previous arrival, but another Rook flies in to perch beside the already perched bird and seems to be making some sort of greeting dip of the head.
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Trying out new positions for the repaired camera 'watching' this mound produced this evocative study of a Fox quartering the south slope.
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Fox activity at mid-day - quietly hunting at the bank of Round Pond and about 6 minutes later departing at the east hedge gap.
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This elegant Wood Pigeon makes their landing approach.
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We know that Pigeons are a pest in both cities and on crops, but here in limited numbers they really are a delight.
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We seem to be celebrating landing Wood Pigeons this week!
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This pair of Wood Pigeons on the kitchen bird table/perch have appeared as an obviously mated pair for the last 3 years. They often feed together, and trust each other over close spaced landings. They build a nest about 5m from the house but just out of line-of-sight from the kitchen window.
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No, the thieving Magpie has not stolen a ladies engagement ring, but some sort of circular stem encrusted with moss.
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Grab the food even if you have barely landed.
Perhaps the corn always moves in the down draft from the bird's aerobraking
and their mental equipment says 'grab it before it gets away'.
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Another well judged landing ...
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... but landings don't always go as intended.
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Possibly the last visit to the Kitchen Perch on this day for this Sparrowhawk.
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A comparatively light snow on Saturday-Sunday 4-5 Jan 2015 created the usual opportunity for some pics. Snow streaks past the camera as a Fox continues their hunt.
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The overall snow cover was only a few centimetres, but this exposed site got some extra drifted snow.
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To paraphrase one of our old nature books:-
In winter Grey Squirrels only come out to feed on warm days.
Mmm?
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By quarter to nine the day has started, but this Fox is still out on the hunt.
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In mid-morning the trail cam watching the south hedge gap sees this Fox (left) jumping over the flooded ditch. But the Fox doesn't continue through the hedge gap but circles back for a drink from the muddy water in the ditch.
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Half and hour later this Fox takes his selfie walking through the orchard back towards the ditch.
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A female Reeves' Muntjac Deer reached through from the path behind and takes a selfie.
The pattern of marks inside the ear (the auricle) probably uniquely identifies the individuals.
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Female (left) and Male Reeves' Muntjac Deer visit the hedge bottom for a hopeful snack and a drink from the mini-river running down the south inner path. The image on the right is the full frame - not quite the perfect fit!
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This Rook flew past us behind a couple of the Farm's Lombardy Poplars.
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Convenient perching places - so long as you don't touch another one.
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A really dull mid-day doesn't stop this Rook doing some landing acrobatics.
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A Green Woodpecker makes a departure from the Meadow Post without first triggering the camera on their arrival
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A surprise arrival of this Kestrel saw them land in some of the now 3m high spoil heaps some 50m away from the camera. But the bird spotted the humans and decided not to stay.
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The camera caught some of the departure flight.
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Detail from the above.
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Final departure.
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What appears to be two different Robin visits to the Tree-stump 2 hours apart.
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A pristine Robin.
Keeping reasonably warm in the freezing nights needs every bit of insulation
they can find.
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A Great Tit and robin in this single frame provide an unexpected size comparison.
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This Robin is an early visitor to the hedge bottom.
'The early bird catches the (drowned?) worm."
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Grey Squirrels are very much getting 'in the mood', with the males unfortunately getting very territorial.
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This 'friendly pair' of Grey Squirrels are sharing the frosted Meadow site.
The last couple of years has seen these two all over the site in quiet companionship -
we suspect that they are sibling females
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From the north side of the house we see a panorama of trees all facing south. It's mainly Squirrels that we see taking advantage of such sunny patches. This is a montage of different Squirrels at the same time but about 10 metres apart in Willow (left) and Silver Birch trees.
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This Grey Squirrel is out looking for lunch - who nicked all the goodies out here earlier this morning?
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In the early hours this Owl lands on the Kitchen perch.
9 minutes later they land on the Meadow post for an at least 5 minute
stay entirely back to camera (not shown)!
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An adult Badger lumbers over the east hedge gap area, snout under the leaves in search of, most probably, worms.
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A few days later in the mud along a field margin, we spot this deep paw print of the front foot of a large badger.
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A rather dull day saw this Red Kite passing to our south. The plumage is particularly well coloured without enhancement.
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A closer looks at this Red Kite a few seconds later.
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Carnivore vs. Herbivore.
The Fox (left) is really not equipped to tackle prey larger than itself, and
both creatures know it. They spent several minutes together at the site
both carefully staying away from one another.
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Near the end of the same night a Fox stops at the edge of Duck Pond and looks across at the island it could reach if they didn't mind getting muddy and wet.
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2 days later just east of the hedge-bottom site, we find evidence of a Fox
attack on what is probably the remains of a Pigeon.
Feathers Bitten off and scattered (as here) - mostly likely a Fox.
Feathers plucked in a circle - most likely Sparrowhawk.
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This is most definitely a MONTAGE!
The original two images were taken only 6 minutes apart, and
provide a visual emphasis on how small Reeves' Muntjac Deer really are
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We think that this Grey Squirrel has dug up one of this years conkers from their cache.
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This Grey Squirrel spent about 20 minutes stuffing themselves on the latest food offering. Eventually the Wood Pigeon was allowed a turn at the largess.
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This Grey Squirrel looks demure as they feed from corn at the woodland site.
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More bedding for the Drey - just like humans as the weather gets colder.
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In a quite strong wind these Rooks make unexpected movements in the sky. Here the upper bird (seen here twice about 125mS apart) passes the basically stationary perched bird.
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The flying bird went on and perched on a different twig, but the twig was not quite as strong as the Rook expected and over about 4 seconds the twig gradually bent under the birds weight until horizontal. The bird didn't mind, changing claw positions to match, and stayed on the now horizontal perch, gently bouncing up and down in the blustery wind.
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Birds normally perch with head into the wind, but this one just ignores their feathers being blown about - for the moment anyway.
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