Archived & Upcoming Images of the Day
The female Sparrowhawk pays a brief visit to the Kitchen perch.
A few 'sightings' most days as a Sparrowhawk rockets past a window.
Here one not spotted 'by eye' catches the bird flashing past the kitchen
window triggering the automatic camera.
Both movement and distance blurred and partially corrected in the
photo-editor, but we hope that you get the idea.
This Barn Owl has here triggered the Kitchen Window camera as they departed ...
... and made a bee-line for the Meadow Post where they spent a couple of minutes.
Where there's Mud there's Grub.
A take on 'Where there's muck there's brass'.
A Jackdaw just landing on the tree stump.
Jackdaws used to be the main Corvid visitors here, a slot now filled by Rooks.
Wood Pigeon takes his portrait.
This male Reeves's Muntjac Deer was at the top left of the photo frame,
so making this portrait was the best way to enjoy this creature.
Now we know that there are scent glands on the front of the face between
the eyes, its easy to see the dark edges of the sealing lips.
Badgers are just not disappearing from the scene in a state of "Winter Lethargy" or Torpor so far this winter. Badgers are heavy animals, and not given to leaping over the flooded ditch like many Foxes and Deer, but instead just slog through the water and mud.
Our arrival at the blocked gate was greeted by this Kestrel hunting from an 11kV cable about 50m away. Aiming the camera waiting for them to pounce on prey or fly off, instead we saw and caught on camera the moment when the Kestrel made an obvious start to pounce, but changed their mind and just managed not to fall off the perch. With virtually no wind it is not a gust disturbing the perching bird. This is the first time we remember having seen this aborted launch. Read this stretched sequence bottom left upwards.
About a minute later the time was right for the attack.
For us the bird vanished behind the hedge under the power cable and we
didn't see the Kestrel again.
The bird on the cable was during the stare downwards, but the birds descent
is accurately montaged at about 8 frames per second.
Accurately spaced montages often have to discard detail in favour of representing action. So here is a 4 image compacted montage extracted from the events shown above.
Probably just this one Kestrel has in the last few weeks taken a shine to this branch tip about 40m from the house. For once a bit of sunshine illuminates the bird as they hunt the meadow below.
This has been a sort of 'Week of the Badger' - only on the Trail Cams but something like about 40 pics of various Badgers going about their night-time world. Here this one spent half-an-hour rooting through the leaf litter while making the 50m trip from the East hedge gap to the edge of Round Pond.
Our leaking Round Pond has filled itself from the ground water and rain to reach only about 30cm from the top edge. Convenient for this Badger to get a drink.
Just after 2 a.m. we see this Badger 3 times in the same minute moving from the Round Mound to the pond that was dug out in creating it.
Another brief 'walk by' by this Badger - the whole visit lasting less than a minute.
This compost maker must be about 40 years old and still works fine. The lid got lost during our move here 35 years ago, so it gets ad-hoc tops none as heavy as the original, so the Squirrel can push them aside and descend to pick out their favourite kitchen scraps.
Grey Squirrels have amazing control over their tails.
Every few days at the moment we see this Grey Squirrel collecting dry leaves to warm up the drey. As usual they are making their way to the trunk of a huge conifer to the left of the camera where they have successfully hidden their Drey from our human prying eyes
This Tawny Owl spent just a minute or two on the perch outside the kitchen.
10 minutes later most likely the same Tawny Owl lands on the Meadow post where they stayed for at least another 5 minutes - entirely back to camera except for the pic on the right half-a-second after landing.
A closer look at that lovely Tawny Owl outside the Kitchen Window.
One of the male Pheasants was walking quietly over the recent;y seeded field to our south (bottom pic). The Pheasant decided to fly off and the camera 'found' the bird as it appeared from behind the now 4 metres high mound of spoil outside our south boundary. These pics are naturally spaced at about 8 fps
The first 4 of the flight images compacted for a little more detail.
We rarely see Pheasants in flight - we disturb them inside our Woodland
and 'Can't see the Pheasant for the Trees'.
A sunset and the following morning sunrise features clouds that made for some interesting effects.
First 2 sunsets
Next morning a somewhat threatening Sunrise.
From a normally simple '1 male and a few female Pheasants' we have
completely lost track of the numbers and grouping of this years Pheasants.
In previous weeks we have seen 3 males and a few females.
Here we see 1 male and 7 females ...
... while a minute later we see 2 males still on the Round Mound.
A quarter-of-an-hour later one of the females takes her selfie at the hedge bottom perhaps 50 metres from the pond.
We disturbed this Red Kite from somewhere near the front of the house. The Kite circled about before flying off West towards the gradually increasing number of nests in the distant Rookery. Only a few of the nests had a current occupant, so the Kite got away with his flyover without being mobbed by several territorial Rooks.
In the depth of the woodland a shaft of sunlight illuminates the power
distribution box for the camera equipment to the north sites, complete
with this Grey Squirrel enjoying a few minutes of 'sunbathing'
How does wildlife know it needs Vitamin D, and humans don't?
Grey Squirrels are lively inhabitants, here scampering across the hedge bottom using the stone as a transient stepping stone.
One of two Foxes, seen together 6 minutes before, quietly slinks their way to the bank of Duck Pond in the hope of catching some unfortunate creature unawares.
14 minutes onward sees what looks like the same Fox arriving at the Round Mound some 80 metres away.
Another 9 minutes on sees the arrival of a Badger at the same Mound.
The Fox has disappeared - Foxes and Badgers mostly really dislike each other.
The Fox did reappear on the mound another 10 minutes on, as a glimpse
of their tail disappearing out of frame (not shown)!
This Badger seems to be walking down the flooded ditch and turned towards the camera for this portrait.
An hour later probably the same Badger ambled through the high resolution camera in the meadow, providing this 'Prey's eye view'
This Fox moves with a purpose across the Woodland Site.
The Fox checks out the island at Duck Pond.<
Is it worth the cold swim to check it out more thoroughly?
NO!
This Fox is already staring at the camera Dark Red illuminator as they enter the frame.
The stone provides this Grey Squirrel with a way to keep their feet out of the mud!
With the temperature stuck at 5C and 6C over several days and nights it is cold enough to need to supplement the bedding in the Drey.
One of the at least 3 male Pheasants stomps through the dead leaves at the end of the 'orchard'. Note the match of colour of the bird and the leaves.
One or more Tawny Owls visited 3 different photo-sites in 3 hours after midnight.
An attack at the Woodland site - no way of knowing if the bird succeeded.
A fly-by or otherwise unrecorded visit to the Kitchen Perch.
A landing for a few minutes stay at the Meadow Post.
One of the several Tawny Owl visits over a week.
A few minutes of a Tawny Owl visit.
The left and next are just half-a second apart - straight to the hunt then.
One and a half Hours later this Tawny Owl probably landed on the Kitchen Perch.
This female Reeves' Muntjac Deer looks a bit awkward as she scratches her fur behind her head with a rear hoof. You can see how developing upright posture and hands gave humans such an advantage.
A female Reeves' Muntjac Deer portrait an hour after midnight.
A pair of Reeves' Muntjac Deer visited the edge of Duck Pond.
The male is behind the female while female has a light patch on her flank that
suggests that the male has recently mounted her.
2 Rabbits visit the Meadow site shortly before 'sunrise' - or what would be sunrise if the weather wasn't an almost continuous overcast.
Its a shame that animals are most remembered and identified by their physical defects.
But is nice to catch up with this old 'friend' that we call Three-ears after an accident of
some sort several years ago almost completely split one ear.
2 different Rabbits visiting the Meadow site about an hour apart a bit before 'sunrise'. The one on the left looks like our venerable 'Three Ears'.
Almost every actual sunrise for weeks has been obscured by overcast skies.
On this morning partial cloud cover provided this view of the sun below horizon
illuminating this stream of clouds.
3 horizontally accurately montaged pics to get the width.
What we assume is a juvenile male Kestrel visits the Meadow post twice in 12 minutes
The 'current' Kestrel makes a short stay on the Meadow Post.
The Buzzard doesn't seem bothered by 10 ton lorries driving beneath them when
perched on the Lombardy Poplars along the east section of the Farm Road,
but a pair of humans 100m away is 'too much' and off they go.
Climbing away we catch these first 3 frames accurately montaged at 8 f.p.s.
About 4 seconds later the bird takes a look back to be sure that we haven't taken off after them?
A male Reeves Muntjac Deer stops near the flooded south ditch,
looking back at the camera while licking his muzzle with that formidable
tongue.
All 4 scent glands on his face are back to the normal closed position.
The female Reeves' Muntjac Deer comes in over the south ditch.
The ever-territorial Robin has decided they can't share the bird table with the already resident Dunnock.
We are unfortunately seeing the rat regularly despite trying to ensure that no
food waste is left at this site overnight.
We have to admit that this one looks almost 'twee'?
Across the Pond as viewed from inside the house, this Jay spends a couple of minutes scampering about the trees before disappearing into the conifer behind.
Rooks seem to like lining up along the rails of the few months old railings.
Its unfortunate that they look a bit like the targets at fairground shooting stalls.
A vigorous Rose grows up inside our one Laurel tree. Both produce fruits at the same time, and the Squirrel seems to enjoy them both.
Enough Rose Hips for now!
It seems weird to watch any creature 'walking down' head first however many
times we have seen it! Squirrel have rotatable rear claws that allow them to
perform the feat.
A bit of a barney between these two Magpies.
The near bird has their beak wide open - a little disguised by the background.
The Meadow Post is smothered in frost which doesn't seem to bother the Magpie at all
Bill and Coo, or a less friendly interaction?
This must be a loving pair of Wood Pigeons for the already perched bird to trust the landing bird not to collide.
A Wood Pigeon conducting the Wind? Certainly MAKING some wind ahead of the landing.
These two pics half a second apart of this Wood Pigeon is landing on the Meadow Post.
A nicely poised Fox near the East Hedge Gap.
What happened next (skipping 1 of 5 shown individually) was
2 of 5 The Fox obviously knows that 'someone' is coming.
3 of 5 The arrival turns out to be another Fox who it seems walks straight by.
4 of 5 The arriving Fox goes straight towards the east hedge gap.
5 of 5 The remaining Fox turns to watch the passer-by leave.
Owl visits to the ground must be mostly Rodent attacks, and mostly occur away from the cameras. Here a Tawny Owl landed and spent a few seconds on the patch of path near the East hedge Gap. The Owl was stationary for the few seconds covering these images, so we have spread them right to left.
A couple of moments from this Tawny Owl's visit on the Meadow Post.
The female Sparrowhawk makes a flying (how else?) visit to the kitchen perch.
A previous visit by the female Sparrowhawk giving a good view of the feather patterns on the top of the bird.