Archived & Upcoming Images of the Day
Mother Reeves' Muntjac Deer flees as we approach the Round Pond.
We didn't realise then that she had just 'parked' her Fawn on the Round Pond island,
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Just walking round the Round Pond was enough to spook the Muntjac Reeves Deer Fawn that mum has secreted away in a lump of foliage, completely taking the photographer by surprise. The youngster ran over the island to the other side, jumped into the water and used a sort of flailing doggy-paddle to the opposite bank where they bounded away from the pond. In this first image you can see 4 pics along with the frothed up water from the swim.
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More detail of the Fawn bounding up the bank of Round Pond and away. You can just see water flying from the Fawn's body on the 'first' (rightmost) image.
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A single frame from dozens caught the frightened little being stampeding away, fur still drenched in Pond water.
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This Sparrowhawk makes a powerful looking descent onto the Kitchen perch.
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2 days earlier, almost to the minute, one of the local Sparrowhawks lands back-to-camera on the grass at the Meadow site.
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A beautiful colour hiding away in the ground cover.
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Over a couple of days Cherry blossom suddenly appears all over the site.
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Willow trees come in a good many species and we bought several types for the initial planting. We just haven't kept track of what went where. Here the resulting mix show how the colours and flowering times are wildly different.
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Suddenly signs of the year 'turning' are all about us. We planted lots of cultivar Crocuses 3 decades ago and are still enjoying some of them.
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Snowdrops have done exceptionally well this year, with dozens of self-set
clumps and expanded patches appearing all over the site.
A chance grouping of two different crocus varieties (yellow at bottom and
lilac at top) with some fully open Snowdrops between them.
It is a montage to get all the flowers in focus at the same time - this is
what the patch really looks like.
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Our most elegant visitor overnight is this Barn Owl.
Our rodent population would disagree!
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Land right to left while looking backwards creates this asymmetric landing.
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This Tawny Owl (90% sure that it is the same bird) visits first the Meadow Post top (left) and an hour later the perch outside the kitchen window.
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Just 2 visits by Owls this week - starting with this Tawny Owl.
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This Barn Owl drops in on the Meadow Post for a few minutes hunt.
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While we rambled around our patch, this female Reeves' Muntjac and the humans meet eye to eye.
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After female and humans staring at each for another for a few moments, the male appears and starts to check the female for readiness to mate for his/her version of 'Chanel No 5'. Muntjac can mate only a few days after giving birth and the male must not miss his opportunity.
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The female Muntjac Reeves Deer, reliably followed by the male, wander over the Round Mound.
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Lovely surprise of the week - mother Reeves' Muntjac Deer with a very young Fawn,
taking a late morning walk down our concrete access track.
This is our first and so far only sighting of a Fawn so far.
All being well, Mum and Fawn will soon settle to a routine of the Fawn being
left in a 'safe place' for the day where Mum will return to feed the
youngster (milk) in the evening. Occasionally the Fawn abandons their safe
place (so would you if you sensed a Fox or Badger approaching) and we hear
Mum calling out to find her sprog as darkness descends.
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A better view (middle of the montage) of the speckled Fawn beside Mum.
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Right outside the study window this male Reeves' Muntjac Deer samples the weeds in a huge pot left unkempt in the Winter.
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The female Reeves' Muntjac Deer walks past the Duck Pond.
With milk to make for the youngster she will spend longer each day foraging.
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Lots of Foxes this week - they are most probably raising cubs and need lots of kills.
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Checking frames on either side tells us that the item in the Foxes mouth is not a line-of-site effect. Colour and form suggest a Pigeon got careless.
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Some unfortunate creature has attracted the attention of this Fox.
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In mid-afternoon this Fox hunts their way up to Duck Pond.
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The male Mallard Duck departing from the Duck Pond as a human arrives, quacking as he goes.
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The pair of Mallard Ducks currently frequenting our patch, here viewed across the Round Pond from the opposite bank.
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A Rook flies by - real separation between frames is indeterminate.
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Rooks really are magnificent birds.
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This Rook has taken off from the top of the telephone pole nearest the house.
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This male Pheasant seems keen to show off his tail.
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The dominant male Pheasant takes a selfie.
We suspect that there are female nests in the 'Meadow' but waterlogging
has prevented us doing our winter maintenance and now we are concerned
about so-easily treading on eggs.
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The dominant male Pheasant - this time descending the Round Mound.
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This male Reeves' Muntjac deer spent at least 10 minutes on the island of main pond. Firstly from a downstairs window having an extensive groom.
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From an upstairs window the male Reeves' Muntjac Deer was chewing and scent marking one of the willow stems.
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Fox arrives at the flooded ditch by the south hedge gap. This is an accurate montage of pics a few seconds apart helps 'lead you' into the picture.
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This Harvestman is on the top of the trail cam that watches the Round Mound.
The air temperature is only just above freezing and the almost torpid
subject barely reacted as we moved them away from the hinge so it couldn't get caught.
Harvestmen are neither Insects nor Arachnids (Spiders) but fortunately
our Spider ID book mentions them so as not to confuse them with Spiders!
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The male Reeves' Muntjac Deer crosses the camera left to right.
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At about the same time the next day probably the same Deer appears to be standing in the flooded ditch enjoying a drink of the quite disgustingly muddy water.
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On a dull afternoon (like most other afternoons at moment) this female Reeves' Muntjac Deer wanders past the main pond
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More detail of the image at the left, tongue out to wipe over the face.
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There is always at least 1 more corn grain if you look hard enough!
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The sodden fields around us attract gulls to eat invertebrates (probably mostly worms) brought to the surface to avoid drowning. The new wooden railings let us get rather closer than in previous years.
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A pair of Blackbirds has taken 'ownership' of this hedge bottom site. This female manages this nice selfie, but the male doesn't have any sense of how to get a good picture :-)
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The Round mound sees the passage of this Badger.
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Many hours later in the same night this Badger (we think a different one to that seen on the Mound) inspects the Hedge Bottom.
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Detail from the above.
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The winner of the 'I'm the Boss' Pheasant competition.
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This Pheasant male seems to be wetting his feathers in the flooded ditch prior to enjoying a really thorough preen beside the ditch
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The end of the 'photo-week' brought this single image that seems to capture the essence of this night hunter.
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The Rook at the top was about to launch when another Rook flew by. The cameraman naturally followed the bird in flight so missed the actual launch of the original subject.
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More detail of the upper bird.
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A pair of Magpies can often be seen perched about 70m along the Farm hedge to our south. They reliably depart when we appear, in this case almost vertically
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Landing imminent.
The top edge of the wing glows with blue iridescence.
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One of the large Badgers sits down near the east hedge gap. It's noticeable that only older badgers stop to sit down - we hope they don't suffer some sort of joint or muscle distress.
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One of the Fox visitors slinking their way through the Hedge bottom.
The right edge of this crop is as much as we have.
Badgers & Foxes show intense but guarded aggression if they meet on their nighttime hunts.
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A male Pheasant enters across the ditch (thus a montage) - dark plumage and dark & flat top of head.
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At first light the next day we get this single sighting of a Weasel by the same flooded ditch near the south hedge gap.
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3 hours later this male Reeves' Muntjac Deer paddles through the muddy water
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There seems to be no end to the laying water.
Makes for some atypical reflections though.
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Rook lands on the woodland Tree-stump.
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An assortment of medium sized birds passed by for portraits:-
A Song Thrush.
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An assortment of medium sized birds passed by for portraits:-
A Redwing, with a Blackbird recessive at the left side.
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Next day possibly the same Redwing is at the Hedge Bottom showing us their reflection.
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Our Skittish Long-tailed Tit family make a bee-line for the peanut feeders but never stay very long. Here the two were both inside the feeder, while the bird on the screw thread of the G-Cramp is from a frame seconds later still awaiting their turn on the nuts.
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Its just getting dark - time for the Sparrowhawk to make a last check on the Kitchen bird perch & feeder complex to catch some unwary late visitor
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This Barn Owl graced our patch, first at the Meadow post for several minutes, and then at the Kitchen Perch (right image)
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An early afternoon Fox wanders around the edge of Duck Pond.
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More detail of the image at the left.
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This Fox has obviously spotted the dull red infrared glow of this trail-cam and gives it a good stare.
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Its time of year for Fox love-ins - this may be one but they were gone a few seconds later.
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Walking up the Access track from the north catches this back-lit Grey Squirrel enjoying the corn chucked down some 10 minutes earlier.
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This Grey Squirrel is searching the mud in the hedge bottom. The interminable rain has flooded the path by the hedge providing the reflection of the Squirrel.
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All round the periphery of our patch different Robins skulk in the hedges until they deem it safe to emerge to collect the hand outs.
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Several metres up on an 11kV cable these two Rooks landed facing into the west wind (from the left here) but seem more interested in something to the west - out of our view to the right from our ground level perspective.
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All the early prospective nests in the Black Poplars down the access track have completely vanished in the storms, but intermittently the Rooks are still staking out their territories. Inside our more protected plot a few nests have survived and are the subject of squabbling and stealing of sticks.
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A Rook touches down on the Meadow Post flying from the South.
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3 minutes later a Jackdaw arrives from the North.
There must have been negligeable wind for birds to land both ways through
it.
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A 'smart' magpie - visually and mentally.
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This single female Pheasant spends over half-an-hour rooting around the
woodland site as night turns into day (right to left).
Pheasants are attractive birds, but not very 'bright'.
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