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Image-of-the-Day by Subject

Image Taken on 26 May 2011 at 10:28    Image of day on 22 Jun 2011

We have been seeing fresh broken snail shells in more places than usual, and here is one of the culprits!


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Image Taken on 02 Aug 2010 at 05:57    Image of day on 14 Sep 2010

Various stony places are littered with broken snail shells. Here is the culprit - a Song Thrush. We think this is a youngish one - it has certainly taken the snail to where there is no convenient stone.


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Image of day on 08 Feb 2005

Song thrush with unusually light markings.


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Image Taken on 15 Aug 2015 at 18:15    Image of day on 17 Oct 2015

Our first image of a Song Thrush for some time is this unusual moment of one of this year wild cherries looking like it will choke the bird, but is obviously completely normal fare.


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Image Taken on 12 Apr 2014 at 17:39    Image of day on 03 Jun 2014

A Song thrush with a worm - its is not eating it so it must be for the brood.


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Image Taken on 07 Jun 2006 at 21:19    Image of day on 17 Jun 2006

Haven't seen many thrushes lately, so it's nice to see this fine example.


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Image Taken on 05 Feb 2017 at 22:36    Image of day on 13 Mar 2017

20 minutes after a very short touchdown the same Tawny Owl, arrives back at high speed (seen on CCTV recording and reflecting the increased stall speed) from the left for a 10 minute stay, unexpectedly carrying a Fieldfare in the Talons.
The Owl stood still for a few minutes, presumably waiting for the poor bird to expire while squeezed in the talons, before ripping it to pieces to eat it. At 10:35 p.m. it is far too dark for Fieldfares to be out feeding, so we are advised that this one probably chose a not very safe place to roost. To choose our post as it's butcher's table suggests that the Fieldfare was snatched from one of our trees in the main woodland area.


Ref: 20170313_d01_20170205_2236_005-2244_015_fb6 tawny owl landing on tree stump with fieldfare in talons and dismembering it 01+05+08+09+11 of 13 (montage)(r+mb id@1024).jpg

Image Taken on 06 Feb 2017 at 06:56    Image of day on 13 Mar 2017

Early next morning we found the aftermath ...
Testing the IR beam trigger shows us the remains on the top of the post. These had gone by the time we had seen the pics and went out to look for signs. We found feathers scattered around the post and a few heaped at the bottom of the post on the South side shown here.


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Image Taken on 19 Jan 2013 at 16:31    Image of day on 26 Feb 2013

The local Thrush also put in several appearances in the snow. The bird has started using a sheet of corrugated iron (intended to attract snakes in the summer) as it's 'Anvil'.


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Image Taken on 27 Feb 2013 at 16:30    Image of day on 04 Apr 2013

The Robins around the plot are busy courting and are now often seen as non-aggressive companions. Here such a pair get a quizzical look from the Thrush.


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Image Taken on 19 Dec 2009 at 15:11    Image of day on 25 Jan 2010

Long after installing and removing a camera at a known thrush anvil (which got some nice images) two existing sites each took some images of a thrush with a snail. At this site we found a few snail shells round the stone.


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Image Taken on 22 Dec 2009 at 15:52    Image of day on 25 Jan 2010

This site doesn't seem to have a suitable 'anvil' anywhere near.


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Image Taken on 24 Jun 2009 at 07:27    Image of day on 01 Aug 2009

Thrush bashing a snail on the stone to get at breakfast. He ate at least two like this in 5 minutes.


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Image Taken on 20 Jun 2009 at 09:33    Image of day on 19 Jul 2009

Clearing up the site a bit and getting his stone back level with the surface has brought back the thrush. Interesting what little details are important.


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Image Taken on 03 Jun 2009 at 13:30    Image of day on 04 Jul 2009

We found a stone surrounded to broken snail shells - the first 'thrushes anvil' we have ever found. Installing a camera and beam-break at it with care not to disturb the anvil site was quickly rewarded with some images of the thrush with snails. First a thrush with snail approaching the stone which is at the left edge a quarter of the way up.


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Image Taken on 03 Jun 2009 at 16:07    Image of day on 04 Jul 2009

Several hours later a closer image (with presumably a fresh snail).


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