Image-of-the-Day by Subject

Image-of-the-Day by Subject

Mammals - Cat Page 1

Image of day on 05 Feb 2006

Attracting the birds attracts predators including this huge black cat to be seen in the main section carrying off a rabbit.

Ref: 20060205_d3e_28880 fb1 black cat face detail (crop&proc) 2006jan31_05-32-10(r+mb id@576).jpg

Image Taken on 07 Sep 2015 at 01:33 Image of day on 09 Nov 2015

A few days after our first recent sighting of the cat under the hedge on the South boundary, here is hunting at 1:30 a.m. at the woodland site.
When we first saw this in thumbnail form we thought the potato and leaf stalk near bottom right was a mouse the cat was hunting!

Ref: 20151109_e64_20150907_0133_126_fb2 cat domestic(r+mb id@1024).jpg

Image Taken on 12 Oct 2016 at 02:13 Image of day on 23 Nov 2016

Just half an hour apart a Tabby Cat and a Fox visited this site in the positions shown. We have always thought of cats as much smaller than a fox, but in this case they are quite similar.

Ref: 20161123_e64_20161012_0213_088+0243_089_fb2 cat domestic and then fox hunting 30 minutes apart (montage)(r+mb id@768).jpg

Image Taken on 20 Oct 2016 at 20:52 Image of day on 02 Dec 2016

We see this Cat passing the front door (on CCTV) several times a week, but it doesn't often visit our high resolution camera sites. Pet owners may never see their moggies irises open like this in the dark.

Ref: 20161202_e62_20161020_2052_040_fb5 cat domestic black(r+mb id@768).jpg

Image Taken on 12 Oct 2017 at 23:34 Image of day on 24 Nov 2017

All is NOT well for the Fieldmouse (Wood Mouse) near the lower right corner.
We will never know who 'won' this battle for life.

Ref: 20171124_e64_20171012_2334_041_fb2 cat domestic black leaping at mouse (crop 2)(r+mb id@768).jpg

Image Taken on 15 Sep 2015 at 01:40 Image of day on 14 Nov 2015

This cat making more unwelcome visits taking at least 2 prey items in one night. First it caught this fieldmouse (wood mouse) in one claw at the woodland site.

Ref: 20151114_e64_20150915_0140_018_fb2 cat domestic catching fieldmouse (wood mouse) (crop)(r+mb id@768).jpg

Image Taken on 02 Oct 2018 at 05:03 Image of day on 20 Nov 2018

The Ginger Cat on 'his' night-time prowl.
We did some research on whether all Ginger cats are 'Toms' (males) as we had long understood, but we found that only 3 in 4 are male, the Gene being on the X chromosome and recessive. See Wiki if you don't understand.

Ref: 20181120_e63_20181002_0503_093_fb1 cat domestic ginger(r+mb id@576).jpg

Image Taken on 02 Oct 2018 at 07:09 Image of day on 23 Nov 2018

A little sad drama as a Wood Pigeon struck the kitchen window (despite is being cluttered with a camera, flash on a pole an various plant pots) and dropped dead onto the grass outside. We moved the sad body to the meadow camera site expecting a Fox, Badger or Buzzard to take it away, but nothing touched it for a week.
This Ginger cat takes a look but didn't obviously disturb it.

Ref: 20181123_e62_20181002_0709_026_fb5 cat domestic ginger examining dead wood pigeon(r+mb id@768).jpg

Image Taken on 21 Nov 2017 at 21:56 Image of day on 30 Dec 2017

The local Tabby Cat takes a night-time stroll, just a ring of yellow for the eyes with pupils fully dilated.
We are far from being 'Cat People', but admit this is a fine creature even if it does kill rodents we would rather the Owls could catch.

Ref: 20171230_e62_20171121_2156_076_fb5 cat domestic tabby(r+mb id@768).jpg

Image Taken on 22 Nov 2014 at 00:45 Image of day on 15 Jan 2015

Ah - not our favourite visitor & a about a year since we have seen a Tabby Cat. Look at the completely open Irises it uses in the dark. This was taken shortly after midnight.

Ref: 20150115_e64_20141122_0045_073_fb2 cat domestic tabby(r+mb id@768).jpg

Image Taken on 08 Dec 2013 at 17:04 Image of day on 22 Jan 2014

A Tabby as his 'owner' never sees him, with iris reduced to narrow bands in the near blackness. See a contrasting comment for the Tawny owl whose Iris can 'vanish'.

Ref: 20140122_d5c_20131208_1704_299_fb2 cat domestic tabby (crop 1)(r+mb id@768).jpg

Image Taken on 15 Sep 2015 at 01:58 Image of day on 14 Nov 2015

20 minutes later cat was carrying away more prey at the hedge site. We have trouble identifying the prey. Although it is 2 a.m. it looks like a bird, and size and shape suggest a Wren. But it is 2 a.m.when the Wren should be safely tucked asleep.

Ref: 20151114_e63_20150915_0158_057_fb1 cat domestic with prey (wren (q) at 0200 (q)) in mouth (crop)(r+mb id@768).jpg

Image Taken on 24 Dec 2015 at 04:56 Image of day on 29 Jan 2016

In the early hours the Tabby cat takes a prowl through the plot. If it is keeping the Rats away it is a little less unwelcome than it might otherwise be.

Ref: 20160129_e64_20151224_0456_157_fb2 cat tabby domestic (crop 2)(r+mb id@768).jpg

Image Taken on 25 Sep 2009 at 20:35 Image of day on 10 Nov 2009

This is a sequence of 6 images from the CCT at reduced resolution. The untidy time block is moved from the top left of the original frame and is in format yyyy/mm/dd hh:mm:ss.

Ref: 20091110_cct_20090925_2035_045-059 cat waiting for polecat (q) to catch up with it 1-6 of 6 (montage)(r+mb id@768).jpg

Image Taken on 25 Sep 2009 at 20:35 Image of day on 10 Nov 2009

A strange bit of behaviour with feral cat and what we think is a polecat. About a minute before this the cat went left to right across the shingle followed a couple of seconds later by the other creature. The cat then returned, looked back, sat down and waited a few second until the second creature paused on a rock & then walked towards the cat who turned and continued unhurriedly on its way with the other following along. There seems no doubt they were companions on the night time forage/hunt.

Ref: 20091110_cct_20090925_2035_056 cat waiting for polecat (q) to catch up with it 4 of 6 (web crop)(r+mb id@512).jpg

Image Taken on 28 Jul 2018 at 11:07 Image of day on 17 Sep 2018

This plant is 'Cat's-ear' flowering in the crop margin. Only when we looked at the pic on the screen did we spot the 7-spot Ladybird left and down from the centre. The bright yellow splashes of colour against the dark is how it really looks.

Ref: 20180917_d72_20180728_1107_016 cats-ear (hypochaeris radicata or hypocho) flowers + 7-spot ladybird in crop margin track end (crop)(r+mb id@768).jpg

Image Taken on 30 Sep 2012 at 02:52 Image of day on 10 Nov 2012

Its a long time since a domestic cat visited one of our photo sites. Cats are not really welcome here, but you have to admire the wonderful white whiskers against the dark fur, and the fully dilated eyes in the 3 a.m. darkness.

Ref: 20121110_d5c_20120930_0252_076_fb2 domestic cat - black face with white whiskers(r+mb id@768).jpg

Image Taken on 19 Aug 2014 at 21:45 Image of day on 27 Oct 2014

After a couple of years mostly free of domestic cats, this Black cat has started regular hunting here. In this case a successful catch of a Fieldmouse (Wood Mouse) we would rather have been caught by an Owl or Fox.

Ref: 20141027_e63_20140819_2145_177_fb1 domestic cat with caught fieldmouse (wood mouse) in mouth (crop)(r+mb id@576).jpg

Image Taken on 21 Jan 2010 at 22:32 Image of day on 24 Feb 2010

These two successive frames were taken about 5 hours apart, but appearing consecutively in the 1000's of images we review each week, suggested this 'fun' (for us, not the mouse) lineup.

Ref: 20100224_d3b_20100121_2232_121+20100122_0331_122_fb1 fieldmouse (wood mouse) on stone & (next frame 5hrs on) cat sniffing stone (montage)(r+mb id@576).jpg

Backwards

Forwards

Comments and requests for image use

To make a comment, ask for information or to request a full resolution image, send us an email including the reference or the date for the image you are interested in.

All initial contacts should be made using the icon below:-