Sunday 26 April 2015

Lazy Like A Fox

 Friday evening, I had just finished work for the week and was in the process of putting away the shopping when I spotted a flash of colour down the bottom of the garden.  From a distance, we thought that it might have been Billy, our semi-resident pheasant who has been known to lie down and have a dirt bath in the same spot.  It soon became apparent that it was too big to be a pheasant.

We've had a few fox sightings in recent weeks, often cutting through the garden on the way to somewhere else.  On these pictures, to the right is a farmer's field with a barn close to the boundary of the garden.  The area between the garden and the barn would make an excellent lair for a fox as it is an area of dense, overgrown thicket, filled with brambles and discarded tractor tyres.  We've often wondered if the fox has set up home there.

I crept slowly down the garden towards it,  The fox appeared to be relaxed and enjoying the early evening sunshine.

Peek-A-Boo



















When it saw me coming it watched me cautiously but did not run off as I slowly approached.





It looked to be in good condition and as I got to within ten metres or so if it, the fox decided to err on the side of caution and trotted away into the thicket.
























Sunday 19 April 2015

Birds For Windows


It's been a busy few days so apologies for not being able to do a more substantive post.

The window feeder has continued to provide some excellent views of the blue tits who are regular visitors to the feeder and quite tolerant of us being behind the glass as long as we don't make any sudden movements.

The blackbirds had taken to using it, but they had a habit of sweeping all of the food out of the feeder leaving nothing for the other birds.  We remedied this by moving the separate perspex roof of the feeder lower so they couldn't land (there is plenty other food that we provide that they can access).

We were pleasantly surprised when one of the skittish coal tits plucked up enough courage and started to be a regular visitor to the feeder.  Unlike the blue tit, he was gone as soon as he saw any movement at all.  I managed to get these shots because I had staked out the feeder.  There where far more bad ones than good.






Monday 13 April 2015

Wood Chill


One frosty Sunday morning in late January we decided to check out Gamston and Upton Woods,another site managed by the Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust. The woods are located close to Retford.  We were surprised by how quiet both sites were.  Not just in terms of people but in the actual wildlife itself.  There was hardly a bird to be heard or seen.  It made the woods seem oddly eerie.  

I've experimented with converting a couple of shots to black and white, and I think they've turned out pretty well.

I've also resisted the temptation to call this post Morning Wood...






Monday 6 April 2015

Toad Chorus

This post was originally going to be a bit on the cute side.  With it being Easter weekend I thought I would post some pictures of baby rabbits in the garden (a little on the nose I admit but there were a couple of good pictures).  I was working on the photos on the computer this morning when I heard an awful squealing noise.  I looked out of the window to see one of the local cats (the same cat that took out a grey squirrel a month or so ago) trotting off with said cute bunny in it's jaws.

I didn't really have the heart to carry on working on the photos after that.

With it being a splendidly sunny and warm Bank Holiday Monday we opted to go for a walk and headed to Idle Valley.  I thought I would get some snaps from different locations around the reserve.
We also found dozens if not hundreds of toads (I did originally think they were frogs but checking on-line toads have a more "warty " skin and golden eyes and they seemed to fit the bill) filling the numerous ponds around the reserve.

Breeding season it seemed was in full swing.