A long hot day, and some unusual sightings. My kind of day 😉 It started this morning when I noticed a pair of birds circling high over a neighbouring garden. Gradually they came closer into view, and my initial suspicion that these were hobbies was confirmed. They circled for a couple of minutes or so, before moving off to survey more open land.
This next shot shows the facial markings and distinctive streaked body (the peregrine is broader in the body and has horizontal bars going across the body).
Being the weekend, this afternoon I made a quick trip to the local recycling centre with more garden waste. Always a task I'm happy to do as I have to drive past a prime kestrel site. So I stopped off on my way back and went in search of more birds of prey. For once, none were about. Possibly, it was too hot for them and they were sheltering from the sun until the early evening. I did manage to get a shot or two of one of the other field birds, a whitethroat.
There are more shots in the July Birds album.
I hadn't yet given up seeing a kestrel and made my way along one of the paths near where they hunt. My attention was grabbed by a pair of mating moths.
The moths were a first for me, but easily identifiable from field guides. It's relatively unusual in that it is predominantly a day-time moth and apparently spends a good deal of time resting on plants. It protects itself from predators by exuding a bitter-tasting poison. So, the hobbies, a decent shot of a whitethroat and a new moth. Good, but none of those quite prepared me for the day's big surprise.
After I'd photographed the moths I moved further along the path. I heard some rustling in the thick undergrowth, and after searching for a moment or two came across a rabbit in very obvious distress. It was laying prone on its side, clearly unable to move. I watched for a moment and then saw it move backward, being dragged along the ground. That gave me my answer as to what I was seeing. Although not visible, I was absolutely certain that at the far end of the rabbit I'd find a stoat.
I tried to find a better vantage point, but getting anything like a decent angle through the plants was almost impossible. This very roughly is the sequence. The rabbit is a fair bit larger than the stoat.
It was one of those wildlife scenes that is both fascinating and difficult at the same time. The rabbit was disabled, but had not yet suffered the kill. A couple of times while it was being dragged it let out a piercing distress call. I left after the stoat had dragged it out of view into impenetrable undergrowth.
So no kestrels, but I did see a sparrowhawk and numerous butterflies while I was out. And both vixens were in the garden late tonight (though not at the same time).
Camera note: all shots taken with the EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L USM IS lens.
Vulpes vulpes
27 Jul 2008What an exciting day!!
Dudley
27 Jul 2008I really like the Whitethroat photo.
And wow, what a great sequence of photos with the rabbit and stoat!
Ukwildlife
27 Jul 2008wow some great sightins and good phoeos
Words
27 Jul 2008Andy, I was pleased with the whitethroat shots. I was able to get quite a bit closer than I usually manage. As for the stoat… that was a bit of treat. It certainly proved the point that you can spot as much by listening as by looking.
Words
27 Jul 2008Vulpes, it's great when you get unexpected sightings like that.
SittingFox
27 Jul 2008Amazing sighting of the stoat. That kind of thing isn't the easiest to watch but the stoat's strength is incredible.
The six-spot burnets are nice-looking moths. They always remind me of cinnabar moths, which I don't see as many of these days due to the war on ragwort (although ragwort seems to be winning in some places around here ;))
Words
27 Jul 2008Adele, the stoat was incredibly efficient. It backed away when I first started to investigate the noise, but soon returned to complete the job. I did clear a couple of plants out of the way to get some sort of angle on the path it was using, but didn't want to do a wholesale gardening job in case I disturbed it.
My first thought on the burnet was 'cinnabar'. Plenty of ragwort round these parts too, even along the runs used for exercising horses (which is a bit of a surprise).
Words
27 Jul 2008Neil, thanks. The stoat phots were really awkward to get and then tricky to process (huge contrast range), but I'm glad I salavaged something usable.
SittingFox
27 Jul 2008Yes, some of our paddocks are absolutely full of it (and yet the council is still ripping it up from conservation areas!) Given a choice, horses will graze everything except ragwort, and if a small paddock is over-stocked with horses you can have a major ragwort bloom as it thrives due to the sudden lack of competing plants. It's not an issue where the grazing pressure is more reasonable.
Words
27 Jul 2008Good to see that local councils have their risk analysis under control :whistle:
Cynthia23
27 Jul 2008Thank you for today's photos of life in the forests and fields of the UK. They certainly are always beautiful and educational. Thanks again WORDS!
chthoniid
28 Jul 2008Nice sequence- it's a good mixture of different taxa. The stoat-rabbit shots are a fortunate find. Alas, as both are destructive invaders of NZ, I'm not sure whose side I should be on 😉
Words
28 Jul 2008Brendan, I was lucky with the stoat (well, luckier than the rabbit). As far as I know there's quite a healthy population locally, but I've only spotted one on three occasions in the past 2-3 years.
Words
28 Jul 2008Cynthia, and congrats to you on becoming MOTW 😀
Cynthia23
29 Jul 2008Thanks again WORDS! 🙂
Flying Red Fox Blog
1 Aug 2008Wow tht ws a suprise indeed. I know when we see an animal in distress we want to help or i we see a nature programme where the animal is filmed dying slowly we want to help but sometimes its best to let nature take its course i guess.
Words
1 Aug 2008Mark, well my first thought was did the rabbit need help, although in the fields there's not a lot that can easily be done. Once I saw what was happening there was no point. The stoat is very efficient at what it does, despite being smaller than the rabbit.
cakkleberrylane
1 Aug 2008Beautiful photos!! You certainly did have a great day!
Words
1 Aug 2008Thanks Lois.
Mickeyjoe-Irl
2 Aug 2008I've seen two or three stoats in my neighborhood. They are amazing in the size of rabbit they can take.
It seems this year's new rabbits are starting to venture out and become prey. I've already had two "presents" from the cats. :yuck:
Words
2 Aug 2008Mikeyjoe, yes, incredibly efficient at what they do. Not a good time of year to be a rabbit though.