I'm not sure yet whether this will become a habit, but I decided to look outside at around 1.20am last night (early hours of Thursday morning) to see if the badger would make another appearance. I was out of luck, but I guess this old fellow had heard the news and wanted to reaffirm his status as the leading light of the blog. After all, he's been around since almost the beginning.
He spent about 10 minutes exploring the garden, and scent marking virtually the whole place :eyes: 
Before taking his leave at just after 1.30…
These late nights aren't ideal, but needs must and just a few hours later I was back out with the camera enjoying the weak sunshine before work. The pick of the early morning birds was this noisy wren.
At lunchtime I watched for a while as a female blackbird enjoyed her meal. I guess the worms might think differently. :yuck: 
And watched from the wrong side as a duck took to the air…
The hedgehog was back again tonight. Actually, I think there are two of them but they are not the easiest of animals to tell apart.
And then at about a quarter to midnight I had another surprise. This is the 'bold' fox (who I use to think of as the shy fox). I've not seen this one around too often but a few sultanas and it came trotting down the path to within 3 or 4 feet of me.
Camera note: Foxes photographed with the EF24-105mm f/4L IS USM lens; the shots of the birds were all taken with the EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L USM IS; and the hedgehog posed in front of the Sigma 105mm F2.8 EX DG macro.
14 Comments
Great pics, as always.
And usual activity :up:
Thanks Vulpes!
Darko, thanks. It's quite busy out there at the moment 🙂
Excellent pictures – you certainly had a full day! The blackbird in the field of daisies with the worm is priceless!!
It's so nice to see pictures of the foxes in a residential setting. It shows that someone cares enough to earn their trust.
Thanks Lois. The blackbirds are out every day and the females seem to be by far the bolder.
Nice pcs 😀 The fist one he looks tired. Hopefully you dont get too tired during the day when you stay up till 2am in the morning with work maybe 6 hours away!
Another wonderful shot of the hedgehog and the old fox going down the steps like he owns the place…well, it's nice of him to let you into his garden to photograph him, I guess 😉
Mark, I survive on about 5 and half hours sleep a night which is not always to be recommended :zzz: I think the fox is just blinking in that shot. He was pretty lively for him though he always moves more slowly than the younger foxes. The bold one was dashing around like a mad thing. 😀
Adele, yes it's nice of him to let me share the space. The hedgehog is a great subject and becoming fairly tolerant although I make a point to keep a few feet back and make sure it has space to walk away if I'm intruding too much.
:happy: What wonderful photos. :up: As always: it is sheer fun to visit your blog. 🙂
Thanks Elke!
Ivywall writes:
Lovely photos!
I do miss foxes round here… but apparently we have some fallow deer only 100-200 yards away at the moment so we'll be off to do some deer friendly 'hunting' soon!
I don't know how you manage your sleep patterns to get all these shots though!!! LOL LOL
Pat
I'd love to have deer locally. Supposedly there are some fallow near work, but I've yet to see them.