Well the New Year break is over and it was back to work today which includes my early morning stop at Falmer pond. The water level has risen significantly since I was last here and the No Fishing sign is barely showing above the water. No cormorants today to pose on it.

No Fishing sign

I headed back to the pond at lunchtime. The ground is sodden so it was a matter of picking my way along the boundary road and carefully navigating across the grass banks. If the rains continue I will probably need waders! Naturally some of the local wildlife doesn’t mind a bit of water.

Moorhen
Moorhen

On slightly drier land a young magpie was pecking around for seed.

Magpie

As for the rats, I was surprised to see that despite the absurdly high water level they were still managing to find runs along the edge of the pond, though increasingly they are taking to the water to get around.

rat swimming

The aim of course is to find somewhere dry, like the exposed roots of a tree…

rat in tree roots

Or a handily placed rock…

rat on rock

Just occasionally they even ventured up on to the sodden grass.

rat on grass bank

Camera note: all photos taken with the Canon 7D and EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L USM IS lens.

This Post Has 4 Comments

  1. Ha, animals and signs. I have one to add to that too 😉

  2. Darko, that’s a good one, but I’m not likely to run into it locally.

    1. Hopefully not 😀

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