Portraits of Pretty the Young Fox

August 4, 2013 by Words | Comments Off

Pretty is growing up fast. She’s nearly 23 weeks old (she was born 26th February), and is becoming quite the young fox. She tends to visit late in the afternoon, which suits me fine as the light is always better at the ends of the day. These are a few photos taken this afternoon.

Here she is standing over the stolen soft toy that we found in the garden yesterday.

Portrait of a five month old fox cub standing over stolen toy bird

Taking in the view…

Portrait of a five month old fox cub standing in long grass

Posing against the dark hedge…

Portrait of a five month old fox cub standing with tail (brush) curled.

Turning…

Portrait of a five month old fox cub turning.

The wound on her rear leg, by the way, is healing up nicely. She’s been running around, jumping down from the garden walls, and I don’t recall more than the slightest limp during the day. You can see how it’s coming along in this shot.

Wound on leg on young fox

Finally, a close-up portrait of of a very fine young fox indeed.

Portrait of a five month old fox cub
Camera note: all shots taken with the Canon 7D and EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L USM IS lens.

Posted in Foxes, Wildlife Tagged , |

A Day of Surprises

August 3, 2013 by Words | 2 Comments

As everyone who reads this blog will know, I visit Falmer Pond very frequently and so there’s generally very little that occurs that that comes in the category of a surprise. There are the regular ducks and gulls and geese, and the more or less occasional visits by herons, egrets, sandpipers and cormorants. Today though there a pair of birds did catch me by surprise. I presume they have flown in, but the village pond being what it is I suppose they could have walked over from a neighbouring farm, or even been ‘released’ at the pond from captivity or rescue. I really don’t know. Anyway, whatever I do expect to see at the pond, I really wasn’t expecting this beautiful pair of Muscovy ducks.

Male and female feral Muscovy ducks standing at the edge of Falmer Pond East Sussex

Female feral Muscovy duck on the fringe of Falmer Pond, East Sussex

Male feral Muscovy duck at Falmer Pond East Sussex

They were very placid, and spent most of the time standing calmly at the edge of the pond watching the world go by. And the world in this case includes a World War 2 German aircraft! This flew over at lunchtime. It’s actually a Gomhouria Mk 6, made up in Luftwaffe livery.

Bücker Bü 181 - generic. This is a Gomhouria Mk 6. Training plane for Luftwaffe

There was one more surprise waiting for me when I arrived home. Young foxes start life by being fed, and gradually learn to scavenge. At around this age (just over five months) they develop their hunting skills. I came home to find the evidence of their first ‘kill’. I knew it was dead because it had flies on it. 😉

Prey left by young fox in suburban garden

And here’s one of the villains of the piece.

5 month old fox cub (Vulpes vulpes) stalking through grass in a suburban garden
Camera note: all shots taken with the Canon 7D and EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L USM IS lens.

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Around The Pond

August 1, 2013 by Words | Comments Off

It was a blastingly hot and humid day today. It will cool down again tomorrow, which will certainly be a relief. Not that the local wildlife seemed to mind too much. The local bird population was gorging itself on the plentiful insect life. The house martins were noticeably active, making repeated sweeps of the pond.
Three house martins sweeping across Falmer Pond for insects.

The reason for their frenzied feeding was near at hand. Here’s one of the adults delivering some food to a nest which it has built in the eaves of a local house. These birds are well-named.
House martin with ladybird at nest in eaves of a house

House martin flying to and from nest in the eaves of a house

The swifts were also busy, feeding up before their long migration back to Africa. The unusual thing about this shot is that you can see the swift’s leg. Little wonder that they prefer to spend their time on the wing.
Swift (Apus apus) in flight

Down at the water’s edge there are of course other things to see. Yes, the rats are still there, scurrying around trying to remain unseen and undisturbed.
Rat (Rattus norvegicus) scurrying among rocks at the edge of Falmer Pond, East Sussex

Rat (Rattus norvegicus) scurrying among rocks at the edge of Falmer Pond, East Sussex
Camera note: all shots taken with the Canon 7D and EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L USM IS lens.

Posted in Wildlife Tagged , , |