House martin season is in full swing down at Falmer Pond. The adults are busy preparing for their broods, gathering mud for nest building at the water’s edge. There’s a swallow in among them.
And a photo from Monday.
Ok, I admit this is not a house martin!
It’s a Siberian Eagle Owl, part of a display of birds of prey at Wakehurst Place.
Camera note: all photos taken with the Canon 7D Mark II and EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM lens.
I’ve been busy with other parts of life recently, hence the intermittent blogging. There are a few things to report though, about hte local wildlife, starting with a rescue of a baby vole. It happened at work where there is some building/digging going on. One of the site workers discovered a baby vole. It’s likely the nest had been disturbed by heavy digging, but he rescued one and passed it to a colleague of mine who found me in the main building, and from there it was a quick visit to my local animal rescue centre. Nothing very dramatic there, but it was a very tiny, very cute little thing. Sorry that the photo (taken on an iPod Touch) is so poor.
Baby vole wrapped in toilet tissue
Other new babies on the block include these ducklings at Falmer pond.
Ducklings
Ducklings
There seem to be two broods, and hopefully they will survive and avoid the predators, one of which – unfortunately – is still lurking in the shallows.
Terrapin at Falmer Pond
Predators are also a risk from above, and I was pleased to see a fine peregrine falcon fly over Falmer.
Peregrine falcon over Falmer
Meanwhile the badgers and foxes are still making good use of the garden. I’ve not seen any tonight, but will try again in a few minutes.
All for now…
Camera note: all photos taken with the Canon 7D Mark II and EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM lens (baby vole taken on an iPod Touch).
Most of these were taken on Saturday, but were put to one side in favour of the garden time lapse sequence and sunset. I’d been down to the local recycling centre (with most of the wood from the pergola I took down a few weeks ago. The short trip takes me past Sheepcote Valley, which is one of my favourite spots for kestrel watching. I was in luck… almost.
That was about the only usable shot I managed. As I was moving across the valley for a decent angle, two corvids (a crow and a magpie) decided they wanted to share that particular tree. Why they chose that one and not any of the many around it I don’t know, but the kestrel objected to their company and flew off over to the far side of the ridge.
I contented myself with looking to see what else was a round, and was rewarded with this pretty little pied wagtail reflected in a pool of water. The pool is temporary. It was actually nothing more than a large puddle on a gravel path, but the wagtail seemed to like it.
Today was misty, so not many opportunities to go out. The only sighting of note was a buzzard over the garden being mobbed by the local herring gulls. Generally just one or two gulls will pick on the raptor, but with breeding season around the corner the gulls are taking this all a little bit more seriously. These shots are all cropped beyond anything sensible.
Finally to round things off, one more picture of Saturday’s glorious sunset.
Camera note: all photos taken with the Canon 7D Mark II and EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM lens.
