Category Archives: Birds

Great Spotted Woodpecker plus Some Fox Portraits

February 20, 2014 by Words | 4 Comments

It was misty this morning, turning to rain which stayed with us until after lunch. That didn’t stop this great spotted woodpecker popping out for some early morning hammering.

Great spotted woodpecker

Great spotted woodpecker

Great spotted woodpecker

There wasn’t much else of note around. The rats were sheltering out of sight, and the geese and ducks were sitting out the drizzle. It was worse at lunchtime (real rainfall kept me inside), so the rest of the post is taken up with a few portraits of Pretty from this evening. It’s been a while since I’ve posted a series of fox photos, but she’s been a constant visitor throughout.

She seems to spend quite a bit of time sleeping or sheltering in that corner at the back of the garden.
fox in garden

This is at the front of the garden.
fox in garden

Licking her lips!
Fox licking lips

But it’s such a hard life… yawn!
Fox yawning

Camera note: woodpecker photos taken with the Canon 7D and EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L USM IS lens. Fox photographed with the EF 100mm f/2.8L macro IS USM lens.

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Blackbird, Yellowhammer (and video fox)

February 19, 2014 by Words | 4 Comments

More grey skies and poor light, but the birds are becoming active despite the poor weather and none more so than the local blackbirds. This female was the highlight of an admittedly poor morning at the pond. But she was worth a couple of photos.

Female blackbird

Female blackbird

At lunchtime I went back through the woods. No buzzard today (but I am hopeful of more sightings). I did, however, photograph one of the recent storm casualties. There are several tree in this condition, and a large number of broken boughs.

Fallen tree in Westlain Plantation,

The woods lead out into local farmland, and (suitably booted) I ventured out across the fields. I could see pigeons in the distance, and crows and a good-sized and highly mobile flock of yellowhammers. With more time I might have managed something slightly better than this.

Yellowhammer

Yesterday I mentioned that I’d set the trail camera to video. Here’s the first clip of the year. Pretty is out with another (male) fox. It’s raining (when isn’t it at the moment?).

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

Also posted in Foxes, Landscape Tagged , , , |

Down at the Pond and into the Woods

February 18, 2014 by Words | 2 Comments

Well it was dry today. Dull, with little or no sign of the sun until it was setting in the late afternoon. But dry is good; better than many of the days we’ve had in recent months so I won’t complain.

The early morning sequence was taken at Falmer Pond. It’s still very quiet there at the moment, but I did spot one cute little rat making its way carefully around the edge of the pond. The main route is now via the water.

Out to the edge of tree…
Rat at the edge of Falmer Pond

A strong paddle across the open water…
Rat swimming in Falmer Pond

And then clamber up into something a little more solid and secure.
Rat at the edge of Falmer Pond

I gave the pond a miss at lunchtime, and instead donned some wellington boots and headed off into the woodland at the edge of campus. It’s the first time I’ve been in the woods since the storms, and sure enough there were numerous fallen branches. I think this tree probably came down in a previous storm. It looked too well-set and comfortable to be a recent casualty.

Fallen tree in Westlain Plantation

The next shot was also taken in the woods. It’s the only usable one I managed (and it barely even qualifies as that), but having seen a buzzard flying in and around (and over) the trees several times while I was there I need something to record the encounter. Most of the time it was flying just over the trees, but once or twice it swooped along the paths. I’ve spotted buzzards here before so it wasn’t an unexpected sighting, just a rather good one.

buzzard

Back in the garden I’ve switched the trail camera back over to video. There were a couple of decent clips last night of Pretty with two different foxes (separate encounters). I’ll edit some sequences together over the next few days, but close tonight’s blog with a photo of her from a few minutes ago.

Fox

Camera note: rat and buzzard photos taken with the Canon 7D and EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L USM IS lens; woodland scene taken with the EF17-40mm f/4L USM lens; and the fox with the EF 100mm f/2.8L macro IS USM.

Also posted in Bird of Prey, Foxes, Landscape, rats, Wildlife Tagged , , , , |