Category Archives: Badger

Fox! In Garden!

April 2, 2014 by Words | 4 Comments

Ok, it’s not the best photo I’ve ever taken of a fox but it’s the first one since the sudden disappearance of Pretty who was last seen about there and a half weeks ago. We’ve had plenty of trail camera activity of other foxes (a clip is included below), but the new group of foxes very much keep themselves to themselves. We know there are young mouths to feed (the vixen on the trail camera is lactating), but no physical sign of them yet. I’m sure they must be close by so things may get more active in the coming weeks.

This fox appeared early evening at the far end of the garden. The photos were taken through the window.

fox

fox

Just two other photos from today, both taken this morning at Falmer Village. The first is a duck on a wall, contemplating the fothcoming exhibition being advertised on the church noticeboard 😉

Duck on wall reading poster on church noticeboard

The second shot is a silhouette of a blackbird foot-stomping on a gravestone!

Blackbird on gravestone

Now the video clip. The lactating vixen appears in the second and third sequences. It starts with a badger.

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

Also posted in Birds, Foxes, water birds Tagged , , , |

Why Leave the Garden?

March 9, 2014 by Words | 6 Comments

Why leave the garden? It was another beautiful sunny day. Quite mild, and more time for getting on with the spring clear up. Not that it’s too much of a hardship with so much to see just by looking around. And there’s one big surprise at the end.

Overhead, several buzzards flew over late morning. The gulls chased them without ever really getting serious; just enough to shepherd the buzzards directly over the garden.

Common buzzard over garden

Common buzzard over garden

Common buzzard over garden

The gulls were rather more upset when a heron crossed the sky. They cleared a large passage for it, and by the sound of them were clearly not happy. It’s the first time I’ve seen a heron from the garden so although it was some distance away and the shot isn’t up to much, it’s here as part of the ongoing record.

grey heron over Woodingdean

A good part of the afternoon was spent removing weeds and leaves from the garden pond. It was somewhat neglected last year and was becoming a bit of a tangle. I clean it out by hand and spotted several newts (plus I inadvertently caught one, but quickly returned it to the water). The job’s only part done, but it does mean that tonight I was able to take this photo of one of the many newts.

smooth newt

Slightly off topic is this next shot. It was taken during the day but I’ve converted it to black and white. I had hoped to see a plane leave trails directly across the moon (I think I’ve got a shot like that from several years ago), but this will do.

moon and plane

The big (and very welcome) surprise comes towards the end of these video clips from the trail camera. Plenty of foxes, and a couple of badgers to enjoy.

Watch the video and you’ll know what I’m looking forward to seeing soon!

Camera note: all photos taken with the Canon 7D and EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L USM IS lens except the newt which was taken with the EF 100mm f/2.8L macro IS USM lens.

Also posted in Bird of Prey, Foxes, Moon, Newt, water birds Tagged , , , , , |

Two Badgers and Fox (video)

March 2, 2014 by Words | 3 Comments

It was too good to last. The dry spell is over and it’s been raining solidly for several hours now. The week ahead looks mixed, which may be ok.

As for tonight’s blog, the title relates to the video which will come up in a moment. It features a badger making two trips into the garden during heavy rain (this was on Friday, I think). It’s limping heavily, which if nothing else shows that it’s not only foxes that suffer from minor leg injuries. The second badger clearly isn’t limping, and looks altogether leaner than the first one. The fox in the video is (I think) Shy Boy. I’ve not seen him for a while, but he makes up the fourth of our four garden foxes: Pretty, Nicked Ear, and the one with the mange-afflicted brush are the other three.

First though a couple of photos of Pretty. The first was taken in the early hours of Sunday morning when it was dry. The second just a few minutes ago in the rain.

Fox in garden

Fox in garden

Now the video.

Camera note: both photos taken with the Canon 7D and EF 100mm f/2.8L macro IS USM lens.

Also posted in Foxes Tagged , |