Category Archives: rats

Reflections in the Pond

April 9, 2014 by Words | 2 Comments

I’m going to risk the wrath of the weather gods and say that it really does look as though spring has arrived. Another bright sunny day at Falmer, a touch cool but it really is now beginning to look and feel like springtime. So to celebrate, some cute shots of a rat down by the water’s edge, with some nice reflections.

rat

rat

rat

It did eventually scramble up the bank in search of the bread left out for the ducks.

rat

Two other seasonal moments: first a chirpy little blackcap spotted at the edge of the Westlain Plantation at Falmer:

Blackcap

And to close, my favourite shot from today of the baby moorhens.

Moorhen chicks

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, water birds Tagged , , , |

Giant Mutant Rats?

March 27, 2014 by Words | 4 Comments

One of our national newspapers is leading with a story about ‘Giant Mutant Rats’ heading for the UK. Nonsense of course (as are most tabloid wildlife scare stories), but it’s a timely hook to post some photos taken today of our local non-mutant and modestly small Falmer Pond rats. They really can be rather cute, though the setting helps (a lot).

I was actually tracking a flighty little wren which I’ve seen several time recently when I saw the rat. Today was the first time the wren had paused long enough for a photo and just after I took this shot the rat emerged from under the overhanging bank of the pond.

Wren

rat

It scampered in the undergrowth around the edge of the pond, mainly keeping out of sight, but not entirely.

rat

Then back down to the edge of the water, keeping away from the local dog-walkers.

rat

rat

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 Tagged |

Fog, Tree Slime and some other photos

March 14, 2014 by Words | 4 Comments

The clear skies were well and truly absent when I set off to work this morning. It was a slow and careful drive through thick fog. Consequently there was little to see at the pond… or to be precise there was little that I could see at the pond.

Falmer Pond in thick fog

There was a temporary respite in the middle of the day (my drive home in the evening was once again through fog), and some cool sunshine. So for some welcome variety here’s a greylag goose with a nice reflection in the calm of the water.

Greylag goose and reflection

There were plenty of gulls (herring and black-headed varieties). This black-headed was one of the few already displaying its breeding plumage from which their name derives.

Black-headed gull

As for the ‘tree slime’ in the title, it was bright orange and oozing from a recently cut tree stump.

tree slime

From what I’ve found about this, it’s a yeast that feeds on the rising sap of untreated stumps, and is more prevalent after extended periods of wet weather. Well the trees around the pond have been cut back in the past few weeks, and we’ve certainly had an extended wet period. The slime is harmless. There’s some straightforward information about this stuff on the Cornell Mushroom Blog.

And yes, in case you are wondering I did spy the occasional small furry rodent. To be fair they were mainly keeping out of sight (the lunchtime sun brought quite a number of people out, and the rats prefer to keep out of view when it’s busy). This is a silhouette of a rat running down a tree.

Silhouette of rat running down a tree

It then made a dash across the water to the security of a bankside rat run.

Rat swimming

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

Also posted in fungi, water birds, Weather Tagged , , , , , |