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…
A strong paddle across the open water…
And then clamber up into something a little more solid and secure.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Adele
19 Feb 2014There’s something to be said for how easily rats adapt to changes in their environment, even a landscape battered by months of rain and storms.
I like that buzzard shot – although the close sightings aren’t the easier to capture, it is always exciting to see them at tree height. Maybe it will nest in those woods?
Words
19 Feb 2014Adele, the rats are really quite fascinating to watch around the pond. It seems a perfect environment for them, and they are no bother to people while they stay there. Quite shy though (as you’d expect), but so fast in the water.
I’ve seen buzzards several times close to this area, so it’s possible they might nest. I have my eye on a particular site.