A slight change of early morning scenery. This is Sheepcote Valley, and here are two of the sheep.
Brighton racecourse sits at the edge of the valley, and most mornings the local stables give their thoroughbreds a run out.
But the morning is about bird song as much as anything else, and I don't mean the cackle of the mapgpie…
Or even the bright calling of the robin…
The song that dominated this morning was from the aptly named song thrush. Smaller than the mistle thrush it has suffered a sharp decline in numbers in recent years and is now on our 'red list'. The song thrush has a bright repetitive song. It's simple but with a few small flourishes. You can listen to it here.
Camera note: all shots taken with the Canon 7D EF and 400mm f/5.6L USM lens.
derWandersmann
11 Jan 2012A pretty little bird, Words … what is the reason for the dwindling numbers?
serola
11 Jan 2012Interestingly different pictures again 🙂 Third of the song thrush pictures is the best :up: I think song by song thrush is one of the loveliest among birds :hat: Here's another quite lovely example: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Turdus_philomelos.ogg
gdare
11 Jan 2012Those two sheep, do they communicate mentally or just read each other's body language? 😛
cakkleberrylane
11 Jan 2012You really get some amazing variety in your daily shots! My favorite is the sheep – very interesting pose!
SittingFox
11 Jan 2012Nice to see the sheep greeting each other. They're so easily overlooked but they are interesting creatures in their own right.
Words
11 Jan 2012Sami, thanks for that link. I agree about the third shot. :sing:
Words
11 Jan 2012Darko, I have a strong suspicion that sheep are psychic. :alien:
Words
11 Jan 2012dW, from what I understand it is mainly 'loss of habitat', due to changes in farming. I also suspect that they have lost many gardens due to tidier gardening, fewer snails and no handy rocks on which to crack them open.
Words
11 Jan 2012Adele, it's one of the more interesting policies of the local council to use sheep to graze some of the common land. It's been going for a few years and it's possible to become a volunteer shepherd!
Words
11 Jan 2012Lois, thanks! The thing with sheep is there is very often no action at all to photograph so when something does happen I grab it.
SittingFox
12 Jan 2012We have the same thing in the North Downs but I'm not really a fan of the idea (whenever they put their sheep on a field, its wild mammal biodiversity seems to nosedive). Sheep amuse me as animals though. I got woken up by one sneezing outside my window when I was staying in Scotland a few years ago :eyes:
Denis-12
12 Jan 2012:happy:
gdare
12 Jan 2012Originally posted by SittingFox:
😆
SittingFox
13 Jan 2012Like a dog, I think – it was quite a while ago now.
Words
13 Jan 2012Adele, a sheep with a cold! What on earth did it sound like?
Words
13 Jan 2012Now I know!
Words
13 Jan 2012Denis, thanks!
derWandersmann
14 Jan 2012A sheep would probably sound about like a dog; they're about the same size (ignoring those annoying little pocket-sized yappers.).
I've only been awakened by animals outside my window once … two skunks decided to dispute the right-of-way in the driveway. The sound wasn't so bad… skunks sound about like cats arguing, but … well, if you've never been awakened from a sound sleep by a smell, count yourself lucky. It filled my room and was absolutely choking. I had to go out on the front porch. Oddly, the smell was completely gone by morning.
Words
15 Jan 2012Originally posted by derWandersmann:
Or you had become so imbued with it…. Have to say it's not something I'd like to experience.
SittingFox
15 Jan 2012The smell is similar to fox but way stronger. You can smell it from inside a car while driving down a highway where a skunk has, at some point, seen fit to spray.
derWandersmann
15 Jan 2012You've noticed that, have you? LOLOLOL
The odor is comprised of a mixture of mercaptans (check on that; I believe the chemists have been going about renaming things, as the astronomers did with Pluto), which are found in many other places … onions, garlic, etc. … and, in my experience, foxes don't smell like that at all … they just smell like animals, and sometimes animal poop. As I recall, the odor only comes out when you use something that breaks down mercaptans … my recollection is that mild acids will work, like vinegar.