It's raining heavily right now, but this morning the skies were blue and the sun bright. I headed for the fields near work. The yellowhammers were once again busy in the tree tops, flitting busily up and down along the fringe of woodland that runs along the path between the fields.
Yellowhammer
I'd gone in search of the roe deer. They weren't in the higher field, but on my way back to the car I spotted an 'inconsistency' along the hedgerow on the far side. The sun was facing towards me, and the shapes were difficult to discern against the dark shade. A little Photoshop work was needed to bring this shot up to scratch.
Roe deer
At lunchtime it was still bright, but cooler than I'd anticipated. I must remember that winter sunshine is deceptively weak. Some rooks were out in the fields, but mainly it was quiet. The cattle have been moved to new pastures. The trees have shed their leaves as winter approaches.
Downland scene
As I was nearing the brow of the hill, two birds came into view. Low down, on the grass. A pair of partridges.
I watched as they crossed the path and disappeared behind the distant slope. 
Red-legged partridge
I'm still monitoring nightly activity via the trail cam. The badger has been back, and early this morning an inquisitive squirrel was chasing birds. This clip though is from a couple of nights ago, and shows two of the foxes interacting.
Camera note: all shots taken with the Canon 40D and EF 400mm f/5.6L USM lens.
CedarFox
3 Nov 2009Nice shots. I like how the berries and the yellow hammer contrast in the first picture. 🙂
Flying Red Fox Blog
3 Nov 2009Very nice photos 😀 When i was working i was thinking, how many sunny days are lost due to work, but when i was looking for work back in 2003 after college my thoughts were opposite indeed, like thinking its sunny but wish i was in a job, there will soon be opportunity for the sun to show itself at the weekend 😛
Nice video too. 🙂
gdare
3 Nov 2009Nice job with that roe deers photographs :up:
cakkleberrylane
3 Nov 2009Great photos. The foxes certainly cooperated to give you an excellent video!
SittingFox
3 Nov 2009Interesting behaviour clip! At least they didn't end up in a full foxtrot :insane:
I like the downland shot :up: Think I'm missing the wide open spaces :right:
Words
4 Nov 2009Darko, thanks. I love that spot in the morning but the sun is always against me.
Words
4 Nov 2009Eric, thanks. The yellowhammer was tricky as it's behind a network of branches and twigs. I ended up focusing manually to find a way through.
Words
4 Nov 2009Adele, I really like the greeting at the start of the video. They lined themselves up nicely for the camera. As for wide open spaces, it sounds like you're suffering from prairie-withdrawal!
Words
4 Nov 2009Mark, I think the most irritating part is when it's sunny all morning, and come lunchtime the clouds appear and sit there grimly for an hour before going away again
Words
4 Nov 2009Lois, thanks. The foxes certainly put on a good show. I'd love to get some photos of them behaving like that.
SittingFox
4 Nov 2009Yes, I'm wondering why the horizon line is suddenly so small :insane:
Ukwildlife
4 Nov 2009great photos – I still haven't seen a partridge, hopefully they will be more visible with less vegetation and needing to find food now.
Words
4 Nov 2009Neil, I think that's probably the third time I've seen them this year. Once from the car (terrible photo… and yes I did stop first), once in some fields during the summer; and then these ones. All very brief.