Tag Archives: fox

Fighting Moorhens (and an almost bold fox)

May 1, 2014 by Words | 4 Comments

I’ve devoted a good number of recent posts to the admittedly very cute little moorhen chicks. Today though, I’m going to concentrate on the adults. Three of them were engaged in a mass punch-up on the pond (I’m not sure they’re all visible in these shots), the equivalent in moorhen-speak to a deer rut. There’s no doubt that mating rights are the main agenda.

moorhens fighting

moorhens fighting

moorhens fighting

moorhens fighting

I was going to post some photos of the local greylags, but I’ve just enjoyed a moderately successful encounter with one of our garden foxes. He was still acting shy, but did linger for several minutes. Here are two photos. I took a total of seven (very restrained for me), and they were all from 30+ feet away, but it’s a noticeable advancement on previous sightings. The shy fox is almost bold!

fox

fox

Camera note: all moorhen photos taken with the Canon 7D and EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L USM IS lens. Fox photographed with the EF 24-105 F4L IS USM lens.

Posted in Foxes, water birds Also tagged |

Baby Rats at Falmer

April 28, 2014 by Words | 4 Comments

I’m afraid it’s another rat special from me tonight. I took these at lunchtime today, at Falmer Pond. It was busy, and the rats proved to be something of a hit with several people watching them closely. It helped of course that there were baby rats about as well.

I’ll start with one of the adults, lurking at the exit to one of the many tunnels they’ve dug into the banks of the pond. With the water level falling these are now dry and provide the rats with a rapid run around the fringe of the pond. They can also keep out of sight of people and predators.

Rat emerging from tunnel

It was soon joined by a second adult. They paused there for a few moments before venturing out into the open.

Rat emerging from tunnel

Then a baby rat appeared. it was a lively little thing, but the adults were generally close by to keep a protective eye on it.

baby rat

Adult and baby rats

Adult and baby rats

The main attraction for the rats is bird seed, scattered for the ducks and geese who, to be fair, do manage to get most of what is on offer. The rats wait until things quieten down. Then they tuck in.

Adult and baby rats

rat

On the home front, the foxes are still as shy as ever. We can hear them all the time, and occasionally spot one from a distance. I managed a single frame of one lurking at the rear of the garden. It will be my ‘Fox of the Day‘, but worth including here as part of the on-going diary of vulpine activity.

fox

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

Posted in Foxes, rats Also tagged |

Little Birds

April 16, 2014 by Words | 2 Comments

I spent some time today concentrating on the smaller local birds. It’s an area I tend to neglect because it’s time-consuming and the results are frequently unsatisfactory. The main problem is getting close enough to get something decent while not spooking the subject. The alternative is to crop heavily. This is a heavy crop of a blue tit, but catching one in flight (even a short hop, which is what this was) is a bonus.

Blue tit in flight

It’s far easier when they are eyeing up a bird feeder!

Goldfinch

Goldfinch

The foxes are still acting shy, though this one (with the slight nick in his ear) is becoming just a little more tolerant. Even so, this is a hefty crop and he won’t venture forward while I’m nearby.

fox

Camera note: bird photos taken with the Canon 7D and EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L USM IS lens. Fox photographed with the EF 100mm f/2.8L macro IS USM lens.

Posted in Birds, Foxes Also tagged , |