Tag Archives: rat

Another Look at the Pond

October 14, 2013 by Words | Comments Off

The start of the week means an early morning pre-work visit to Falmer Pond. It’s just at the time of year when it can be quite gloomy there unless we are really lucky with the cloud cover. Today was grey, although the sun teased occasionally with fleeting displays through narrow breaks in the clouds.

The herring gulls were dominating when I arrived, gliding around the still water, but their (relatively) peaceful start to the day was disturbed by a heron flying in.

gulls

A couple of circuits on the wing and the heron finally found a suitable perch.

heron in tree

The middle of the day was brighter, and several people were out ‘feeding the ducks’. I put that in quotes because whatever their intention, inevitably other birds muscle their way in. The herring gulls are the main bullies, but the local jackdaws are quite self-assured in taking their share.

Jackdaw and duck

And when everyone has gone, these little fellows come out to scavenge what they can.

Rat

Rat

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

Posted in Behaviour, Birds, rats, water birds, Wildlife Also tagged , , , |

Runner Ducks

October 12, 2013 by Words | 2 Comments

Apologies to anyone who came by yesterday and saw a DNS failure notice. I’d been tweaking some settings on my host and then changed my mind and then the site went down. Good support, and all was back up by morning. Anyway, the weather has been conspiring against me today although there was a brief period early this morning when the clouds cleared and the sun shone down. About that time the local Indian runner ducks spotted one of the locals arriving with the daily food parcel 😉

Here are the ducks. They are such odd looking creatures, domesticated from wild ducks and originally bred for their egg-laying and the fact that you could walk them to market. This group has taken up residence at the local pond. I suspect they originally arrived by car.

Indian runner duck

Indian runner duck

Indian runner duck

Indian runner duck

And to tidy things up a sample that should have appeared last night.

Brown rat

Rat 😉

Pied Wagtail

Pied Wagtail

Muscovy Ducks

Muscovy Ducks

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

Posted in Birds, rats, water birds, Wildlife Also tagged , , |

Morning Light and a stoat-ally special surprise

October 7, 2013 by Words | Comments Off

The weather is holding good. It’s mild, and today the early mists were being beaten back by some beautiful sunshine. Good light makes all the difference to taking photos, especially of common subjects such as these ducks. Each makes a slightly different use of the light, though my favourite is the silhouette.

Duck on rock

white duck landing

duck silhouette

As the sun rises the light loses its quality, but it was still provided some nice illumination of a young rat scrabbling over the rocks.

rat

rat

The really special moment came later in the day, with the sun high. I was back at the pond, but for a change looked out into the surrounding fields. At the edge of the woodland fringe a sharp movement caught my eye. As a startled rabbit ran out to safety in the field I spotted a stoat darting through the thick brush. These aren’t the best shots of a stoat, but I see stoats so rarely that I’m not going to leave them out.

Stoat

Stoat

Stoat

Stoat

Stoat

The entire sighting was over in about 8 seconds. Naturally I stayed glued to the spot in case it reappeared, but it wasn’t to be. Wonderful to see though.

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

Posted in Birds, rats, Stoat, water birds, Wildlife Also tagged , , , |