{"id":20536,"date":"2014-04-28T23:49:46","date_gmt":"2014-04-28T22:49:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.permuted.org.uk\/photography\/?p=20536"},"modified":"2014-04-28T23:49:46","modified_gmt":"2014-04-28T22:49:46","slug":"baby-rats-at-falmer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.permuted.org.uk\/photography\/baby-rats-at-falmer\/","title":{"rendered":"Baby Rats at Falmer"},"content":{"rendered":"

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. <\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

\"Rat<\/a><\/p>\n

It was soon joined by a second adult. They paused there for a few moments before venturing out into the open. <\/p>\n

\"Rat<\/a><\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

\"baby<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Adult<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Adult<\/a><\/p>\n

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. <\/p>\n

\"Adult<\/a><\/p>\n

\"rat\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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<\/a>‘, but worth including here as part of the on-going diary of vulpine activity.<\/p>\n

\"fox\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,781],"tags":[1128,1183],"class_list":["post-20536","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-foxes","category-rats","tag-fox","tag-rat","entry"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t