First of January and a century of birds, just a few incidental mammals.
10 or more Brown Hares around Greywell, showing well. One cluster of four seemed to be already thinking about mating. Well, its pretty mild at the moment, but they might get a shock soon!
Rabbit while dipping Red Kite.
Grey Squirrel sitting pretending to be cute on a fence post at Moor Green.
Brown Rat, a big, sleek, well-fed happy looking rodent raiding a grain bin to the consternation of a bunch of Red-legged Partridges. Think I prefer the rat - at least it hasn't done for the Grey Partridges across swathes of Britain.
I promised Marion no listing this year (obviously I can go for ticks) so the emphasis will be on photographing the ones I have no or poor shots of. That means Wildcat, Polecat, Lesser White-toothed Shrew, (Black Rat if I can afford the trip), Common Vole, Harvest Mouse (all no shot) and Weasel, Water Shrew, Mole (to be improved), among the terrestrials. I can already guess which is going to be the last to fall....
John
Second day of the year and a simple shopping trip turned into a disaster when the sports shop I get my running shoes from was shut and so was the barber. Fortunately Plan B was ready to run and I had my first session in the Moor Green hide this year. I saw a hugely bushy winter-coated Red Fox on the walk in, licking up the last of the grain put down for birds on a concrete ground level feeding station. My brother Dave sees his garden foxes doing the same thing. Great opportunists.
I chucked bait out and very quickly it attracted a couple of Wood Mice (6 for the year, no I'm not listing, just counting). They came in and out for two hours and I got some decent pictures. One was much calmer than the other, sitting feeding while the camera flashed at it. The other bounded off every time I took a pic of it, and gave me a laugh on one occasion when its first leap smacked it into an upright bramble stem from which it rebounded to sit startled for a couple of seconds then run (rather than leaping again) away in a different direction.
No rats all night - suited me, left the mice more settled.
As I walked out I found several Rabbits with the nightscope by their eyeshine and listened to a Little Owl shouting its head off - could have done with that the previous evening!
John
Saturday lunchtime Clare gripped me off with a Weasel at Moor Green, she even got what she described as a rubbish photo of it. Consequently I spent the afternoon there, to no avail.
I did get cracking pix of an adult female Roe Deer (all right a doe then) and her first winter offspring. They had got themselves into the corner near the Colebrook hide and there was sufficient traffic on the path that they couldn't sneak away to the open fields. From the hide I was able to get full frame pix of them standing around, feeding and once or twice when they tired to make a break for it, running back towards me when they met humans in their way. Excellent value.
On Sunday I spent most of the morning at Moor Green but still no Weasel: Grey Squirrels and Rabbits plus a single Roe Deer. In the afternoon I went for a wander near Greywell and picked up Bank Vole for the year as well as seeing a few Wood Mice and Brown Hares.
John