It's probably an ideal time to start the 2022 Odds & Sods thread off, with some squabbling starlings....
To view the 2021 thread, click HERE
This pair of starlings were having a right old go at each other, whilst another nipped in to the coconut shell for a food
Mike
Flickr: Peak Rambler
My sister-in-law told me I was a lucky blighter for seeing this, so I thought I’d share Dartford Warbler in Sidmouth, Devon
Lot to learn
A bit late for Easter. It looked like it had been in the wars.
A crow enjoying a drink from the bird bath...
Before it flies away....
I have never felt so threatened by a squirrel in all my life!!!
"Feed me or your seedings are getting it"
(Pardon the Scottish Accent)
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.
More from the garden, a vixen takes a break to have a scratch, just nicely close enough to get a piccie or two, from the kitchen.
All photos uncropped except where mentioned
She hears the shutter click, and becomes uneasy...
So she decides to move away, the mammary glands clear to see, suggesting she has cubs.
After a fewsecond, she decides perhaps it isn't that bad, and starts to walk back towards the kitchen window
This next one is a cropped photo, that's because the water butt took almost half the frame, the fox was clear enough to crop out the surrounding scene
Still coming nearer
As she came through the gap, she had decided there was no immediate threat, and walked past the kitchen door.
We didn't move top the door so as not to scare her any more than necessary, but this last photos was perfectly clear and a nice one to end with.
Back to the family.......
We have two vixens that visit at night, very identifiable a couple of weeks ago by the size of the mammary glands, one vixen having larger glands than the other. However, recent trailcam footage shows two vixens, identifiable by coat condition differences with almost, and probably are, glands of similar size.
Linda257 said:How lovely Mike..Mines is sitting in the middle of the lawn at 9.30 every night waiting to see what scraps am throwing out...she actuallycomes close to me as am throwing the meat...Will be so lovely if she brings her cubs to play soon ;-)
Their body clocks will seek out a routine.
The trailcams often capture a fox walking through the garden anywhere between 19:00 and 20:00, so the time wasn't of any surprise, but the unobstructed opportunity to grab photos was a rare one.
I have to say, though the kitchen window is double glazed, the camera shutter is on silent, the click is very quiet, to the human ear, but she heard it and stopped scratching in an instant. I guess she's never heard that click before, so caution was paramount, but after a couple of seconds, she ambled back down the garden and down the drive on to the road.
She did return later that night, and during the early hours, captured on the trailcam.