Garden Visitors 3

The garden is still in abundance with wildlife, with 3 mammal visitors too. A grey Squirrel, Hedgehog and Fox have been captured visiting. The latter also providing an untimely death for our poor 17yr old female Rouen Clare Duck called Jilly. For the 17 or so years she roamed free with her partner and offspring with no trouble and suddenly a pair of Foxes had been seen nearby and one Sunday morning, just 30 minutes after she was let out, suddenly my father spotted one Fox with her. Alas she fell from her injuries but had a good innings for a Duck. 

The Grey Squirrel sporadically enters the garden and makes his way onto the Peanut feeders for a top up of energy. Also picks up seed dropped from the Apple cage feeder hanging from the Cherry Tree. He is very timid too and these are all shot through windows.

Helping himself

Hedgehogs make yearly visits to the garden thanks to us only having wire along the bottom boundary. Late last year in the evening quite a small one made its way into the garden, (I have since found out that they should not be about at this time of day) so I proceeded to very slowly make my way to it with the camera. I was able to lay next to it and capture it in the evening light.

 

My Best Side

Say "Catfood"

I'm Off

The little thing was very patient and let me be near it for a while and then went on its merry way. Having discovered what I did thanks to a TV programme, I now know it should have been picked up and taken to an official sanctuary as it was underweight and too small in size and being out in daylight too. 

Onto the Foxes. Thanks to 2 foreign supermarkets of German origin my father and I were able to buy a Wildlife Trail Camera each. In December 2015 I set them up for the first time, given the noise of the Foxes calling at around 11:30pm the previous few nights. Well it wasn't long before we had some hits, ending with great video footage of one too.

So we got our moneys worth very early on with one camera. As sad as it was with the Duck incident, I still find them great to see and it is only their natural intuition of hunting so it is not their fault. Its nature! 

Another colourful character we have come in are Moorhen. At one point we had 7 young and 2 adults come in to feed on the seed in the Apple cages. As I write, only 3 are showing currently and two are a pair as the third gets chased off by them. In the following it is some of these 7 young that I have captured.

Ventured onto the Duck house

Feeding Time

Confrontation

The young are full of life and explored every inch of the garden, walking out onto the ponds netting cover trying to swim, climbing up framework and trees and the Duck house too. Even scrapping with each other, you name it they did it in 2015's Spring/ Summer. I have yet to photograph them in adult plumage, but I have done so at other locations anyway. But when the weather is right and the time is I will get them at ground level from my make shift hide.