Two cormorants? In 2 posts? One after the other? Well, I guess it is just a week for cormorants. This post however is going to be short as there are just a few photos. I was on a walk when I saw a cormorant perched in a tree on the side of the canal. It was a strange place for cormorant to be. I took the photos on my dad's phone (his camera is better than mine) so there aren't the best.
In today's post, we will be looking at what I saw earlier today at the lake where I get most of my heron photos. However, in today's post, there will be no herons. There will be another exciting bird later though...
Gulls - Muggers of The Lake
We saw lots of gulls at the lake - robbing food and divebombing other birds. These next couple of photos are of black-headed gulls in their winter plumage.
The next photo is of another bigger gull - judging from the bill shape it looks like a juvenile herring gull wintering inland.
In today's post, we will take a look at the latest from the badger set. I have to admit, even I didn't expect what we got. Seeing as all the dates are wrong (the times are too) we will go through them in a random order.
Squirrel
To get an idea of what the area looked like in the day, here are a few photos followed by a video of a squirrel.
The camera trap has been out and in today's post we find out what's been on it. I have kept putting it out since Christmas eve with rubbish results. Though this post is nowhere near as good as some others, I will still put it on. With a little temptation of fatballs, several species of birds came out. Unfortunately, we didn't get any foxes, badgers or deer. So the star of today's post is the jay. Jays are one of my favourite corvids (crows and their relatives) thanks to their 'moustache' and a spot of electric blue on their wings. We will start from when we first got something.
Sunday
On Sunday morning we got a robin sitting on the log.
Today's post is going to be a short one. It is the first one (with fresh footage) of what will hopefully be a good year. The other day, we were walking along the canal and saw a huge heron fly out of the field, get startled by us and fly back in. Due to the mist, the photos aren't very clear. I often see a heron in the same field but from much further away down the canal.
In general, 2023 has been the best year for the blog. By far the most posts have been made this year; practically doubling the previous record of 14 posts in one year. Last year, I didn't get that much so I only picked 5 photos/videos. This year I'm picking 10. But how will I only pick ten? I don't know - I haven't even decided yet.
10. - First Fox of the Year
Admittedly, these fox photos aren't the first of 2023. But I did get them on the first time I put it out in the whole year. It was a very popular post and had the biggest number of comments I have ever had on a post.
There are several photos and videos of it doing the same thing so I will class these to as one.
9. Family of Mallards
I don't always use a camera trap to get footage of animals. I took this photo of a family of female mallard ducks myself.
8. Seeing the Deer with my Own Eyes
This is definitely the worst quality photo from today's post but it was one of the best experiences. I was showing my friend Chris around the woods when we saw the herd of deer I have been tracking. 
It is the last time I have seen the deer up until the time of writing this (more on them later).
7.A Rather Nice Badger
Surprisingly, this is the only badger in this post. However, it is still very good picture.
6. Herons and Egrets
While in Italy, we got some great pictures of my favourite bird family; herons and egrets. It was the biggest heronry I had ever seen and I got one photo which I am very pleased with.
5. A Surprising Rarity
When I started the blog, I didn't expect to get any foxes, badgers and especially deer. If there was one animal I did expect to get it would be the rabbit. I don't know why, I just did. However, that is one of the least common animals we get on the camera. Thanks to several diseases, their population has declined drastically. However, several conservation studies have helped bring back their numbers and their population is slowly rising. They are still rare for us to get and that is why they are number 5 on the list.
4. Fox Cubs
Fox cubs are undoubtedly cute and to get them was an extra special treat. A few weeks before we got them, we got a mother fox with teets so we knew they were in the wood.
I know it is sneaky putting two videos in one post but they are both a number 4 place holder.
Here are the cubs:
3.The Rarest Animal We Have Got
This year, beavers were introduced to Trentham gardens. For more info, check out the whole post (it's called an exciting post). We saw the beavers and took some photos of their tails sticking out the water. They are the rarest animals I have ever got on the blog.
2. Best Deer Footage Ever
This year we got even more deer on the camera. We have got some great footage of them but I had to pick just one more piece of footage for this post. This photo and video was taken in may of a male deer.
1. The Animal I Wanted Most
I love birds. They are my favourite animals in the world and always have been. As well as herons and egrets, I also like birds of prey. Buzzards are particularly common in my area. I heard one today when I was on a walk. I also sometimes see kestrels, sparrow hawks, and even the occasional red kite. But none of them are in the number one spot. One big part of the bird of prey family are owls. I had always wanted to get an owl on the camera trap; they were the animal I wanted most. My two favourite owls are barn and tawny so as long as I got one, I would be happy. Then, one day, a week or so before my birthday, I got one. It was a tawny. I was so happy and knew that from then on it would be the number one spot of the year. Maybe the number one spot on the blog. It isn't the best photo, but in the top left corner you can clearly see a tawny owl.
So that is it. The end of the best year for the blog. So far. There are lots of things I am planning to accomplish this year. Here is a small bucket list:
