Fallow Deer in the Forest of Dean

 Hi everyone, In today's post I will show you what we got on the camera trap in the Forest of Dean. On the first day I found a good spot near the campsite. It looked like it had been trodden down; something obviously came through here often. An hour and a half after the camera was set up, we got our first visitor. It was a fallow deer doe, which got a bit spooked by our camera trap, or something behind it. 

Another hour later, we got a fallow deer fawn passing through. I have to admit, it is very cute.

Later that night we get the same fawn again; you can tell from its dark - coloured forehead.

The next day, at the crack of dawn, we got another doe again, probably the same one - and probably the mother of the young fawn.

At 9:45 we got the doe, and once again it got a bit spooked by the camera. 

In the evening, we got the doe again, followed by the young fawn. 

A minute later the doe comes past the camera again. However, the fawn is out of sight - it's probably just under the camera or behind the tree where the camera is strapped. 

At night, we got the young fawn again.

It appears to be quite brave, as it not always by his mother's side. Despite this, Mum is never far ahead.

This day was the best day for the camera trap. At 7:AM we got a doe standing tall and proud.

Two other deer were behind her, another doe and another young deer. I reckon it is one of last year's fawns as it is brown in colour and lacks spots, like young fallows often do. 

The deer live in herds and the young brown deer is possibly a cousin of the new fawn, if the two does are related. The deer with the fawn is raising it away from the herd, as that is typical fallow deer behavior. The two does in the video you just watched and probably part of the mother's herd, and the young brown deer is old enough to be part of the herd. By next year, the fawn will probably be old enough to join the herd, along with its mother meaning that the number of deer in the herd we have been watching is five. However, if either of the young deer are male, they will most likely live a solitary life when they are older. Anyway, the deer herd stuck around for a bit so here is some more footage.

In the afternoon, we got what I think was the mother of the fawn again.

In the evening, we got the fawn again for the last time...

...who was shortly followed by Mum.

That was all we got in the Forest of Dean. I hope you really enjoyed the last two posts, and don't forget to leave a comment if you did. Unfortunately, we didn't see any boar, although I'm sure that this is not the last time we will go on a boar hunt in the Forest of Dean...

The Forest of Dean & Cannop Ponds

 Hi everyone, recently, at the end of August, I went to the Forest of Dean in an attempt to find wild boar. It was the second time I have tried; the first time being in 2020. Unfortunately, like in 2020, we didn't find any. However, in our search across the forest, we did find some other interesting wildlife. Over the course of the next two posts, I will tell the story of our trip to the forest, and the animals we saw. 

We left home around 10am and it took around 4 hours to get a town just west of the forest in Wales called Monmouth. After grabbing some supplies, we headed into the forest. We were camping on the Western part of the forest, in a campsite called Bracelands. The forest is severed in two halves, by several towns going through the centre, most notably Coleford. Bracelands was a nice campsite with good facilities, and if you are ever looking for somewhere to camp in the forest, I would definitely recommend Bracelands. However, there was another reason why we picked Bracelands as the campsite we would stay at. Despite the Western side of the Dean having a smaller population of boar, earlier this year in January the campsite was attacked by a sounder of five individuals. They recked the ground, and at the time it was unsuitable to pitch a tent on and they have had to put boar-proof fences up around the site. However, when we came in late August, the ground was perfect to pitch up on again. 

Once we had got the tent up, we went straight down one of the footpaths into the forest. One of the first things I noticed were bits of upturned ground. These were a sign the the boar had come through this part of the forest. I checked the colour of the roots - if they are white then they are recent; possibly within the last few days. If they are yellow or brown, that means that they could be weeks, months or even years old. Luckily, they were white, meaning that they were recent. However, like I said earlier, we didn't get any footage of boar so don't get your hopes up for any boar footage (I am hoping to go back next year though so we can try again then). However, despite not seeing any boar, we did manage to get loads of great footage of the forest's other residents, so over the next two posts, I will show you some of the amazing footage we got. 

I found a good spot for the camera trap near where the rooting were, in an area which looked like it had been trodden down by some large animal. Over the next few days I checked it and we got one of the forest's other most exciting animals. You will have to wait until the next post before you can find out what they are. After that, we went down several footpaths and I found a wood ant's nest. It was huge, above my waist and it was crawling with ants. Here is a video.

The next day we went somewhere called Cannop Ponds. We walked from Cannop Ponds to a place called Mallards Pike. On the walk there we saw even more ant nests. They were all probably connected via tunnels underground and they were all patched together.

Once we arrived at Mallards Pike, we saw a small flock of Mandarin Ducks. It was the end of August so most of the males were in or going into an eclipse, where their plumage isn't as colourful as in the breeding season. They start to look a bit more like female ducks. 

We got back to Cannop Ponds and unfortunately hadn't seen any boar. Once we were back I walked around Cannop Ponds. I saw another flock of Mandarins which swam away for cover under the trees. The first thing which caught my eye were two cormorants.

After that, I saw my first ever sighting of a little grebe.

The next day we walked from Bracelands to Symonds Yat. It was a nice village, and we took a 'hand ferry' over the Rive Wyre to get some lunch. After that, we walked up a huge hill (which we nicknamed from the last time we went to the Dean in 2020 'the hill of doom') and to Symonds Yat view. Here's a video from the view. 

Sadly, we would have to leave the next day. Once we woke up, I went to get the camera trap. We didn't get any boar, but what we did get was almost as exciting. Stay tuned for the next post to find out what we got on the camera trap! Remember to leave a comment and thanks for reading!

A New Spot

 Hi everyone, In August I thought I would try a new spot for the camera trap. It was in the same woods as normal, but it was next to some new burrows I found. Unfortunately, after 2 days of being out, It didn't catch anything coming out the burrow. However, if foxes used it, they would only be using around spring time to raise their cubs, so I might put it out here again in spring. However we did get a few other things including lots of mice and a squirrel.

We also got a deer passing through, meaning that it could be a good spot for deer.

That is all for today's post. What do you think of the new spot? Shall we try it again?

Remember to leave a comment and thanks for reading!

Birds at Seaton Wetlands - Part 2

 Sorry I have posted for a while, I've been quite busy this August filming lots of exciting wildlife from around the country, so there are lots of new posts coming this month, showcasing the exciting things I filmed this summer.  Anyway, this is part 2 of "Birds of Seaton Wetlands" and if you want to see part 1 click here.

After the first two hides we went to the last one known as "the tower hide" to see what we could spot. There was a nice man in there who pointed out a heron and told us that if you stay long enough, you should be able to see a kingfisher.

Here is the heron:

Another bird which was close to the hide was a curlew. I see them a lot as I live near the Peak District (where there used to be loads but now are sadly declining in numbers) but I had never caught one on camera before.

There was also a huge flock of gulls with lots of different species, including the great black backed gull.

One of the birds I wanted to see the most were egrets. Luckily, (even on a rainy day) Seaton didn't disappoint. At first the egrets were feeding relatively close to the hide and would fly past every now and then.

Eventually, the egrets got a bit fed up of each other and chased each other away. It is one of my favourite videos of the year and probably one of my favourite videos of birds which we have got.

While we were filming all this, a kingfisher kept flying in and out the reedbeds, and eventually we caught it on camera, something I have wanted to catch for ages. You can see it fly out from the right of the screen a few seconds in.

That is all for today's post. If you are ever in east Devon, I would definitely recommend visiting Seaton Wetlands, as even on a wet day there is still lots of rare wildlife to see, such as the egrets, shelducks and kingfishers. Remember to leave a comment and thanks for reading!