Stag in the Snow

 Hi everyone, we have some exciting animals in today's post so stick around to see some nice footage. This is also the last post where we are celebrating my 100th post so remember to leave a comment. I left the camera out for two weeks instead of one like usual because the weather was rubbish. Here's a quick look at what's to come later in the post:

The first thing we got was a squirrel:

A few days later, we got a picture of an up-close badger. It ran away before the video set off so this was all we got:

Three nights later we got an exciting new bit of deer footage. It was the stag, and it was the first time we had ever got one at night. It was also snowing and it came right up close to the camera!

In the day time we got a robin in the snow.

About a week later we got another deer, this time it was a doe in the day.

The final thing we got was a spider in the bottom left corner.

I think it wanted to make a cobweb in my camera.

To say I had it out for two weeks, we didn't get much. Then again, the weather was bad, I had put no food out and the footage we did get was good quality.

Remember to leave a comment and thanks for reading!

Threegrets

 Hi everyone, this post is part two of my trip to Doxey Marshes. If you haven't seen part one, go and check out my last post. We are still celebrating 100 posts on Joe's Wildlife Blog so remember to leave a comment after reading this post. You may wonder what on earth the title means but that will soon become clear.

On one of the islands there was a pair of grey herons. However, they weren't what I was excited about; there was a flock of about 6 Lapwings resting on the island by them.

We also saw some cormorants. 

Here is a goosander:

I have had lots of new species of waterfowl on my blog lately (we found our first goosander last year so they're not too recent) and here is another to add to the score. It is called the shoveler, and has one of the biggest beaks of British duck. In the first video you may see some much smaller teals swimming around it, and in the second video you will get a better close-up.

Just before we going to move on to the next hide, I noticed something. What I thought were just three more great white egrets hunched up were actually a separate species and one I had never seen before - cattle egrets. There were three of them, and one had become more active than the other two. They are shorter and stockier than great white or little egrets. 

We had already seen two of three British egrets or 'threegrets' and all we needed to see now was a little egret. Despite there not being much there, the second hide ticked off the third and final egret.

Here's one final video of a great white egret and a little egret together.

That is all for today's post. I hope you enjoyed this visit to Doxey Marshes. It was the first time I have ever been. However, it is probably not the last as it isn't too far from home. I have put the camera trap out twice now and have got nothing exciting. It is out now and hopefully we will get something good this time - stay tuned for a camera trap post coming soon (hopefully).  

Remember to leave a comment and thanks for reading!

Doxey Marshes

 Hi everyone, today I have been to Doxey Marshes to try and spot some rare birds. I have just reached my 100th post and over the next two or three posts the celebrations will continue. I saw so much there that I have had to split this post into two parts - stay tuned for part two coming soon.

As soon as we arrived I saw a bird I had never seen before (in the UK - there is a chance that I had seen one in Italy although it was very far away and hard to tell) in one of the lakes; a great white egret. 

On the next lake we saw a juvenile great crested grebe. 

We carried on around to the first hide. On the way we saw another great egret fly over the marshes.

Once we arrived at the first hide I was shocked by how much there was to see. The one which caught my eye first was a shelduck. I had only ever seen one before at Seaton wetlands and that was a juvenile, so it was nice to see another one - and my first ever adult one.

On the other side of the lake I saw another great white egret!

Suddenly it flew towards us and you could see how big it was in flight.

A few minutes later the egret came into sight again.

That wasn't everything we saw at Doxey Marshes. However, that is everything for today's post. Part two will be out tomorrow and is just as exciting. Remember to leave a comment and thanks for reading!

100th Post

Hi everyone, just a quick post about the blog at the moment and what to expect. It is my 100th post so I thought it would be a good chance to talk about the blog currently. Over the last 4 years, I have been out taking photos and videos of the wildlife in the UK. In the future, I would like to get some footage of wildlife from other countries, but right now I am trying to see most British species. My main plans for the coming years are similar to what I am doing now; put the camera trap out and record my local wildlife. However, we have lately bought a campervan, meaning we might be able to go to more places across the country. My number one UK target is a wild boar, so it is likely that we will back at the Forest of Dean next year. If you have any other suggestions for where we should go, please leave them in the comments below. Anyway, let's have some fun and have a look at my favourite bit of footage from each year. 

2020

When I first started my blog I did not expect to get anything as exciting as a fox or badger. However, on its second night out, it caught our first-ever badger. Go check out my post 'badger sighting' to watch the full video.

2021

In 2021 I didn't put the camera trap out much, but when I did we got some good footage. For example, the fox having a poo would probably end up on my top ten of all time. However, nothing could compare to seeing my first-ever badger in the flesh.

2022

2022 was a good year for the blog, up until my camera got taken in Notts Forest :( - we did get a new one :).  2022 was also when I did my first yearly ranking. The number one spot was awarded to our first- ever roe deer. 

2023

In 2023, the number one spot was awarded to the animal I wanted to get on the camera trap the most. It was a tawny owl, and I have only had one since.

2024

2024 is going to be the toughest year by far to decide my top ten. I have an idea of what the number one might be, but you will have to wait until the end of 2024...

That is all for today's post. Thanks for all the comments and views over the last 100 posts. I know there was nothing new in this post, but the celebrations will continue over the next few VERY exciting posts. Stay tuned for more.

Kedleston Birds

 Hi everyone, yesterday I went to a national trust property called Kedleston Hall on the way back from Yorkshire. There was a river running through, and I saw a little egret on one of the trees. There was also a heron next to it. Here is the footage:

I also saw a flock of teals, which you can hear whistling in the video.

That is all for today's post. I hope you have enjoyed everything we got in Yorkshire and at Kedleston. 

Remember to leave a comment and thanks for reading!

Swaledale Scoop

While we were in Yorkshire we went to Bolton-on -Swale Nature reserve. We were in an area called Swaledale, and we were going to try and spot some wintering birds. The bird I wanted to see the most was a type of duck that I had never seen before called a wigeon. It is going to be a long post, so get comfy...

We got up early and made our way to the first hide. There were lots of the usual birds around; Canada geese, mallards, a big flock of swans and even some early greylag geese. However, we soon saw what I wanted to see, wigeons. 

Soon after this video was taken, a flock of them gathered on the shore. 

With the main target ticked off, I scanned around through binoculars to see if I could spot anything else. Behind the wigeons were a couple of curlews - Europe's largest wading bird.

Here is a nice video of a swan:

Just before we moved onto the next hide, I saw another species of duck I had never seen before - goldeneye. In the video, the goldeneye are the ones that dive down, and the ones which stay floating are the usual tufted ducks. 

At the next hide we had the camera on some bird feeders. (Thanks to my Dad for getting the bird feeder footage).

The first thing we spotted on the bird feeders was a tree sparrow. Tree sparrows are another first for the blog, and are actually quite rare. Their numbers have declined drastically lately and we were lucky to see them. They look a lot like a house sparrow which you might get in your garden but they do have their differences. House sparrows have a grey patch on their head while tree sparrows have a full brown head. Tree sparrows also have a black spot on their cheek which the house sparrows don't.  

Next on the pecker we have a squirrel.

We also saw a dunnock and a robin.

After that, another man came into the hide. Just before we had to go he pointed out another bird much further away which I wouldn't have noticed. It is another bird that I have never seen before and, like the wigeon, one I had been wanting to see for a long time - the snipe. There was a small flock of them on the edge of one of the islands. They are in the center of the screen, just at the water's edge.

That is all for today's post. I hope you enjoyed it as there was 4 new species for the blog today. 

Remember to leave a comment and thanks for reading!

Whitby Wildlife

 Hi everyone, I just got back from a holiday in Yorkshire and have three new posts lined up with new species on them. We were about one and a half hours away from Whitby, most famous for being the place where Dracula was set. 

There were lots of gulls about, although the first exciting thing I saw was a pair of cormorants.

I also spotted a much smaller bird called a turnstone. We have never had one on the blog before so I was very pleased to some footage. The videos were quite short so I combined them into one.

That is all for today's post. I have got two more good ones coming so stay tuned for them.

Remember to leave a comment and thanks for reading!