The River

One part of the woods I have never made a post on is the small river that runs through the woods. I set the camera up there to try and catch one bird in particular, the grey wagtail. It is a bird we have never had on the camera trap before, and I was pretty sure they would like this stretch of river. The first few days it was very rainy so we didn't get much. We did get our first wagtail though, in this blury video (the lense had water on it).

I went to check on the camera after all the rain (I didn't want it to be submerged) but it was fine. I gave it a slightly better angle and put a rock in front for any birds to land on. Here is another wagtail:

Here is a jay:

And another wagtail:

Next up is some of my favourite footage of the week, two grey wagtails searching for the river for food. Early April is prime mating season for grey wagtails, and they stay with each other for life.

Here is some more footage:

Next up is one of the birds I didn't expect to get. It's noting too exciting, but here is some footage of a pair of mallard ducks.

Another wagtail:

Here is some mouse footage:

A misty wagtail and a jay:

The pair of ducks also reappeared:

And came back an hour later:

A magpie:

And one of the wagtails came back:

The ducks came back. You get a great look at them.

One of the wagtails was still there. They appeared throughout the day.

It is really interesting to see how they hunt for insects, such as standing on a rock, fishing them.

A blackbird appeared:

And a wren:

A robin also appeared in the evening to have a wash. If you are wondering what the noise is, that's the resident flock of jackdaws.

Finally, we got a grey wagtail standing on the rock I placed.

For just a few short days, I'm supprised about how much we got. It is a very small brook, so to get 7 species of bird (including a pair of wagtails and a pair of ducks, which we have never had on the camera trap before) and a mouse is really great. I'll definitely be getting the camera out there again some time soon, and it will be great to see what we get there in coming years. That's all for this week's post, I hope you enjoyed, don't forget to leave a comment and thank's for reading!

Badger Sett Update

 Sorry guys but this week's post is a bit of a rubbish one. Over the last two weeks, I have had my camera out by the badger sett. However, with only one badger passing through, it doesn't look like they are resident there at the moment. They weren't there last march either so they have either moved setts or stay in a temporary one every march. Anyway, here is the footage we got by the setts (I'm sorry for the bad camera angles in the first half).

The one Badger passing through appears at the end of the video:

Birds like this jay seem to enjoy being around the sett still:

A quick glimpse of a fox:

A wren:

After setting it up in a different position it caught this jay.

The redwings appeared here as well.

And that was about it for the last two weeks. Hopefully I can produce a better post next week as I have tried a totally new and very different location, still in the usual woods but you will have to wait until next week to find out where I have put it (unless we don't get anything). The only reason I'll be putting the camera out at the setts again is to either try one more time or get some nice bird footage. Anyway, please follow me, leave a comment and thank's for reading!

Down at Doxey

I saw some great birds today at doxey marshes. Here are the best ones:

Gadwalls:

                                                                

A flock of goosanders:                                                                                                                                 

Three little egrets and a heron:                                                                                                                                            

Teals:                                                                                                                                 

Other birds I saw today include lapwings, gulls, shelducks, a reed bunting and even a quick glimpse of a kingfisher.

That is all for this week's post. Remember to leave a comment, follow and thanks for reading!

Mystery Beast

 Lets have a look what we got on the camera over the first week of March. There is some great footage in this post, and an animal that even I can't figure out what it is. First up, we have a jay.

And a nuthatch:

Next up is the best footage on this post. It is one of my favourite foxes we hav had in ages.

Pigeon:

A chaffinch:

Another nuthatch.

Another fox at night:

The most interesting animal in this post is this mystery beast.

It's too chunky to be a fox, it's definitely not a deer and so it could be a badger but the tail and markings look very different.  I wish I could tell you for definite what it is, but at this time I'm not too sure. I'll try and find out. Also, there was nothing on the video after which could help me find out. If you have any idea what it is, leave a comment below.

To make the week even better, here's a badger.

A nuthatch:

Finally, to end the week, here is some of the best redwing footage I have got. They were a new species for this year, and this is probably one of the last times I will get them as they are winter visitors.

That's all for this week's camera trap post. However, you may have noticed some changes to my blog in this post and I will talk you through all three. Before I do, if you are on your phone scroll to the bottom of the page and press 'view web version' to access the new features (you can also then turn your phone horizontally for the best experience). The first new feature is the ability to change the language of the writing on my blog using the new translate feature. The next new feature is to view my most popular post (Sandbach Flashes SSI at the time of writing this).  Finally you can show how support to my blog by following it. You can do this by pressing the big new follow button above the dates on the side-bar. (At this time you will recieve no update for a new post when following but this may change in the future).

Remember to leave a comment and thanks for reading!

Early Birding

 We got out early today, and down to sandbach flashes to spot some birds. There were plenty of wigeons and teals about. Here is some nice shelduck footage I got.

There was a big heron on one of the lakes.

A chaffinch:

The first new bird for the blog in this week's post is a reed bunting.

I also saw my first little grebe of this year.

In the next clip there are two tufties and with them is a female pochard. It's the first time I have ever been able to record one.

My favourite new bird today was this distant barnacle goose. You can tell which one it is as it is much smaller than the canada geese.

Finally, a collared dove.

I saw a few other birds today including pintails, the godwits, and lapwings which were all very far away.

That's all for today's post. Which bird was your favourite? Remember to leave a comment and thanks for reading.