Bluebell Vixen

 I've been to pick the camera up today (Easter Sunday) and we are going to have a look at what we got this week. From now on I will also be telling you what my favourite photo of the week is in all my camera trap posts. However, seeing as I wouldn't be able to get this post out until the weekend so I've just been to put it back out again and we will see what we got later in this week's post. So get ready, as this is going to be a long post.

Week 1

On the first day it was out we got a few jays, and in the afternoon we got some amazing footage of this vixen coming to eat some of the food I put out. It's some of the best footage I've had yet of a fox and it stuck around for 4 minutes.

This first photo is my favourite of the week:

Here is some more footage:

That's a lot of footage, and it's not the last we will see of the vixen this week.

Here's one of our regular jays just 2 minutes after the fox:

There seemed to be some drama here:

In the evening, the vixen came back.

That's probably the most footage we have ever got in the first day of the camera being out.

A day later and we got a few more jays and a song thrush again like we did the other week.

In the evening, the vixen returned again.

At night we got another fox, but due to the quality I can't tell weather it was the vixen or not.

The next morning we got some squirrel pics.

At night we got what I think is the vixen again.

We also got this blackbird in the morning.

And the vixen returned for the final time this week. It passed the camera, sat in the bluebells and walked off.

That's not all for this post though as we got a badger passing through at night.

Finally, we got a squirrel and a jay.

If you were wondering how I could tell it was a vixen, it's because it had teats, which also means it has cubs in it's den and that's why it was probably so active (the most times we have had a daylight fox in a week). I'm suprised we didn't get any deer this week, but mabye we will in this coming week and depending on what we get this could be one of my longest posts yet. I might have to wait to see what the camera picks up, but you don't as we will see what we got in this next part of the post...

Week 2

I might have had to wait a week, but you have only got to continue reading to find out what we got next.

On Easter Sunday Night, the vixen came back. It kept coming back all through the night, and was probably coming back for the food so she could feed her cubs.

In the morning we got the patch-winged jay, who (like the vixen) is another one of the individuals animals we have had a lot lately.

Although we didn't get great footage, we did get a deer run past that morning as well:

We got a squirrel in the evening:

And the vixen at night again:

We got the patch-wing again in the morning:

The vixen also returned in the evening:

And it came back at night:

We also got this mouse:

We got patch-wing in the morning:

And the vixen again at night:

And patch-wing one final time:

That's all for this week's post. The camera is out now so come back next weekend for (hopefully) another great post. Remember to leave a comment and thanks for reading!

Deer Territory

 Let's have a look what we got on the camera trap last week (I picked it up because it was raining all week anyway).

First up we got a few jays:

On the first night we got this amazing footage of my favourite, the badger. It seems to be eating up the food I put out. Also, if you listen carefully, you can hear some really noisy tawny owls in the distace.

We got a blackbird and a jay in the morning:

And we got another badger at night:

The next day we got a few jays and even these two buzzards flying over a few seconds into the video:

But it is the next day when we get our first deer, the stag in front of the camera and the doe a bit further off. Like last time, they are out really early in the morning at 5:AM. It seems to have shed the velvet on it's antlers which usually takes under 24 hours once the antlers are fully grown. However, the male also seems to be marking its territory by weeing by my camera. This could mean that they are prepared to stay here all summer again, something that happened last year, and they appeared much more than in 2023, and 2022 when they first came to the woods.

An hour later we got this squirrel:

We only got another squirrel in the next few days up until this morning (it's April 13th at the time of writing this - the post won't come out until the 18th) when we got some great footage of the stag again (at 5:AM as well). This time however, I can't see the doe but is likely that she isn't too far away and is probably just behing the tree or somewhere like that.

That's all for this week's post.  I'm looking forward to seeing what happens this year with the deer. They usually have fawns in late spring to early summer so who knows what will happen...

 Remember to leave a comment and thanks for reading!

A Dipper, Woodpecker + Other Sightings

 This post is a quick round up of some birds I've seen lately.

Tittesworth Resevoir

The other day I was down at Tittesworth and got this footage of an oystercatcher:

I also saw this cormarant:

And these teals:

Blog Woods

Here is some footage I got of buzzards in my local woods when I have been putting out the camera trap:

And here's a Jay I saw while putting the camera out on Tuesday. 

Consall

Now we have got to the proper part of the post, from my trip to RSPB Consall Woods today (April 9th) .

One bird which is occasionally seen there is the elusive dipper, one of the birds I've never seen before but would love to get a glimpse of. 

First was this blue tit by a nest box:

There were a few buzzards flying about and even this heron in a field:

Further down the path, we come to the river Churnet and onto a bridge hoping to mabye see a Dipper. 

And two seconds later, my first ever dipper - the UK's only aquatic songbird - flew out onto a rock.

They are really cool birds, and they are my favourite bird spot so far of the year.

Here is a kestrel:

And finally, some pheasant footage.

Blog Woods Update

I don't usually update posts but today - April 13th - when I was getting my camera trap (you will have to wait until the weekend for that) I finally got my first ever recording of a woodpecker (great spotted woodpecker). After hearing it and several glimpses, it finally came into sight.

That's all for this week's post. I should hopefully have a camera trap post ready for next weekend soon. Remember to leave a comment and thaks for reading!

April Animals

 The past week has had such nice weather, perfect for the camera trap. And this week was one of the best weeks we have had all year (even though the footage has been great this year). The new spot has produced some cracking stuff yet again, and lets look through what we got. 

I put some food out and set a log up (for some birds) which seemed to attract loads of jays.

We also got our first fox of the week on the first night.

A few jays later and we got what I believe is the same fox but this time in the day. The footage I got the other week was amazing, and this time it was just as good.

The next night we got a great badger video.

If you remember, last year we got our first deer of the year in the first week of April. Well this week, an hour after the badger, we got our first deer of the year on the last day of March.

However, later in the week - in April- we did get some more deer action...

But first, here is some jay footage:

A dodgy badger photo:

And another fox:

We also got a songthrush, which is a bird we don't get much. 

This morning (April 6th), we got the deer for a second time.

Finally, we got a squirrel.

That's all for today's post. Remember to leave a comment and thanks for reading!