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:
In the last two 'Unseen' posts I took a look at badgers and foxes. In today's post we will look at other mammals in general. Let's get straight into it.
Rats and Mice
Lots of people don't like rodents. If that's you look away as rats and mice will be in this section.
I don't mind rodents and think that they are rather interesting. I have endless videos of unseen mice that I could have made a separate post all about them. Anyway here is a funny one of it getting blown away by the wind.
A few posts ago, I launched 'Badgers: Unseen'. The truth is, I have lots of unseen footage. In today's post I will be showing some unseen fox footage. Let's get straight into it.
Long ago in 2020, we got the second fox ever. The first fox was a bit rubbish as you couldn't see its head. But the second fox was a fantastic one. However, I just took a screenshot from the video and showed that. Today, I will show the full video. There is a peculiar sound which ends in a sad squawk as the fox jumped over the log. Did it catch some prey?
Sadly, the area which was that video was taken in was flooded later that year and still is to this day. However, the bank just up from the pond isn't and I still put the camera out there today. We got another fox there and once again edited it so it was just a still photo of the fox. Here is the full footage.
The other week I went on an extra long walk. I saw several animals such as ducks and moorhens because it was mainly along the canal. One animal which has never been on the blog before are domestic pigs which were in a pen on the side of the canal.
Towards the end of the walk we walked through a wooded area. This was the place I least expected to see a heron but sometimes nature surprises you. It was a juvenile in the woods and the canal wasn't near.
In 2021 we finally found the badger set. In 2022 we put the camera trap out there. Now, just at the end of 2023, I've put it out again. It's also surprisingly the first time I have ever put the camera trap out in December too (I'm hoping to put it out again and keep it out over Christmas day). It's extremely wet and windy here (it was a struggle getting the camera back) so some of the photos are blurred out by raindrops.
Anyway, lets get into it.
Saturday to Monday
We put the camera out on Saturday. However, it wasn't until Monday when we got something. It was just a miller-second glimpse of one's face before it went out on it's night scavenge. It wasn't really worth showing you. But the next clip is. It is a behaviour we have never recorded before. It is when a badger brings fresh bedding into the burrow.
Badgers are one of the three main animals on the blog (the other 2 being foxes and deer). However, not all badger footage (even though some of them should) makes the final cut. Some of the images/photos in this post may seem familiar as they have similar backgrounds or are even just a full video of a screenshot taken. The first video is one I took a long time ago. It was in 2020 and is the second-ever badger video I got.
In 2021, me and my dad went wildlife spotting. For the full post, click here.
After waiting for about 2 hours one finally came out. I mentioned that there were two badgers but only ever showed a video of 1. Well, in today's post I will show you the other footage we got.
I'll start off with a video and some pictures. The camera is a bit shaky at the start but soon settles. Sorry if the sound is a bit strange; I had to take shorter videos of the videos on the computer from my phone so they would upload.
