Well, what with me away in Shetland for 10 days, it has been over 2 weeks since I have been at Yew View. As you can imagine, with all the rain we have been having, the site is very green and lush and the wildflower turf we put in this year is looking amazing!
Sadly, just a few days after I left for Shetland, the River Severn rose over 5′ at night, drowning both our Bushnell and the HD wired camera that we had at the otter holt. This camera has been bringing us an amazing insight into the comings and going of the local otter family. The camera had recorded up until the water went over it, so I was still able to extract some footage, shooing the male visiting on a few occasions and also possibly, the 2 cubs, now out and about on their own….
A young grey heron also made an appearance!
We are very keen to get a camera back in this location, but we are going to design and construct a floating platform for it, so that we do not lose another one in flash floods! This may take a few weeks, but I hope to be back bringing you updates of the Yew View otters very soon!
The badgers have been active both in the original artificial sett and still checking out our new one.
This clip is interesting as it shows the badger actually pulling up clumps of fresh grass to take down the sett for bedding…
The youngsters are also quite playful, often tumbling and playing around the sett entrances..
A bonus species at the sett entrances has been a beautiful Muntjac…
We have also had the fox showing interest in both artificial setts…
With the daylight hours still long, we are also managing a few daylight… well only just, clips of the badgers as well, which is always a bonus!
The fox also made an early evening visit to the feeding station, just before it got dark… this rarely happens, so it was lovely to see it in full colour…
Battles are still happening in the tawny box. A stock dove has been batting with a squirrel over this residence and she has finally settled on two eggs. Then, this jackdaw made an appearance. I think it was mot interested in the nesting material than her and her egg though!
Finally, our Kingfisher post is as popular as ever! Them male and female kingfisher are still visiting daily, along with a host of other species too! It is amazing how many different birds (and a few mammals) come and sit on this post by the wildlife pond.
So, I finally made it to Day 30 of #30DaysWild! It is certainly not difficult for me to have a wild experience every day… writing a blog for it every day, though, has been a bit more of a challenge! Back to normal now….. just a couple of blog posts a week, keeping you up to date with all the wildlife I am lucky enough to watch and work with!
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