After a wonderful week away in the Cairngorms last week, it was back to work, but great to begin to watch the garden and the wildlife re-awaken as a bit of sunshine started to raise temperatures. At this time of the year, I am beginning to think again about the nest box season and the hedgehogs awakening and visiting the garden once again.
I have about 7 nest boxes with cameras at the moment around the garden and two are in a position where either blue or great tits nest just about every year. I have been designing some new interiors to some of my boxes and hopefully we will have some occupiers in these this year, but for the moment, I have a great tit roosting in one box at night and in my side-view box, I have had great tits in and out this week. This box is available to buy on my shop (www.wildlifekateshop.co.uk) and gives a diagonal view on the occupants….
This set-up should give some good views on the occupants and I am also trialling a Bushnell close-up set-up on the outside to get some footage of the adults coming in and out of the box.
Sadly, there has been no sign of my barn owls again. I have not lost hope as it is still quite early for barn owls. The box has attract some other visitors though! I have a pair of stock doves, who nested in my Squirrel Studio last year. They are checking out all of my nest boxes, including the Barn Owl Box!…
I also had a particularly excited and bouncy squirrel spend some time in there…. he is definitely full of the joys of imminent Spring!
The squirrels are also still in Squirrel Studio, but they managed to get hold of one of the cables and chew through the IR lighting in the box. I am working to remedy that over the next week, so I can get that footage back up on my live streams. I am hoping to have some squirrel breeding to watch in one of these boxes this spring. Over the winter one has made a cosy drey in my Pear Tree Tawny box and I think the same bouncy individual was in there earlier in the week…..
No hedgehogs, as of yet, but the feeding station is set up again and I am monitoring it! As soon as they appear, it will be live on my night cameras! Talking of night cameras, my foxes are still coming every night…. often two come and I am hoping they are a pair and that the vixen is now pregnant. There are occasionally three present and sometimes, four! Earlier in the week, I was working at my PC and watching the rats feeding from the food I put out for the foxes. Suddenly a fox appeared and grabbed a rat, right in front of the camera! Luckily, i-catcher was filming and I managed to capture the moment. I have seen the foxes attempt to catch these rats on numerous occasions, but this is the first time I have actually seen them catch one! I put a slow motion clip on as it is all over SO quickly!
Finally, for this update, keep an eye out on my feeder cameras. All the regulars are still here and the Great spotted woodpeckers are showing well. I have 2 male Blackcaps that can be seen on both sets of feeders regularly and I also spied a male siskin on Friday so I hope that will return… with some friends!
With the sun shining this morning, I am off outside… so much to do in the garden any lull in the wet weather means time to be working out there, away from the PC!