The Sparrowhawk footage I uploaded yesterday was not the only footage I captured from another summer week at Yew View. The kingfishers are visiting still, although not as often as we sometimes see them. With the river levels low at present, there are plenty of opportunities on the Severn for hunting. This individual displayed how this fantastic little bird can completely transform its shape from rounded to a dart. If there is another kingfisher about or they are at all agitated, they are able to stand almost vertical…..
The young jackdaws like this perch too, regularly appearing on it. They have not yet moulted into their adult plumage and their eye has not reached the characteristic blue. They are so animated and interested in everything going on around them, I have a soft spot for these clever corvids…
Our tawny owl made a couple of appearances one night as well. Due to the proximity of a trail cam nearby, the IR was a little high. Some adjustments have been made to improve this image at night, as this owl is landed just over a metre from the camera….
I love the first part of this clip, when you see its eyes in the gloom and it swoops in like a ghost to alight on the post….
Our badgers, have not spent much time in our camera sett chambers this week, but are still spending time in the other artificial sett on site. I was surprised to get some daylight footage of this individual, when it made its first appearance of the night, just after 8pm..
Badgers are SO itchy! They spend a lot of time grooming and scratching inside and outside of the sett…
The badgers also visit the feeding station and have given us some great, up-close footage this week, along with the foxes , who also make a regular appearance to take advantage of the small amount of peanuts and dried dog food that are put out each night.
There has not been much action at the otter holt, but this individual did make a brief visit, sprainting outside to tell other passing otters it had been there…
I did think we had seen the last of the nesting action this year, but the swallows are still at it! This individual certainly seem to be thinking of squeezing another clutch in before their epic journey back to Africa….
We are still monitoring our small mammal feeding stations, but we have not seen the harvest mice for some time. There is so much natural food around, they do not need to supplement their diet with our offerings. The wood mice and bank voles are our most common visitors, always keen to take advantage of this food source…
Finally, the dragonflies are beginning to appear now. The Southern Aeshna on the wildlife pond eluded my camera; its fast patrolling and erratic movements make it a very difficult subject to photograph! The Common darters on the ornamental pond proved an easier subject and I was able to capture a few shots…
There are still not many butterflies about, but a few Gatekeepers were flitting around, along with bumble bees taking advantage of the huge number of nectar sources on site…
Another great week ay Yew View! 🙂