Last week, I finally set up the wired camera down by the river, to see if our otters were still visiting. With such a long Autumn, winter and Spring of wet weather, the river has been very high and too dangerous to have a permanent camera on the shore. I was keen this week to see whether the otters were still around…. and I am delighted to confirm that they are!
The very night of the day I set up the camera, this stunning male visited the area and sprainted, leaving a scent message saying the he was around. I am thrilled!
Also interesting is that a badger is regularly coming down to this area. I think he is coming to drink at the river, but he stopped to check out the otter spraint.
I captured him visiting again just a few days later. I hope the female also appears soon…
With the owlets now beginning their lives out in the big wide world, my attention is now on some of the other nests we have. This swallow nest has 5 healthy chicks that are growing incredibly fast. We have another nest with 5 eggs. With such a healthy environment, full of insects, I have no doubts that this pair will have another brood, possibly two!
We have also had some more interesting visitors to our Kingfisher post. Every year, around this time, we have a pair of Mandarin ducks visiting. The female liked to perch and preen very early in the morning.
I have not filmed the male before. Sadly, he only sat here after dark….
This is also the first time I have filmed a grey heron on this post!
It is always lovely to get the chance to see our badger residents in daylight. These guys are appearing before 9pm, so we get some glimpses of them in colour! At the moment, they are using the original sett on site during the day and the camera sett at night occasionally.
Let’s hope we see some of this year’s cubs on site soon, as they often start visiting from the main sett, in June…