John's Mammals 2021 (1 Viewer)

[Farnboro John]

Time for some pictures of these beasties.

Field Vole

Rabbit - note lop ear, I've seen this on two visits, it won't stand up: bitten in a fight I expect

Field Vole

Common Shrew

Field Vole

 

[Farnboro John]

And a couple more:

Bank Vole

Smudge: moulting to summer coat now hence ragged ruff. Perfectly normal. Note dark base to hairs.

 

[Allen]

Hedgehog back in the garden a few nights last week per neighbour and camera trap. Nice to see him/her back again.

 

[Allen]

2 hedgehogs in the garden tonight both emerging/disappearing under the shed so fingers crossed a decent nest site for them. Camera trap on 🙂

 

[Farnboro John]

Friday evening we were visited by all five of our fox clan at once. I took the time to photograph all of them before feeding them as they seemed in a relaxed mood.

1. Rip, vixen. Belly now naked and teats showing - if she hasn't already given birth she must be about to.
2. Patch, junior of last year's two male cubs. He suddenly looked up at the sky, I've no idea why, couldn't hear any birds going over.
3. Hoppity, vixen, most recent addition. Very much the subordinate in the entire hierarchy.
4. Smudge, slightly the bigger and stronger of the two male cubs from last year. Already well into his spring moult, his ruff is scraggy.
5. Scally, the new dominant dog fox who displaced Big Whitey in early winter. Just beginning his moult.

 

[Farnboro John]

Saturday morning I met Clare for a socially distanced walk along the canal near Tundry Pond. Chiffchaffs were singing all along the far bank, which was great and added to the spring feel engendered by actual warmth in the sunshine.

Mammal highlight was a Roebuck at the top of the slope above the far bank, feeding unbothered by quite a lot of foot and cycle traffic on the towpath. It was still in velvet with just a suggestion of that becoming frayed at tine tips, but its moult from winter to summer coat was well under way with its neck particularly looking very tatty.

John

 

[JWN Andrewes]

Back home after our big outing yesterday, and while Walrus was clearly the headline act it was in fact my second new Welsh mammal of the day after Arch spotted a small herd of Fallow Deer in a field by the A55 as we passed St George just south of Abergele early in the morning. A couple more shots of Toothy McTooth-face here for you.

 

[Farnboro John]

Back home after our big outing yesterday, and while Walrus was clearly the headline act it was in fact my second new Welsh mammal of the day after Arch spotted a small herd of Fallow Deer in a field by the A55 as we passed St George just south of Abergele early in the morning. A couple more shots of Toothy McTooth-face here for you.

What a great day out! Some drive as well, I remember Top Gear showing how hard it is to get from top left to bottom left of Wales. Congratulations!

John

 

[JWN Andrewes]

It was touch and go whether we went when the news broke. Whatever our ultimate plan at the time, our next step was leaving Anglesey. As we headed south down the island I found myself asking the question "what would John do?" Pulled over at the next lay by, reset the sat nav, and we were off. Let the missus know, so she booked us a Travelodge (I hadn't realised they were open again) which at least would have given us another shout this morning had we needed it. And for the record, Rhosneigr to Tenby is about 4h 20m.

 

[MarkHows]

Not a massive amount recently, I rescued the wood mouse and the injured brown rat, it did recover later. Local fallow deer and brown hare have been visible.

 

[Farnboro John]

On the last day of March I went for a late evening walk along the canal at Tundry Pond. It was a fine and calm evening and the local bats were out in force. 3+ Noctules were out in pretty much full daylight but I'd taken the big lens and hadn't a hope of a picture - next time! Soprano Pipistrelles were zipping about well before it was anywhere near dark, and I thought I might have detected a Daubenton's Bat but it was brief and not sea-skimming, so I haven't put it down.

However the main business of the evening was checking out a Badger sett I haven't previously tried, and it was quite good, with 4 Badgers ambling about foraging on favourable slopes for about an hour - only one decent picture as I haven't figured out the right bits of landscape to stake out yet. I'll be back!

The Roebuck pictured upthread was there in the dark, I saw him through the nightscope, and the bank behind me on the towpath side was alive with the scufflings of small mammals but again the 500 f4 wasn't the appropriate tool so I ignored them.

Meanwhile at home 4 - 5 foxes still attend nightly, with spring moults making them look a bit raggy at the moment.

John

 

[Farnboro John]

Earlier the same afternoon I had a look at Moor Green, where I picked up Blackcap for the year and enjoyed a few local goodies like Oystercatcher and Shelduck: but the highlight of that walk was a Roe doe that belted across the small scrape in front of the Colebrook Lake hide giving me a close view of her at the run.

Roe doe and Badger pix below.

John

 

[MarkHows]

Plenty of local muntjac and hares and the rabbit kits have started to emerge. A trip West to see the magnificent Walrus was too tempting.

 

[JWN Andrewes]

Don't blame you in the slightest Mark, and by the look of our photos we were standing about 2 metres apart! Had I but known!

 

[snlw]

I couldn't resist a trip out to see the Walrus. Locally was out on Sunday evening watching 10+ Leisler's Bat emerging from their bat box roost.

 

[MarkHows]

Don't blame you in the slightest Mark, and by the look of our photos we were standing about 2 metres apart! Had I but known!

I heard you tell the story of your trip but only made the connection when you posted here, another time.

 

[Farnboro John]

I heard you tell the story of your trip but only made the connection when you posted here, another time.

One of you needs to check the time set on your camera but it looks like you must have both pressed the button simultaneously! I also couldn't resist the trip with Marion, but the Walrus stayed in the water throughout our visit. I'll put some pictures up of it swimming in a while (now done). Absolutely awesome beast.

John

 

[MarkHows]

And both times are wrong it was well after 4pm

Mark

 

[Allen]

Time to admit I equally could not resist a trip - alone, took food, social distanced and masked while I was on site (unlike most of the locals!). A very enjoyable morning in the warm Tenby sunshine.

 

[Farnboro John]

Time to admit I equally could not resist a trip - alone, took food, social distanced and masked while I was on site (unlike most of the locals!). A very enjoyable morning in the warm Tenby sunshine.

Fantastic pictures!

John