John's Mammals 2024 (2 Viewers)

[Farnboro John]

Closer to home I had a brief go with the new Guide TD210 Thermal Imager at Moor Green the other day after hearing a soft scuffle in leaves, and found a Bank Vole under the hedge in five seconds flat. It was close and a cold day so not stretching the device at all but hey, it works. The vole got away very quickly, no pix. Still, 12 mammals in Britain this year so far, not complaining.

John

 

[Allen]

You're right John, Sechuran! I think it had cubs nearby as initially it was determinedly carrying food (a lizard) somewhere but then was found happily sat in the parking area of the reserve with no concern for us at all.

 

[Farnboro John]

I've just totally cribbed this from the night vision for mortals thread.

Took my new Guide TD210 down to the New Forest last night for a bit of a test. Unfortunately the car park I'd selected as being the most likely for an array of nocturnal mammals turned out to be the local dogging site - not so likely after all!

I moved to another car park down the same road and was left in peace for about three hours, when a small car with a noisy exhaust came in and stopped for about five minutes. I think their nerve broke before mine and after two or three attempts to start the car they got it going and left revvily.

Anyway, to the business of the night.

I wasn't in car park 1 for very long after it got truly dark but while people were still returning to their cars I detected dogs off lead. Later I detected two small mammals at about fifteen yards and tracked them from a picnic table to a heap of logs and back again easily. At car park 2 it was Wood Mouse city! I found several along the line of a ditch bordering the car park and tracked them effortlessly. When one paused near me I got the camera out and found the mouse (identified from behaviour, no way to do it using the thermal imager, no detail - can't even see mouse tails) was too jumpy for even red or green light. However, I did get a brief view bare-eyed in the red light confirming the ID. Later I got out of the car and did manage to get a few pictures of mice that presumably felt so safe in their positions huddled up to tree roots or whatever that they froze rather than running. Red or green light still didn't seem to matter. I didn't bother trying white light, I was sure they'd leg it.

I also heard three Tawny Owls, one female and then two males hooting at each other. Unfortunately none came anywhere I could detect them.

So the device is good for finding stuff but you'll need a different system to identify it.

Wood Mouse pix to come.

John

 

[WalterRayle]

I've just totally cribbed this from the night vision for mortals thread.

Took my new Guide TD210 down to the New Forest last night for a bit of a test. Unfortunately the car park I'd selected as being the most likely for an array of nocturnal mammals turned out to be the local dogging site - not so likely after all!

I moved to another car park down the same road and was left in peace for about three hours, when a small car with a noisy exhaust came in and stopped for about five minutes. I think their nerve broke before mine and after two or three attempts to start the car they got it going and left revvily.

Anyway, to the business of the night.

I wasn't in car park 1 for very long after it got truly dark but while people were still returning to their cars I detected dogs off lead. Later I detected two small mammals at about fifteen yards and tracked them from a picnic table to a heap of logs and back again easily. At car park 2 it was Wood Mouse city! I found several along the line of a ditch bordering the car park and tracked them effortlessly. When one paused near me I got the camera out and found the mouse (identified from behaviour, no way to do it using the thermal imager, no detail - can't even see mouse tails) was too jumpy for even red or green light. However, I did get a brief view bare-eyed in the red light confirming the ID. Later I got out of the car and did manage to get a few pictures of mice that presumably felt so safe in their positions huddled up to tree roots or whatever that they froze rather than running. Red or green light still didn't seem to matter. I didn't bother trying white light, I was sure they'd leg it.

I also heard three Tawny Owls, one female and then two males hooting at each other. Unfortunately none came anywhere I could detect them.

So the device is good for finding stuff but you'll need a different system to identify it.

Wood Mouse pix to come.

John

You probably could have seen a beaver then..

 

[Farnboro John]

Wood Mouse pix from the other night. I'm confident about the ID of two but the other (photo (2)) is quite orangey, an indicator perhaps of a Yellow-neck. Can't be definite about it though.

John

 

[Allen]

Have you tried it for more distant spotting such as owls (or ponies in NF)? Would wondered how it performed for more mid distant quarry

 

[Farnboro John]

Have you tried it for more distant spotting such as owls (or ponies in NF)? Would wondered how it performed for more mid distant quarry

I could see people (and their dogs) walking through the trees out to at least 100 yards. Didn't take an opportunity to inspect ponies on this occasion.

John

 

[Farnboro John]

Big fight last night between Toff the two year old and Rusty last year's cub dog foxes. Rusty initiated it which seems odd: he's a big cub but hasn't filled out yet into the kind of muscular dog fox Toff has and you'd have thought he'd know that.

Anyway, he decided to have a go and attacked Toff who was eating chicken in his usual position a little away from our garden. There was a lot of "gekkering" and as I couldn't quite see what was happening I fetched my camera and took a few pictures. The first one showed Rusty on his back, paws in the air and Toff at his throat, which looked pretty bad for Rusty.... a few seconds later Toff let him get up and they continued circling, snarling and occasionally engaging though not with quite the same level of decision.

There are some interesting points visible including the amount of wear on the canines of Toff - he's still only two - compared to sub-year-old Rusty. You can tell who is who by Toff's white-tipped brush, still healing face injuries and (on the one with Rusty on his back) a toothmark from a recent bite on his rear right leg. Rusty has a bite at the base of his tail: classically dogs get these turning to run away. It doesn't look like it was necessarily part of this engagement.

In the end they achieved a truce and departed in opposite directions. Rusty came back later for a bit of chicken but I didn't see Toff again last night. Hoppity, Midge and Ben all showed at various times but definitely not while these two were going at it.

John

 

[Allen]

Just wondered if this is a local observation (north Hampshire) only but I realised the other day that I rarely see rabbits locally when driving at night or even as road kill compared to my younger years. I regularly drive between Farnborough Hants and Haslemere, Surrey along rural roads yet rarely see any. Is this a trend anywhere else?

 

[Farnboro John]

Just wondered if this is a local observation (north Hampshire) only but I realised the other day that I rarely see rabbits locally when driving at night or even as road kill compared to my younger years. I regularly drive between Farnborough Hants and Haslemere, Surrey along rural roads yet rarely see any. Is this a trend anywhere else?

It is, and it's due to rabbit haemorrhagic fever which has decimated populations (and knocked out Brown Hares in places too). My brother commented the other day that he'd recently seen a Rabbit near his office where they used to be very common.

John

 

[Owene]

Just wondered if this is a local observation (north Hampshire) only but I realised the other day that I rarely see rabbits locally when driving at night or even as road kill compared to my younger years. I regularly drive between Farnborough Hants and Haslemere, Surrey along rural roads yet rarely see any. Is this a trend anywhere else?

I've worked in monmouth for 20 years and commuted the same rural dual carriageway during that time, used to be seasonal but I would see rabbits very very regularly, daily at certain times of year, and a lot of road kill. Not seen one on that route for about 5 years. See lots of road kill badgers and foxes (and pheasants) and semi regularly smaller mustelids. Muntjac started being seen as road kill within last 2 years but not seen a rabbit alive or dead for years.

 

[Farnboro John]

Update on the foxes: I think the two vixens may have both produced their cubs, Hoppity looks totally slim again and Midge not as fat, but I haven't seen exposed teats on either yet. Last night Toff was back feeding consistently from his normal stance and Rusty got nothing because Toff chased him off.

A couple of days ago I had a wander along the reservoir path at Stanwell Moor (didn't attempt the very wet path onto Staines Moor) and had a male Muntjac looking at me over the bank beyond the ditch.

John

 

[Trinovid]

I've worked in monmouth for 20 years and commuted the same rural dual carriageway during that time, used to be seasonal but I would see rabbits very very regularly, daily at certain times of year, and a lot of road kill. Not seen one on that route for about 5 years. See lots of road kill badgers and foxes (and pheasants) and semi regularly smaller mustelids. Muntjac started being seen as road kill within last 2 years but not seen a rabbit alive or dead for years.

One thing that happens among predator/prey populations is that they ebb and flow in a natural cycle where great numbers of prey are followed by great numbers of predators, which then decline after they've wiped out the populations of their sustenance. After which of course, then rebound as their complement grows in numbers again. Don't look for yearly cycles, but rather, feast and famine cycles.

 

[Farnboro John]

One thing that happens among predator/prey populations is that they ebb and flow in a natural cycle where great numbers of prey are followed by great numbers of predators, which then decline after they've wiped out the populations of their sustenance. After which of course, then rebound as their complement grows in numbers again. Don't look for yearly cycles, but rather, feast and famine cycles.

Actually what usually happens is not that the predators wipe out their food sources (that is the kind of non-scientific erroneous belief associated with Victorian huntin' shootin' and fishin' types) but as the prey species hit very high population levels they are so densely packed on the ground that disease that is endemic in them at all times transmits among them very quickly and causes a population crash. Predator populations then crash with a short time lag, often after trying to turn to other prey sources e.g. the rodent specialist Weasel will try to turn to birdnesting.

In Britain we had got used to Rabbit local boom and bust associated with myxomatosis but the more recent rabbit haemorrhagic fever seems to bust them with little recovery over much longer periods.

John

 

[Trinovid]

Actually what usually happens is not that the predators wipe out their food sources (that is the kind of non-scientific erroneous belief associated with Victorian huntin' shootin' and fishin' types)…

Actually does happen and your attack on reality is very contentious with too little focus on the non-political aspects. Prey numbers drop and the wolves start coming into dog yards all across Alaska on a cycle that is ready to see.
You could have simply stated your case and left out the decidedly and totally unscientific 'you’re wrong and belong to a particular despised group’ trolling content.

 

[Farnboro John]

Actually does happen and your attack on reality is very contentious with too little focus on the non-political aspects. Prey numbers drop and the wolves start coming into dog yards all across Alaska on a cycle that is ready to see.
You could have simply stated your case and left out the decidedly and totally unscientific 'you’re wrong and belong to a particular despised group’ trolling content.

I didn't say you did actually, but it remains the case that their erroneous view of the world permeates many modern populations and in particular hunting groups. Science deniers come in many forms.

I did state that when prey numbers drop predators attempt to exploit other possible prey species that do not support them (with an example) but the fact remains that such attempts inevitably fail and predator numbers then drop (obviously with a short time lag) due to starvation and the illnesses that come from weakness, plus competition from their own species and failure of breeding due to inability to nourish young.

I can recommend to you the predator-prey dynamics studies included in the Wolf work of e.g L. David Mech in North America and Luigi Boitani in Europe, both Wolf experts beyond even my dreams. Of course many more workers have provided research on many more predators but the basic truths remain the same: predator numbers are driven by prey numbers and NOT the other way around.

John

 

[Farnboro John]

A few recent trips have yielded a few mammals, chiefly deer;

- New Forest with Clare, cracking Lesser Spotted Woodpecker was the highlight but a herd of about 30 Fallow does including a white one and at least one "menil" (a bit washed out but standard pattern) was nice to see.

- Moor Green for a visiting Spoonbill produced four or five Roe Deer and a pair of Muntjacs (I failed to notice the female till I scrutinised my photos closely at home later).

The foxes have settled down after the mating season although Toff rarely misses an opportunity to chase Rusty if he sees him: Rusty for his part is doing his best to attend when Toff isn't there. Midge grabs food and immediately departs with it, Hoppity has returned to coming up our path and will eat a couple of drumsticks before making off with a snack for later. They all look well but I am doubtful about cub survival for either vixen this year, they just don't seem to be lactating. Time will tell.

John

 

[Trinovid]

Science deniers come in many forms.

Yes they do, and as is the case in many other instances the accusation of such is nothing more than an attempt to shut others up rather than having to address more scientifically sound ideas.

predator numbers are driven by prey numbers and NOT the other way around.

They are inextricably linked to each other in a dance of survival that ebbs, flows, and never stops repeating itself. Prey numbers drop, predators follow suit; prey numbers rebound, and those who benefit do likewise.

 

[Farnboro John]

Yes they do, and as is the case in many other instances the accusation of such is nothing more than an attempt to shut others up rather than having to address more scientifically sound ideas.

They are inextricably linked to each other in a dance of survival that ebbs, flows, and never stops repeating itself. Prey numbers drop, predators follow suit; prey numbers rebound, and those who benefit do likewise.

1. Incorrect and no more than your opinion: as the resident of my own head I am aware of my own motivation which is the replacement of partisan propaganda with scientific truth. Shutting down the former can only happen with the open-minded, of course.

2. Correct: you have now stated the lead in the relationship is inescapably the prey availability. Good show.

John

 

[Trinovid]

Incorrect and no more than your opinion:

Ironic that you respond in this fashion to a truthful statement and back it up with little more than ruffled feathers. Your disagreement is nothing more than your opinion and fighting to back it up.