After a rather quiet time of not seeing much, especially the local deer, everything seems to have happened all at once! There was a close encounter with three deer. Finally, I got to see a long eared owl, and after leaving the trail cameras out – plenty of video of badgers!
It has been a quiet time as far as the local deer are concerned. I’ve still been going to the local wood, where I’ve always seen the deer, but the amount of times I’ve seen them – especially to get photos – has been a lot less frequent than it used to be. I had left trail cameras out to check they were still around, and it looks like there are five roe deer. There are three keeping together and two others, though the two seem mostly to travel solo.
Although I had seen some deer on a few occasions, they were only fleeting glimpses. They aren’t coming down into the valley anymore. It seems they are keeping deeper into and higher up in the woodland, which makes it trickier to see them. They see and hear me coming, so they leg it!
However …
A couple of mornings ago I went back to the woods, walked further into the trees, and a little higher and I got my reward. The trio of deer came by. There is a buck (male), and two doe’s (female). The buck has ‘velvet’ antlers. These are new antlers that will have started growing the previous November and they will look this way until spring, when the soft, velvet outer will shed. Looking at the photos of this male, he’ll have a nice set of antlers in a few months time.
To the owl, and a long eared owl at that. I was somewhat fortunate to see and photograph this beauty.
It was a beautiful morning. A fresh layer of snow and some sunny skies. I decided to pack my bag and head out for a long morning walk. It was also the same time that I put out the trail cameras to capture any badger activity, (but more about that below). I’d been out for a couple of hours when I came to an area up on a hill that I often visit. I saw another photographer hanging around and taking her time in a specific spot. I decided to approach her and ask if there was anything interesting. “Just some small birds. But the owl is over there”! I managed to not get all excited and run to the spot. She showed me exactly where it was perched (asleep), on it’s favourite branch. It was such a treat. I have seen short eared owls before, near this area, but it’s the first time I’ve seen a long eared owl. A great treat!
So, to the badger.
On the walk mentioned above, I went to the field where I know of a badger set. I wanted to see if they were still there and if they were active. A good thing about going out in a fresh layer of snow, is that you can see new animal tracks. It was obvious that the badgers were still living there and had been coming out of their set. I left a trail camera and collected it a few days later. The badgers, three of them, had been out every night, so I have plenty of video. This is a short edited video of one of them having a really good scratch. It’s fun to watch!