A week or so ago, in the garden, I spotted something out of the corner of my eye. Not unusual in itself, as it is an area where birds visit and some feed off the ground, gathering up fallen nuts and seeds from feeders. However, this was something completely new. From a hole in the ground a mouse had popped out! Tiny and cute it was, scurrying about looking for scraps. I quickly went back into the kitchen for the camera, but when I came back no mouse; not even when I put some seeds out near the hole. Then fast forward …
I was out in the garden, sat on a bench reading, when I happened to look over to the bird feeders and to my surprise there was the mouse! I’d not seen it since that first time, so once again I got my camera, but this time it did stay around. It was going in and out of the hole, looking for whatever the birds had dropped and was small enough for it to handle. The banner photo above shows the mouse nibbling away at a seed in it’s tiny feet. It stayed around for several minutes, before birds appeared and it darted back into its hole.
It was fun to see the mouse and get a few photos. Very different from the usual deers, hares and foxes.
Talking about foxes, I had recently been out to see if the cubs were still at the den. I didn’t see them, so I put the trail camera out to check whether or not any were still there. Around this time of year, the cubs will have grown and become independent enough to go off to find their own territory. It seems as though there is just the one grown-up fox cub left. The camera caught it a few times over a couple of days, and there was certainly just the one fox in each video.
So, I wonder if this one will stay, find a mate and next year we’ll have another fox family? I hope so.