A week of catching up on the local nature, featuring mammals, birds and an amphibian!
Everything from the past week is together, in one nature package. Several walks have taken me down the valley, up the hill, along the stream and down the lanes. All of which means there must be something to see; which of course there was.
Up on the hill ...
… provided something different to the norm. I’d been up there a couple of days before and seen, what I thought, was a leveret (a baby hare) and also Lapwings. So one morning I went specifically to see if they were still there; which they were – and more. As well as the Lapwings there was a Skylark. Then whilst photographing the Lapwings I spotted something of a different colour, a bit further into the field.
Through the telephoto lens I could make out there were two hares – the parents of the young I’d seen perhaps? Usually hares will make a run for it when they see people, but I think these two were confident they were far enough away and were lying low enough in the grass so they wouldn’t be seen. Apart from me, I think they were right as a number of dog walkers walked past the field and had no idea the hares were there. When I left the hares, hunkered down in the grass, I headed to where I’d seen the Leverets, and, sure enough, there was one, just visible in the grass. Unlike the Hares though, this one did make a run for it when it saw me!
The local deer sightings ...
… have been a bit sparse lately. I was a little concerned as there had been reports of several deer killed recently on nearby roads (sad face!). However, I did see the trio of deer one morning (though no photos), and then another morning there was a lone Doe. She appeared out of nowhere and ran/leapt across in front of me. She did though stop not far away and look back – keeping an eye on me. We watched each other for a little while, then I left her grazing.
A bit of bird spotting
For a while I’ve seen a dipper (middle photo) along the river. What it normally does, is fly quickly in the opposite direction to which I’m walking and I’ve struggled to get any sort of photo. One morning though it landed a little closer and I managed to get a shot. It seems it’s nest building somewhere along the river bank. When walking back along the edge of the woodland I stopped for a moment and noticed a tree creeper. It’s the closest I’ve been to one, well, two actually as it seems there is a pair; and they were in the same spot another morning too.
And finally ...
I’ve seen the local fox a couple of times. Once when going into the field, I hadn’t noticed it was nearby. It ran off, but then further on lay down again where it kept an eye on me. I also left the trail camera out and it picked up the fox wandering about (near where a badger sett is), pacing the ground, looking for food.
As for the toad. It was on a path next to a pond. I was surprised no one had trodden on it. I hope it hopped away successfully after I left it.
