2007 |
Part 1 |
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ADRIAN'S PHOTO'S |
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January:
3rd Unable to identify the fox in the garden tonight at 2015 as it was too dark.
6th Went out with Wayne to Lackford lakes but weather was wet and the light was poor. After Wayne left his tripod in a hide and had to luckily reclaim it from the visitor center, we returned home and spotted 7 Heron sitting in a field which was unusual.
15th Had a restless night.... at 0300 the foxes outside were chattering, causing Taz to start barking and thus resulting in the twins waking up! Turning on the outside light caused the fox to jump over the wall and into the wood. An hour and a half later they finally went back off to sleep. However, only half an hour later, the same thing happened again this time when the light came on, the fox just sat on the wall and looked at me!!!
16th When I put the fox food out Friendly came and sat on wall and watched me.
18th During today we had very strong winds causing a few problems with falling trees, power cuts etc, etc. I had to stay at work late but was rewarded with my first ever sighting of a wild Otter at Semer on the river Brett. The river had swollen and was level with the surrounding fields, so as it became dusk the river stood out in the light. I watched the Otter dive a couple of times, swimming downstream. Unfortunately I couldn't get my camera to focus in the excitement so no pictures were taken but great non the less.
20th Went to West Stow and Lackford on my own, trying my luck for Nuthatch and a possible Sparrow Hawk but although I saw a female it was just a blur through the trees! Friendly the fox was sitting on the wall again waiting to be fed
21st The cold snap has certainly made Friendly more reliant on its food, watching me through the gate.
24th First slight snow fall
26th Dead fox next to the barrier of A14 just on the side of the Orwell Bridge but couldn't make out if it was of my regulars or not. It is not much of a distance for it to be a possibility unfortunately.
27th Out with Wayne again to West Stow and also Lynford Arboretum. Managed a few better pictures of Nuthatch.
31st Attended the North East Essex Badger Group committee meeting.
February:
3rd Attended the Suffolk Amphibian and Reptile Group (SARG) meeting.
5th Was due to go out and monitor SWT Badgers with Margaret Grimwade but due to the cold snap we decided to cancel.
6th Updated web diary.
8th Fed SWT Badgers. The Straw which Margaret had put down on the 4th had all been taken down to the bottom left entrance of the sett which is promising for cubs this year. We had snow this morning and the Hares in field were keeping very low until the sun warmed eventually warmed them.
13th Saw what looked like either an albino Heron or possibly a great Egret fly other Bures today.
14th Moved two RTA badgers today.
15th Moved yet another 2 rta badgers. Also fed the SWT Badgers
16th 1 rta badger.
22nd Watched 4 Red Legged Partridges fighting in a field but unfortunately didn't have time to stop for long. Fed SWT badgers and found a skull in the spoil heap from bottom left hole perhaps indicating why there hadn't been any cubs from that hole in the last couple of years.
24th Woke up early with intentions to head out birding early but it was wet windy and cold, so we called it off. However by 10am we both decided to head out. We headed to Caister and on the way were stopped by quite good views of a Barn Owl. Once at Caister we set up a hide on the beach, put out some seed and cracked open the tea flask and cakes. After an hour or so apart from annoying dogs sniffing our food we were rewarded with a flock of about 40 Snow Bunting. Rain stopped play but the day out was worth the effort.
27th I checked my little garden pond tonight and saw a pair of mating Frogs and 3 Smooth Newts.
28th Received a call from Margaret Grimwade about a Badger trying to dig under someone's house in Clare. We had decided to leave it there overnight in the hope it would remove itself but by this morning the woman (who initially thought it was a mole, she could hear digging) called her son to check it out. The badgers rump was still visible and it was clearly still alive so the decision was made, to get it out. We arrived equipped with a cage and grasper. As I reached down amongst the privet hedge and grasped at the rump I could hear some snorting and thought I could feel its breath on my hand. I reached down again and was reassured that the badger must be curled tightly around with its head near to its tail. Not good from my point of view. Very carefully I took some of the soil away just enough so as to get the grasper over the badgers head. Once in position I could then hold the grasper in my left hand while I scruffed the badger with my right. Then letting go of the grasper I grabbed the hind of the badger but it tensed up. I relaxed my grip until she relaxed, so I could get a better hold. Once happy I was in control I removed the rather unhappy badger and with Margaret's help got her in the cage. She looked relatively healthy and alert, but we decided to take her to the vets for a check up. After a clean up of a wound on her rump and a dose of antibiotics the badger was transferred to a holding pen.
March:
1st I had 2 pairs of frogs and 1 newt in my small garden pond tonight.
2nd Only 1 pair of frogs tonight but 2 newts. Unfortunately the badger took a turn for the worse and unbeknown to us she had suffered a broken leg and so was put to sleep. From now on I will insist a more thorough examination be carried out by the vets. Feel very gutted for the poor badger.
5th Cleaned and modified a primary school pond at Henley today with the help from two work colleagues Duncan and Karen, as part of a voluntary work scheme. Didn't want to leave it any later than this as we had a lot of frogs and newts to rescue first!
6th Fed the badgers at the SWT hide
7th We had a male pheasant on the garden wall this afternoon. Not seen one in this area before.
8th Had a phone call via the North East Essex Badger group Hotline (07751572175) to attend a vets in sudbury for a baby badger. However on arrival it was clearly a very young fox cub. Its eyes were still shot but had a lot of puss around them. It was seen by another vet and a decision was made to have the cub put to sleep as the infection to its eyes meant it would of been blind. The pheasant was back again today and I had 5 newts and a single pair of frogs in the pond.
11th Pheasant has been making a regular visit to the garden now. A single Muntjac was seen in the woods.
12th 4 newts including 1 on the grass were seen in my pond along with 2 frogs.
13th No pheasant today but did have an attack from a sparrowhawk at approximately 3pm.
17th First clump of frog spawn in the pond. Its the first year iI wont have to bring some into the pond myself!
18th Make that 2 clumps of spawn!
20th Pheasant was in the garden today in the snow!
28th 2 Peacock and 1 Comma butterfly in the garden.
April:
1st Muntjac in the wood
5th Saw my first Brimstone butterfly of the year in the garden today.
6th Blackcaps are singing well in the wood.
10th Went to Minsmere with Simon and watched a couple of Jack Snipe from Island Mere hide.
13th Had a phone call to rescue a badger from someone's garden. Upon arrival however the badger had made its escape through their gate and out into the estate. Hopefully it can now return to wherever it came from. The speed at which it had allegedly left led me to believe it was not injured. It had left quite a few holes in the neighbors gardens as well as several skinned hedgehogs which I chose not to mention or highlight!
22nd Fox cubs have received the blame for wrecking the garden last night. Looking forward to hopefully seeing them from now on....
29th Attended the NEEBG AGM today which was followed by a very interesting talk by Katrina who runs Colchester Owl Rescue.
May:
2nd Watched Rogue feeding... haven't seen much fox activity lately let alone actually be able to identify individuals, so tonight was good to see.
4th Managed to gain entry to web site again after a slight technical hitch! Let the updates commence.....
7th Met up with Katrina from the NEEBG to set up the Stealth camera in the Badger rehab pen. The idea is to monitor "Blossom" who had been hit by a car and had injured her left front leg. She has been feeding quite well and subsequently made a dung pit which she is regularly using.
8th Think I saw Rogue out again tonight. Downloaded 60 or so pics from Stealth cam showing that Blossom is although active, definitely not using her front leg.
9th Downloaded over 100 pictures from last nights activity again showing her climbing on her bedding chamber and drinking. Set up the camera to record video this time to check her movement.
10th Swifts are flying around well now so summer must be here. Received my new Canon 30d and a 100mm macro lens so hopefully I can have a go at some close up photography. Renee and Katrina watched Blossom video and reported that she is moving well but still has paralysis of her left leg. When touched with a stick she didn't even flinch unlike the other legs.
11th Blossom obviously decided she was fit enough to leave the care of her rehab pen and take her chances back in the wild. On inspection this morning she was missing and after a thorough examination one of the tie wraps was found missing, on part of the wire mesh, which meant there was the smallest of gaps between the mesh and wall which she managed to squeeze through. All she left were a few tell tale hairs. Hopefully she will woo the local badgers into accepting her so she can rest up in their sett while she hopefully recovers the feeling in her leg.
June:
6th Watched a slim and quite small fox feeding in the garden tonight. It wasn't one i'd seen before and looked too big for this years cub.
12th Photographed some Ladybird Larva
15th While sitting in traffic near Sudbury I had the pleasure of watching a Barn owl hunting and then perched on a fence post. Later in the morning I returned but the Owl had gone but instead a Spotted Flycatcher was feeding and returning to sit on the fence.
23rd After what seems to have been a very long time I managed a trip out with Wayne to Dunwich and Minsmere. It was great to get out and try my new camera and macro lens.
30th Went out to Minsmere quite early and Wayne and I were rewarded with the best views of Water Vole we have both had. The Voles were quite happy while we stood on a bridge but as soon as we moved on to the edge of the bank and near the reeds they shot off like bullets! At one point I could of reached out and touched the Voles we were that close.... and we never fell in the water, which was a bonus.