16 Monday Dec 2019
One of the Cosmeston water voles was out and about today, munching on vegetation and also hauling in supplies, taking them under the dipping pond’s boardwalk and presumably stashing them somewhere.
Luckily, I was the only person around and, by staying quiet and still, I was able to watch it coming and going for quite some time. It was a delight!
05 Thursday Dec 2019
It’s not just the birds that are consuming winter berries at the moment.
When I’m out walking, I often hear scurrying noises in the tree branches above my head and look up to see Grey squirrels, their cheeks stuffed with berries, their paws reaching out for the next delicious morsels.
And it’s not just a berry dessert they crave, of course, as they’re also well known for their liking for nuts. In the photo, right, the squirrel is holding Alder cones, which it has just been munching on.
30 Wednesday Oct 2019
It’s that time of year when the Grey squirrels prepare for the colder months both by stashing away as many non-perishable titbits of food as they can and by eating fit to burst, fattening themselves up to help cope with the cold months of winter. If only we could all use that excuse!
19 Thursday Sep 2019
It’s been a while since I’ve walked past the dipping pond at Cosmeston but I’m glad I did today as one of the resident water voles made an appearance.
It was quite well concealed amongst the reeds at the side of the pond – that brown fur really helps them to blend in.
In the past I’ve only seen them eating lily pads but today this little chap was munching on reed stems.
Eventually, it noticed me standing on the boardwalk but didn’t seem too bothered and carried on eating.
But it sure freaked out when one of the juvenile Moorhens came by to say hello!
03 Wednesday Apr 2019
Posted in 365DaysWildin2019, animals, mammal, nature
Today’s cute young things are not birds but mammals, a pair of cute little bunnies who were checking out the world from the safety of the entrance to their burrow, a very wise thing to do as a lot of dogs are exercised in this field.
23 Saturday Mar 2019
Before our visit to the Sussex Wildlife Trust’s Rye Harbour on 11 March, I’d only ever seen Hares at a distance, a long distance, so, although we saw lots of wonderful birds during our 8-mile exploration of the reserve that day, the highlight for me was getting reasonably close views of several Hares.
Admittedly, most of those views were of their rear ends as they skedaddled but, even then, we could see how big their ears and back legs were. And, although the photo below was also taken at quite a distance and has had to be heavily cropped, I do like how it shows the comparison between the Rabbit and the Hare.
And, luckily, very luckily, this one Hare decided to sit still for longer than the previous ones – at least, it sat still for about 30 seconds, which was just enough to get one decent photo. What magnificent creatures they are!
p.s. If you’ve not yet read Marianne Taylor’s wonderful book The Way of the Hare (Bloomsbury, London, 2017), you really should. It’s a treat!
17 Sunday Feb 2019
Posted in 365DaysWildin2019, animals, mammal, nature
Today has been another fabulous day out with my friends from the Glamorgan Bird Club, enjoying the magnificent Welsh countryside and marvelling at all its amazing birds – and I’ll report on that in tomorrow’s blog post – but, for me, the most exciting thing today was these prints in the mud under a bridge near Dryslwyn. I think these are the closest I’ve yet been to a live Otter!
01 Tuesday Jan 2019
Posted in 365DaysWildin2019, animals, mammal, nature
To kickstart my birding list for the new year, I walked 8+ miles around Cardiff Bay, logging all the different bird species I could find (they’ll appear on my Birding 2019 page as soon as I finish editing my photos). With mostly blue skies and an abundance of lovely birds, it was a super walk but the highlight wasn’t the birds – it was spotting and then watching these two beautiful foxes lolling about in the grass, enjoying the winter sunshine. Such magnificent creatures!
03 Saturday Nov 2018
As well as the birds at RSPB Arne, we were treated to very close views of Sika deer and more distant views of a herd of Roe deer.
The Sika were sporting their winter coats of dark grey so the spots you would be able to see in summer were not visible. These are not native deer – they were introduced from Asia in 1860 but some have since escaped and there is now a sizable wild population.
Arne must be like heaven to the Sika, as they love coniferous forests and heathlands, where they graze on heather, grasses and small shrubs.
Although October and November are the traditional months for the rut, we didn’t hear any of the usual male groans, whistles or yak-yak barks, though we did hear an alarming whining noise at one stage when a female was calling to her calf.
A small herd of six Roe deer were in a neighbouring field as we walked along one of Arne’s many trails. None of these deer had antlers, so I assume they were all females and juveniles.
Roe deer are native to Britain and, though they were once hunted to extinction in England, they survived in Scotland and have since been re-introduced across the border so are now abundant in much of England and Scotland, with a small population in Wales.
15 Monday Oct 2018
Tags
cattle with horns, English cattle breeds, English Longhorn, Longhorn cattle, Steart Point, WWT Steart Marshes
As well as the stunning birdlife at WWT Steart Marshes on Saturday, I was particularly intrigued by these cattle, which one of my birding friends identified as English Longhorns.
One of the advantages for local farmers of the wetland development on the Steart peninsula is that they can now graze their cattle on saltmarsh. This gives the meat of these cattle a unique flavour that is apparently highly prized by some human carnivores, so it attracts a better price for the farmers. I thought the beast shown below was already destined for the abattoir as it looked to be dead already.
But no – turns out it was merely sleeping heavily and, after five minutes or so, raised its enormous head to blink sleepily at the passing humans. What an impressive beast it was!
The horns of these cattle were fascinating: they seemed to grow in all different directions. One animal had one horn growing upwards, the other down, and the creature shown below must surely have had its horns cut, otherwise it would have been in danger of them piercing its face.
For all their huge size, these seemed to be gentle giants. The younger animal in this photo came over and began to rub against and lick the head of the older beast – its mother?
Still, I don’t think I’d want to venture into a field with any of them any time soon.
