11 Wednesday Oct 2023
I don’t know how they’ve managed it but there are rabbits living next to the port just off the Barrage in Cardiff Bay. Don’t get me wrong – I really enjoy seeing them, especially this little cutie, and their numbers seem to have increased this year.
What intrigues me how on earth they got there. I’ve marked the area they inhabit in red on the map below. I can’t think of anywhere on that map where rabbits are currently living that could be the origin of the Barrage bunnies. It’s a mystery!
16 Saturday Sep 2023
I was a little surprised to see this female Grey squirrel showing obvious signs of recent breeding but the Woodland Trust website explains that, if food is plentiful enough, these mammals can have two litters, of 3 or 4 kittens, each year. They may not be everybody’s favourite animal but it’s not their fault they were unwisely introduced to their country.
25 Friday Aug 2023
A chance glance over the edge of the bridge as I was walking home yesterday turned up this urban Fox, running down hill towards the bridge. It stopped, turning to face backwards to watch the approaching train, but it wasn’t at all phased by the noisy engine bearing down it, waiting till the last minute to leap into the bushes at the side of the tracks. And, as soon as the last carriage had passed, it hopped back on to the tracks again to continue its journey. Sadly, it didn’t look in the best of health, its hindquarters seemingly affected by mange.
25 Wednesday Jan 2023
I was listening to a Water rail squealing from the reeds growing alongside a local brook, getting tantalising but very fleeting glimpses of it moving stealthily along the water’s edge, when I realised I could hear another sound, a slight but regular rustling. I scanned the edge of the brook again and there, sitting in plain sight, was the well-camouflaged brown blob of a Water vole, munching contentedly on a green reed. It made for a much more obliging photographic subject, and a very cute one at that.
03 Tuesday Jan 2023
It probably comes as no surprise that the first mammal I spotted this year was a Grey squirrel – it’s certainly the mammal I see most often.
And that wee beastie was followed closely by the second mammal of 2023, a Rabbit, this one enjoying a snooze in some very welcome sunshine yesterday.
01 Thursday Dec 2022
Tags
bat, birding, birdwatching, British bats, British birds, Cardiff Bay birding, Magpie, Magpie takes bat, Pipistrelle
This is the sad tale of a bat that ventured out during the daytime only to be snaffled by a Magpie. I initially noticed something tiny flying around low to the water in Cardiff Bay but wasn’t sure what it was until it flew up and clung to a nearby concrete wall. Bat!
Sadly, at the very moment I was taking some photos of it, a Magpie swooped down from above and grabbed the tiny beastie, carrying it up to the ledge above. The Magpie shook its prize a little, perhaps confused by what it had captured, then carried the bat into the nearby bushes. A Carrion crow followed the Magpie very shortly afterwards and, judging by the Magpie’s subsequent shrieking, I suspect the crow carried off the prize.
Speaking to Amy, a local bat expert, it seems this individual was a species of Pipistrelle, which Amy thought looked underweight. That, plus the fact that it was flying during the day, means the bat was probably ill or injured, so its demise, though very unfortunate, may well have been inevitable.
26 Tuesday Jul 2022
Posted in mammal
Tags
This was one of three dead shrews I saw on Sunday’s walk around a local meadow. These tiny creatures live a fast and furious life so their death may have been from natural causes though I’ve never seen three on one day in one field before. I wonder if last week’s heat wave got them (for non-British readers, Britain recorded temperatures over 40 degrees Celsius last week for the first time ever). I found it intriguing, if gory, to see the ants clustered around the snout and claws.
23 Wednesday Mar 2022
One of the many disadvantages of the huge accumulations of rubbish in Cardiff Bay is that these areas provide perfect homes for predators like this Mink. It was weaving through the logs and tyres and other assorted junk, popping its head up here and there, almost like it was playing hide and seek. It was fascinating to watch, of course, but it will prove deadly for any unsuspecting wildlife that nests or even snoozes in the area.
This is not a native species; it’s an American mink (Neovison vison), whose ancestors escaped or were deliberately released from fur farms around 70 years ago (they were first recorded breeding in the wild in the 1950s). They are the reason why Water vole numbers plummeted in the 1990s, and have caused huge damage to bird populations in various places (the Mammal Society website has more information). A creature that’s cute but also deadly.
27 Monday Dec 2021
Only one animal has featured in this countdown to date so I decided we needed another, and what better than a cute little Ratty – Water vole, that is, not Brown rat, though I see rather more rats than Ratties these days. If you’ve been following along here for a while you may remember this handsome little beastie that was munching away on reeds in the brook at Cosmeston Lakes Country Park back in May.
11 Saturday Dec 2021
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Though often more common than we realise, especially in urban locations, the fox is still quite an elusive creature, and I’m seldom lucky enough to see one – or, if I do, it’s often just a fleeting glimpse as one crosses my path in the distance (as happened back in July). Better those fleeting glimpses though, than the sight of a dead fox lying beside a busy road (as happened very recently), which is very upsetting to see.
earthstar 
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