Rabbits do touch

It is often said that rabbits like roe deer,not being herd animals, don,t touch each other out of affection or whatever

and this is often true so this pic of 2 young rabbits nose to nose is rare enough,but young animals are very exploratory of the world around them and sometimes of each other it would seem. The second pic shows a rabbit preening itself and
in the last pic this rabbit has found a blade of grass amongst the bluebells..........

Rabbit relaxes while moorhen walks past

A different sort of pictures for a change,this rabbit looks very relaxed while a moorhen walks past looking for food.It,s amazing how animals that don,t either hunt each other or compete with food will tolerate each others presence bordering on indifference though the rabbit is still very alert with it,s ears on radar mode.......

Very scruffy moulting roe deer

Just about all the deer out of this months set from woodscam are all facing the other way in the pictures.These roe are very late in moulting and seem to be doing it all in one go,something has scared them off the field and they have retreated into the wood where they pause in front of the cam.The fallow buck is massive and i hope to get a good picture of him or one like him one day.There was a daytime pic of a muntjac but this too was going in the opposite direction.Never mind,there is always next time,hopefully.......

Fox with baby rabbit in mouth

Sometimes i curse the angle i have set a cam,when i check to see what i have got there is only a tail in the picture at best,at worst nothing at all.

Not so today for this dog fox has caught a baby rabbit somewhere,probably in the field edge and has decided to bring it back here in front of the cam to eat it,all of it,because there doesn,t seem to be anything left of it. on the ground when he has finished.The baby boom of young rabbits is in full flood

now with hordes of them everywhere it seems and just about every predator capable of catching them is on them at the moment.I,ve noticed second litters to does that had the first ones early so with an average of 3 to a litter and 3 maybe 4 litters till august for the mature does that is one heck of a lot of rabbits.They soon get wise to their hunters too and adjust their feeding patterns some will also be digging summer bolt holes out in the open near where they feed to escape to when hard pressed,it may be easy pickings now for this fox but he will have to work progressively harder over the coming months to carrying on with this rabbiting caper,foxes adapt too though

and find plenty of other ways to fill their bellys........

Pheasants mating

In the the cool light of dawn these 2 pheasants are mating,this will give the 4th week of may as a hatch date whereas the mallard have chicks swimming about cheeping already.Losses are severe around here for pheasant eggs and chicks as the crows ,magpies ,foxes and probably the big cat take a lot,last year the pheasant poult broods that made it to flying time numbered 2,s and 3,s.......

More moss for the crows nest

I have a certain liking for crows.About a dozen or so years ago 1 of my dogs brought back an injured one in her very soft mouth and i kept it in the shed where i live which is 2o odd miles from where this cam is till it healed up about a month later.It became quite tame and followed me about flapping on ahead teasingly when we were walking to sit on posts and in bushes.Too,too tame in fact for it became caught up in a fence and so i decided to ignore the thing and never feed it and so didn,t see the clever but a bit stupid black bird all winter.Then,the following spring,"the" crow showed up,quite tame with a very nervous mate and certainly acted like the bird that i had helped and was around the year before.A nest was built,just like the one in the cam pics with sticks and moss,eggs were laid,chicks were reared,taught the way life works and the crow family would stay together until the following spring when the parents would shoo off the errant young to go their own way in the world so the parents could make a new nest and start the whole process again.The pattern has continued since then and photos of my own life and family often include these crows in the background hanging about, i only feed them some corn when it,s cold in winter and that,s it but still they are often around and always nest nearby, they can be a nuisance sometimes by nicking strawberries and stuff like that but who wouldn,t be seduced by scrumping such delicious fruit and their company on a cold winters day more than makes up for it.Besides,they are cracking guard birds by warning of trouble from afar,i kid you not.But the crows in these cam pics?They are as wild as hell and you can,t get closer than 2 fields from them before they see you and fly off squawking.Guess where that old dog of mine many years dead now picked up that injured crow?It was the other side of that holly bush in the picture.....