Fallow buck eating mushroom

Just by the rabbits nose in the second pic is the mushroom that the buck later eats,although there is a white fleck on the skin that shows that the rabbit may or may not of taken a piece of it Alice in Wonderland style the trail camera does seem to show that rabbits are not big fans of shrooms.The huge fallow buck though eats not only this big fully ripe shroom but also the half ripe ones next to it or at least just the caps and not the indigestible stalks.I had lightened the pics via Picassa 3 however the viewing improvement hasn,t come through Blogger so each pic needs to be enlarged to actually see not only the mushrooms themselves but the chewing of the deer.All the shrooms that came up in front of this trailcam got hammered by one species of deer or another in a short space of time,i don,t know what species of mushroom they are and i don,t recognise them on any "fit for humans list" but the deer must find them very good to eat.All types of deer are noticeable by their absence in the open fields but a wander through any thick woods about now will throw up sightings of deer......

Muntjac buck eating mushroom

Checked my string of 4 trail cameras this week,3 hadn,t been looked at for over a month so i,ve been treated to more than 15000 pics to check.As a big cat is due to pass any of them all photos,especially the night ones, are scrutinised carefully with the shadows lightened to show up anything lurking there.It,s one hell of a lot of pictures with few duds which just goes to show the intense wildlife activity going on at the moment in the woods.The deer are very active even feeding in daytime and whilst i knew they ate fungi i never realised how much they went for them or that they left them until they are fully ripe.Only the big chesnuts are being eaten but all mushrooms are taken as soon as they are ripe,literally within hours as the next lot of pics will show of a fallow buck eating fungi.....

Fox carrying rabbit

It looks to me that this fox is pausing in front of the trailcam to adjust it,s grip of the rabbit in it,s jaws.The fox may of just caught it as they do tend to run off with it a bit while it,s still wriggling and then once they have a firm hold will carry the rabbit by the middle with the belly facing downwards for balance to somewhere and eat it......

Sitting fox

Squirrel flicking tail at pheasant

This squirrel is getting territorial over it,s patch,they can get very aggressive at this time of year and are probably being possesive over the acorn drop.Pheasants eat them too.A friend related a story once of a squirrel launching itself at his terrier which was rooting amongst the leaf litter one autumn,it reminded my friend of one of the last scenes of Watership Down cartoon version when an ill fated rabbit flew at the farmers dog,despite the squirrels sharp teeth there can be only one outcome.In fact only the other day someone told me of a squirrel who came up to them chattering and flicking it,s tail ,there has been such a big acorn drop this year that it can,t be hunger just,i suppose,force of habit on the squirrels part......

Feral ferret

Picked up this white feral ferret on the trail camera the other day.Someone has been releasing them over the past few years in the area and i counted over a dozen different ones that i saw in the course of the season,the dogs mark them first by wagging their tails as i keep 3 ferrets myself,often quite tame but always covered in ticks so they must be surviving,at least for a while.Never see the same one twice though.........

Following the flock/South downs

 

Fallow buck up close and personal