Leaf litter

Mixed bag from set C.No story to tell,no behaviour to comment on just a collection of pictures of animals out and about on their daily activities.The pics stretch out over a month though ,earliest first and show just how deep the leaf litter has got......

Roe deer is intrigued by bumble bee

Roe doe and fawn

 

This picture is an experiment to see if it comes out alright as the pictures have been hanging on upload again for some reason.I,ve tried everything and nothing seems to fix it so maybe i,ll have to try and change to the newer Blogger editor and see if that helps......

roe doe and fawn are nose to nose

Not as strange as folk

It,s all been going on in front of camC ,loads of new pics to post like one of the best badger ones i,ve ever had in the first one.The 2 fox cubs are inseparable with one not being too far away from the other,the 3rd and 4th pics show a baby rabbit being eaten at night and the 4th pic is a "spot the roe deer competition".The last 3 pics show a fox doing something at a place where they regularly do and often one of the other foxes will come by and have a sniff and maybe do something themselves or even roll in it but what did surprise me was this rabbit which had a roll around itself,reason unknown.
They say in Yorkshire i think it is "there,s nowt as strange as folk", very true i,d have to agree but that rabbit is acting a little strange methinks......

Roe deer eating something

Roe doe with kid

This kid looks very young,too young to be trotting about the forest like this in daylight so i assume the doe thought where the kid was lying up wasn,t safe either that or her browse was running out,whatever the reason it,s extremely rare for this to happen but then the trailcam is in a glade amongst some very thick cover so maybe they do shift their kids about quite a lot for no apparent reason in these type of places but it,s not seen much.What i don,t like to see are pictures taken by humans of roe kids in their lyes as the does know a human has been about and shift them exposing them to needless risk just for the sake of a picture or 2.I have seen a roe doe panicking at the edge of a field while a nature rambler photographed idly snapping away who was no doubt thinking that their indiscretion would have no ill effects.........

The fox cubs are on the move

All over the place the fox cubs are on the move away from their den sites,i also picked up some pics of a badger in this new cam spot and pics of them are as rare as chickens teeth in areas where a big cat has been active (where i try to put my cams)so maybe one hasn,t been here after all as lack of badgers is my new litmus test of an area that cats like,i really don,t know if a cat has been here or not just assumed it was a good place as there are hordes of rabbits and plenty of thick hedgerows,the roe should be here as well but seem to be lacking for some reason,they haven,t showed up on the cam yet but i did see some little signs of them(some poo)The roe doe in the 2nd pic from the other spot seems ready to drop as she,s looking very bulbous........

Heavy looking roe doe

After some teething or should i say seething problems with this cam spot i think i,ve sussed it now so why should i move it?Well this stream on the right of the picture had a fair bit of water in it 4 weeks ago when i first
scouted out the place but now there are only little pools of water.Although we are in the middle of a drought,a spit of rain only since mid march,this stream ,as i realise now,is a winterbourne and offers a perfect little summer run which the fox cub (you may have to enlarge and squint a bit to seeit) in the first pic is
using to it,s advantage.So next time i go will be to try and move it and get the stream in as well as the main run which goes just to the left of the cam as it is now.The roe doe looks about ready to drop and according to deer expert Richard Prior ,who,s forgotten more about roe than i will ever know,they start dropping fawns from mid april to june with a peak around the 20th may.
Near the top of my wish list is a roe fawn with it,s mum but a gaggle of fox cubs will do,the cubs are starting to move about a bit with the vixens now and although grey looking are starting to look like proper foxes......

Roe buck or two

I can,t quite decide whether this is 2 different roe bucks,the last 2 pics could possibly be of a younger one and it does seem to be of a lighter build and have slightly smaller antlers but then that may be a trick of the light.The other thing i,m not sure about is whether in the 4th pic the buck is drinking from the stream as roe deer are not meant to hardly drink at all ,it,s an obscured camera angle and i may try and put the cam in a different spot here to try and include the stream bed in the middle of the action but it was hard enough setting it up here in the first place.False triggers due to the vegetation meant 6000 odd pics to go through from the first day and the following few days the cams battery had gone so who knows what went past it then.
Anyhow ,it,s all change on the cam front in the quest for the Holy Grail of wildlife pictures,those of a big cat, so we will have to wait and see what this cam spot throws up,one was seen just half a handful of fields away from here.It,s no good putting a camera up where it,s been unless i think it may come back,sometimes they do,sometimes they don,t........

New coat showing through for the roe

The new,reddish fur of this roe doe
can be seen coming through and may be why it,s itching a lot........

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.......

Roe buck in velvet with a doe in tow

This buck looks a bit skinny with his ribs showing but i think he,s eating the new spring greenery that is emerging now.I,ve also removed the offending twig on the left of the picture and tilted the camera down a bit as the dawn shots were a bit dark because of the sky showing.I find it takes a while at a new cam spot before the camera is set up how i want it but i,m quite pleased with this place that i only set up as an experiment,it,s got a few branches in the way that may set off false triggers in the wind but we,ll have to wait and see.The roe had disapeared a month ago when a big cat was active in the area and have taken nigh on 3 weeks to return along with the dog fox but the vixen is no where to be seen..........

Roe doe mirrors the bucks movements

This roe doe with a yearling on tow enters the clearing that the buck is in and follows where he has gone and also mirrors his actions.At one point she flattens her ears.Apparently ,the yearlings are left to go about their own way in the world or are even chased off this month........