Non-target species on TrailCam

The trail cameras regularly record animals they weren't set to look for, usually rats or wood mice but occasionally something more interesting.  Here are a few recent observations.  First on a camera set to look for an otter.  There was no sign in nearly three weeks but it did record a barn owl and a stoat, both firsts for me on trail camera.  The owl stopped for a drink during the night and nearly overbalanced and fell in.

On the same camera a stoat went past twice in the same direction, once in the day and once at night.

Then a real oddity.  A frog in the small mammal camera box.  Given that the frog is cold-blooded I am a bit surprised that the camera's PIR was triggered.

There was a second recording four minutes later but that was triggered by a shrew (yellow arrow).  The frog had moved to the back (red arrow).  The frog didn't appear on video again during the rest of that night and wasn't in the box next morning so it obviously managed to find its way out again.

Finally a recording from yesterday, again on a camera set to look for otters.  The first six frames recorded a kingfisher in the culvert.  I think it must have triggered the camera as it dived and was captured on the rise (you can see the water is disturbed in the background).  It is so brief you can't see what it is in real time on the video but it shows on freeze frame.  It is difficult to be sure but I think it has a fish in its beak.  I wonder if it had been using the camera as a perch to dive from.

I have once seen a kingfisher before on trail camera but never diving or in flight.

Late-season dragonflies

I don't take so many dragonfly photos these days as I already have more than I need.  However, I often carry a camera in case I come across something interesting such as the golden-ringed dragonfly and the emperor eating a darter posted recently.

And sometimes I can't resist so here are a few recent sightings.  First a male southern hawker.

A male black darter.

A male migrant hawker.

A female golden-ringed dragonfly resting after ovipositing.

A female emerald damselfly.

A male emerald damselfly.

A male common blue damselfly.

Common darters.

A female migrant hawker.

A mature male migrant hawker.

An immature male migrant hawker (brown eyes, paler colours).

And finally these two.  Common darters again, male and female, but notable because they were beside my new pond.  The dragonfly season is nearly at an end but with luck I'll have newly emerged common darters in two years' time.

WeBS

I signed up to count waterbirds for the Wetland Bird Survey (WeBS) on Banks' Pond at Dinnington last year and I have just completed the first 12 months observations.  WeBS is a partnership funded by the BTO, the RSPB and the JNCC.  It has been collecting data on wetland birds since 1947.  Synchronised counts take place every month with 3000 volunteer counters making 40,000 visits each year to 2800 sites.  "Waterbirds" includes wildfowl (ducks, geese and swans), waders, rails, divers, grebes cormorants and herons and counts of gulls and terns are optional.  Many sites are coastal or estuarine or on large inland water bodies so my site is one of the smallest.

I have seen 12 species in the first 12 months, many predictable but one or two surprises.  I haven't been trying to photograph them as many are shy and I have to do much of the observation from the bridle path before entering the site.  The list of birds is: 

Canada goose

Coot

Grey heron

Little grebe

Mallard

Moorhen

Mute swan

Shelduck

Teal

Tufted duck

Wigeon

Woodcock

All except grey heron, shelduck, teal, wigeon and woodcock breed at the site.  Woodcock is the only "wader", although it doesn't do much wading, and I didn't see any gulls or terns.  The only other bird I can remember seeing in the past while looking for other things (especially dragonflies and bumblebees) is greylag goose.  Previously I have only been to the pond regularly in summer so it will be interesting to see what else turns up with regular winter visits.

The mute swans have been very successful this year with eight cygnets.  Here they are in May

and in September.

The adult swans can't leave until the cygnets can fly, later in the year.  The male swan has been very aggressive towards the Canada geese this year and in the end they managed to raise only one gosling.  I don't know whether the swan had anything to do with the demise of the other goslings but I have my suspicions.  Young geese learn to fly much more quickly than swans so I expect they were pleased to be able to escape a few weeks ago.  I wonder if they will try again next year or find somewhere quieter.

The buck stops here

The roe deer rut is over for another year.  This handsome chap was probably still getting his breath back when I met him last week.  He seemed completely unconcerned as I watched from a path only 20m or so away, looking up occasionally to keep an eye eye on me as he continued the more important task of eating.  He is still his foxy-red summer coat.  It will get thicker and darker as autumn progresses.

SmallMammalCam

This blog has been taken over by insects in the last few weeks so it is high time we had some trail camera images.  My small mammal trail camera box, modelled on a Mostela, has been set in the garden for over a month, hoping to catch a glimpse of a weasel or a stoat.  So far there has been no sign but smaller animals are daily visitors.  I put in a few sunflower hearts from time to time so the box will smell of mice and voles which may, in turn, tempt a curious weasel.

The most frequent visitors, especially in daytime, are bank voles.  They vary in size as some are not full grown.  The video shows a full size vole stuffing its cheeks with seeds before taking them off to eat in peace or to hide for later.

Wood mice are mainly nocturnal and so far have only shown up at night, so in black and white on the video via infrared.  They usually turn up long after the voles have taken all the food.

Common shrews are insectivores but they are surprisingly keen on sunflower hearts, something I have seen before.

Smallest of all are pygmy shrews.  Weighing only 5g or so they are slimmer than common shrews with a proportionately longer tail and with two-tone colouring rather than the three-tone of common shrews.

The last video puts them all together to compare their sizes.