More from KingfisherCam

I see the kingfisher quite regularly when I go about checking the other trail cameras set for otters.  I also saw it one time recently when I was sitting in the hide although it was a fair way off and the light was poor.

The trail camera gets a much closer view.  The kingfisher continues to visit the stake I put in to support an otter trail camera but is coming less often and catching fewer fish, perhaps because there are fewer.  I think it is this year's bird because it still has a white tip to the beak and a trace of black on the legs.  (In a mature bird the beak tip is black and the legs and feet are pure bright orange.)

I am also pretty sure this bird is female - the orange colouring on the lower mandible isn't as extensive as some, probably because it is young, but it shows well in the right light.

In the first video the camera was aimed slightly lower than I had intended but it does mean we can see the splash.  The lens is also slightly misted up - something that happens quite often as the cameras are so close to water and the weather is cooler.

Two more videos showing successful fishing.  The first is probably the best I have had, apart from the sirens in the background.

In the last video the kingfisher sitting looking for prey but it does allow us a close look at the exquisite detail in the feathers.

One recording I don't have yet is catching a fish big enough to need bashing on the post before swallowing it - all so far have been small enough to be swallowed straight away.  However, the bird doesn't always come back to this perch after a dive so it may take bigger catches elsewhere for stunning.  Another thing I'd like to see is it regurgitate a pellet.  I'll keep the camera there while it is still visiting in the hope of capturing one or both of these.

The return of the parakeets

Ring-necked parakeets arrived in my garden for the first time in March but disappeared after a few weeks.  They turned up again a couple of weeks ago and have been here most days since.

They are great fun to have around.  Noisy, exotic and colourful, they really brighten up a drab November day.  They usually arrive as a pair (the male has the black and pink neck ring) and often sit in the trees calling when they are not on the feeders.  They eat both sunflower hearts and peanuts.  Sometimes they fly around above the garden, calling loudly.  I can't tell if it is always the same two birds but I hope they stay around all winter.

One, two, three on OtterCam

More exciting images from OtterCam in the culvert.  Last time we saw the mother taking a cub downstream and I thought she had probably done the same with another one 20 minutes earlier. This time there are three!  And she is bringing them back upstream.

Otters are a real challenge for the trail camera.  It has three detection zones, one central and one at each edge of the field of view.  Something warmer than the background has to move in one of those zones to trigger the camera and it takes another 400ms (0.4s) or so before recording starts.  Cold wet otters in water have a very small heat signal (especially going away) and otters swim quickly when going downstream.  Luckily this time it was all recorded.

The mother went past with a cub at 20.38 and returned downstream 13 minutes later.

Another five minutes and she was back with the second one.  It might be an illusion on the video but it looks to have a short tail.

One hour 42 minutes later at 22.38 she went downstream again and six minutes later returned with a third cub.  If you listen carefully you can hear this one squeaking.

These cubs look quite small and are not yet able to follow mother around, something they normally manage from about six months of age.  I thought she was moving them downstream to a safer holt last time but she must have changed her mind and has brought them back again 10 days later.  They can't have been far from the culvert as it took only five or six minutes for her to go and come back again.

My guess is that these cubs are about four months old, which means they were born in July, after a mating in May (otter gestation is 63 days).  The cameras picked up lots of courtship behaviour in mid February so I suspect if that lead to a pregnancy it failed or the cub(s) didn't survive long.  Unlike, say, foxes and badgers, otters are non-seasonal breeders, presumably because they have a year-round food supply and they have thick waterproof coats so it doesn't matter that the water is cold.

I have four cameras in place in two locations so I hope to see the mother with three babies in tow in the next few weeks.

Fox News

It is more than three months since the foxes were on the blog so high time for an update.  Back then just one cub had shown up and the alpha vixen had disappeared (she hasn't been here since).  The cub was around until late September but I haven't seen it in the past few weeks. This is how it looked in August,

in early September with the smallest of the yearlings,

and in late September with its father.

The dog fox is now going into his third winter as alpha male and he is often the first to arrive in the evening.  This is how he looked in August, lean and scruffy at the end of his moult.

And this is how he looks now, with a shiny new coat ready for the winter.

Three other foxes turn up fairly regularly.  I had thought they were all yearlings, ie 2021 cubs, but I'm beginning to wonder if one might be a new alpha female.  One is broad, well coloured and has long black socks.

Another is slighter in build, paler and has short black socks, seen here on her own,

and here (L) with the dog fox.

Here are the two yearlings on a wet evening.

Short socks turned up last week with what looks like a bite to the face but seemed OK and had no other obvious injuries.  A week later it looks to be healing but she now has a limp.

The third fox is noticeably smaller and is very wary, probably more worried about other foxes than about being near the house.  I think this is one of the three small cubs from last year, which were probably the offspring of the half-tailed vixen, making this the granddaughter of the current alpha male (probably).  He has no time for her and chases her off if he turns up while she is here.

I'll keep an eye on which foxes are here and hope to sort out which of these, if any, is the new alpha female.  The alpha pair usually go around together in late winter so it should eventually be easy to sort out.

The latest from OtterCam

I have twice seen an otter in the flesh recently but both sightings were brief.  A total of seven hours sat in the hide for all of 20 seconds viewing.  Still, it was exciting and always gives a buzz to see one in real life.

More reliable, and sometimes equally exciting, is to see one on the trail cameras.  Overall there hasn't been much activity recently and then this turned up early yesterday morning.

This is the first sighting of an otter cub this year.  The video is not the greatest quality and is brief so I have added a ¼ speed slow motion replay.  There is a faint high-pitched squeak as the otters go by, presumably from the cub.  It becomes a lower-pitched, owl-like moan on the slow motion which is easier to hear.

Intriguingly an otter had swum past in the same direction 20 minutes earlier but it was halfway past the camera before recording started so I can only see its back and tail on the first frame and can't see whether it was carrying another cub.  I suspect it might have been.

The otter could easily have returned in between times unseen by the camera as the cold wet back of an otter's head would probably fail to trigger the camera.

The timing is interesting.  I think the otters mated in mid February which would lead to birth in mid April, meaning this cub is about 6½ months old.  Cubs are said to follow the mother around from about 6 months of age so it might just fit, although this one isn't yet following.  I'll hope to see it swimming under its own steam (and perhaps with another) in the near future.  If I do you'll be the first to know.