A big surprise on WeaselCam

Wow.  This is the most surprising find on trail camera so far.  I have been putting a mouse in the camera box about once a week and until now all the mice have been taken by weasels.  And then this.  Yesterday a water shrew pulled the mouse from under the slate - the mouse is as big as the shrew and the slate is much heavier.

Here's the video.

Water shrews (Neomys fodiens) live near water (as you would expect) although dispersing youngsters can be found away from water, and I have seen one here before.  Their normal diet is freshwater shrimps, caddis fly larvae, that sort of thing, and they will take beetles, worms, millipedes, etc.  One of my previous posts documented a water shrew caching food, something I think hadn't been observed before.  I have found a 2002 report of water shrews taking carrion but I don't think it has ever been filmed in the wild before. 

Varmints on WeaselCam

My two camera boxes are in the garden to look for weasels and stoats but I occasionally put in a few seeds to attract smaller animals and the cameras then record voles, mice and shrews.  I recently added larger outer entrance pipes, hoping to entice in a passing stoat but instead less welcome visitors have taken advantage.

News from OtterCam

There hasn't been much activity on the otter cameras in the past couple of weeks but as I haven't posted any otter news since April I thought I should produce an update.

The cubs were with their mother until early May and then disappeared - they were full grown and it was time to disperse to find their own place in the world.  The dog otter was a constant presence at that time.

In mid May there was one night with what I take to be courtship activity although the cameras only got a fleeting view.  First lots of chittering and whistling.

Then a wrestling or play-fighting episode.

A week later the dog otter was scent-marking and still whistling.  An hour later the female did the same, this time with a blackbird for accompaniment.

Since then I have found a new camera position.  It has the advantage of being a little farther away to give a wider view.  The disadvantage is that I have to wear waders to reach the cameras.

In this next video the otter in the middle clip is still squeaking.  I don't think it is the dog and it is probably the female but I just wonder if it might be one of the cubs still in the territory, a month after the family broke up.

Since then there have been only solo otters on the cameras.  This last video shows the female otter (I think) who may or may not have caught a fish.

If the courtship lead to mating in May the female may have given birth to new cubs last month, in which case I shall hope to see them on OtterCam in October or November.  I have now been following the otters with trail cameras for 5½ years (since February 2019) in which time there have been six litters of cubs - the first I saw only in my first month before they moved on. Since then there will have been two or more dog otters and two or more females as otters don't live that long.  Mating probably usually takes place around the time that the previous cubs leave, an otter pregnancy lasts two months, and cubs don't follow their mother around until they are 5-6 months old.  This chart shows what I have seen and confirms that otters are non-seasonal breeders and can have cubs at any time of year.  It also suggests that the average breeding cycle is perhaps a bit less than a year locally, with a hiatus in 2022, perhaps due to a changeover in resident animals.

The cubs seen in April 2021 were too small to be out and weren't seen again until July - I think the mother was moving them to a safer place but even so there was a surprisingly small gap from the previous cubs.  This may have been a new female taking over a vacant territory.

In the first couple of years I was only putting out cameras intermittently but since they have been in place all the time.  It will be interesting to see what patterns emerge as I gather more data.

Through the kitchen window

The parakeets are in the garden every day, visiting many times from early morning to late evening, up to 12 at a time.  They are beautiful and entertaining to watch and just occasionally get themselves organised for a decent photo.

Fox News

The foxes have been very elusive over the summer so this is the first news since April.  I know they have been coming because the food has been taken and they have been showing up on the weasel trail cameras but it has always been well after I have gone to bed.

In the last week things have changed, perhaps because of the darker evenings, and I now see a fox every evening before 10pm.  This is the dog fox - he looks a bit scruffy on a wet evening, especially as he has moulted his tail, but he'll smarten up over the next few weeks.

Then a few nights ago I saw the first cub of the year.  It didn't look up much so didn't make a great first photo.

The next night he was back - this time he was very wary and couldn't bring himself to take the food, even though he came to within a few inches.  He kept retreating to sit a few metres away and to have a think and eventually gave up and went away.

The next night the dog was here first and when the cub arrived the dog fox ignored him and didn't invite it to join in.  In this photo below the dog is on the left, having retreated to chew a bit of cheese rind.  I think he ate all the food, down to the last peanut, and by then the cub had disappeared.

The cub's behaviour is strange.  Two nights ago he circled the garden about ten times but couldn't pluck up courage to approach the food.  And last night he came straight up and made himself at home.  Here are a few more portraits.  He has long black socks, a tiny white tag on his tail and a little black mark on his nose so is is quite recognisable.

It is good to be able to see the foxes again.  I hope more cubs will turn up in the next few days but it has usually been earlier in the summer than this to see a lot of cubs so one may be all I see this year.

WeaselCam in July

I have spent a lot of time looking at slow-motion replays of weasel videos recently, learning to recognise the different animals that visit the camera box in my garden.  I am confident there were five last month, all recognisable from the under-chin markings and the patterns on their flanks.  The markings are all asymmetrical so we need a good view of at least one side to confirm an identification.  The two adult males, weasel 1 and weasel 2, have been around for a while.  Weasel 3 appeared on four occasions, all on the same day at the beginning of July.  In my previous post I thought this was a female but I now think it was a young male.  Next to turn up was weasel 4, another young male judging from the size and body shape.  As with all the others it has unique markings and the white toes on the front paws are a big help.

This one has also appeared only on one day but spent three minutes digging around the slate hoping to find a mouse.  As with weasel 3, it may be a dispersing juvenile, not tempted to hang around because of the regular presence of the two adult males.  I have edited the video down by half but it still gives good idea how persistent it was.

Then a few days ago, another weasel, this time obviously smaller and slimmer and, I think, definitely female - again unfamiliar with the box and sniffing around.  She didn't take the vole that was under the slate but weasel 1 had missed it a bit earlier as well.  She was back the next day but has not been since.

Weasels 1 & 5 on the same day give us the opportunity of comparing the body size of male (above) and female weasels.  He is probably twice her weight.

Otherwise it has been the two regular males in the box, both turning up most days and usually staying for only a few seconds.  There was one strange episode.  Weasel 1 (white paws) collected a vole from under the slate at 11.35 one morning but then dropped it in the pipe and didn't return.  At 09.55 the next morning weasel 2 (brown paws and a very distinctive pattern on his left rear leg) came and took the vole from the pipe.  Ten hours later weasel 1 returned and was searching the box, perhaps still smelling the vole.

In the 31 days in July there were 63 visits to the camera box, 32 by weasel 1, 17 by weasel 2, five by weasel 3, one by weasel 4 and two by weasel 5.  Only two days saw no weasel.  I have been putting in a mouse or a vole from the trap in the attic once or twice a week and the rest of the time they are just checking.  They rarely show on the other cameras now and don't seem interested in my weasel wall or the other camera box at the moment.  With the two mature males showing up so regularly I doubt if any of the juveniles are likely to stick around.