End of year favourites - Otters

I could have put on otter videos for every one of my end of year favourites as there have been so many quality recordings.  The previous cubs were last seen with their mother in May, at which time she was looking very frisky, and my guess is that the next cubs were born in July.  When they first appeared on camera in October they were probably only three months old but they have grown quickly.

Spoilt for choice, I have chosen two recent videos of the new cubs.  The first is from early November - the mother came out of the water to leave a scent mark and went back in but stayed close by.  The cubs were a few seconds behind and very keen to explore rather than catch her up.  They seem happy to trail farther behind than I have seen before, perhaps showing an independent streak already.

A shorter video from early December  showed the family on the move.  I think this set of cubs has been showing more in daylight than previously so I hope that continues.

End of year favourites - Shrews

WeaselCam has been on tour a few times this year but has failed to record a weasel away from here.  It has, however, been good at recording other small mammals.  While in Williwood, the home of Denise & Phil, the box was visited by three species of shrew within an hour, providing an opportunity to compare their shape, body size and tail length.  From the top they are common shrew, pygmy shrew and water shrew.

Here's the video.

And here are the three individual species - common shrew,

pygmy shrew,

and water shrew.

End of year favourites - Heron

The trail cameras get a lot of "non-target" captures, mostly birds.  At this time of year it is mainly robins, blackbirds and moorhens but earlier in the year there were plenty of ducks, geese and swans.  They rarely do anything interesting so I don't save the videos but every now and then something interesting turns up.  Herons do appear on the camera occasionally, but usually much too close and out of focus.  This time two cameras were watching to see a heron catch a water shrew.

Notice a second shrew running along the bank and then making a quick exit when it sees the heron.

There was a second video a few days later which I am surprised to find I haven't posted before. Somehow the heron knew there was a water shrew behind the tree and caught it.  It still had to bring the shrew down to the water to dunk it and make it easier to swallow.

End of year favourites - Weasel

2024 has been the year of the weasel.  I have had at least one camera set more or less every day, mostly in the camera box.  At one stage the camera there was recording two visits a day, but fewer in the early part of the year and more recently.

In March I set a trap, baited with carrot, hoping to catch one of the rabbits.  When I looked through the kitchen window the next morning I could see the trap was empty but as I watched a weasel appeared.  It went through the camera box and as it emerged I was willing it not to go into the rabbit trap but, being curious by nature, of course it did.  I went out to release it within a minute or two and it didn't seem distressed, just trying to work out how to escape.  Once I had opened the door it ran, but only as far as the camera box where it turned round to have a good look at me.  Even when it had gone through to the other side it turned round to check on me. Here's the video.

The next video is from June and features the two main weasels of the year, two males I call weasel 1 (white paws) and weasel 2 (brown paws) - there have been seven different weasels altogether.  I had been leaving a dead wood mouse under a slate to give the camera time to react.  On this occasion weasel 1 came and took the mouse.

Fifteen minutes later weasel 2 appeared and could smell the mouse but couldn't find it and eventually had to give up.

There were lots of weasel visits up to late summer but fewer in autumn.  I am hoping for many more in 2025.

End of year favourites - Water shrew

This was probably the biggest surprise of the year.  I had been putting dead field mice in the camera box for the weasels to collect and hiding them under a slate to give the camera time to react.  In late August a water shrew appeared and stole the mouse.  The mouse is as big as the shrew and the slate is much heavier.

As far as I can make out this was the first time a water shrew taking carrion had been recorded on video (ever, anywhere!).  The shrew was a daily visitor for almost a month and then disappeared.

End of year favourites - Stoats

These few days between Christmas and New Year are an opportunity to look back over the past 12 months and pick out a few favourite videos.  Stoats were regular visitors to the garden in the early part of the year but haven't been seen recently.  On one exciting day in March two stoats visited in the same morning only 10 minutes apart.  The second one was paler with partial ermine colouring and was noticeably smaller - the first was a male and the second female. Neither went into the box to trigger the inside camera but instead they both turned round in the entrance and came out again.  I think the male must have left a scent mark because the female was distracted by it as she came out.

I built what I call the weasel wall mainly with weasels in mind but I was very pleased when it was visited by a stoat.

Most times the stoats are almost too quick for the cameras.  The last video puts together a few very short clips of a stoat or stoats in slow motion.

The cameras haven't seen a stoat since April but I am hoping there will be more in 2025.

Herald

Not quite a herald angel but a beautiful moth I found flying around in the kitchen yesterday.  I think it had been hibernating in the garage under a workbench I brought into the kitchen and the warmth woke it up.  I took a photo before putting it back in the garage.  Merry Christmas.

A cub goes missing on OtterCam

The cubs are now nearly six months old and are becoming more adventurous.  Each time they pass the cameras there seems to be one lagging behind, distracted by interesting smells.  Last week the mother and one cub appeared in front of one camera looking anxious and obviously waiting for the other cub to catch up.  After three minutes they gave up and went down to the water.

A few minutes later they were back on the bank, staring up the slope waiting for the second cub. The video is interesting because we can hear the difference between the cub's high-pitched squeak and the mother's whistle.  Two hours later the missing cub appeared briefly on the same camera, squeaking loudly in the hope of making contact.

It is a pity the reunion didn't take place in front of the cameras but some time later they were all back together.  The following night all three went past the cameras with both cubs keeping close to mother.  Lesson learned, for now.

Sweet sixteen

I have never seen anything like this.  Several thousand ladybirds, all in one place.  They were clustered on posts supporting a newt fence in Coventry and there were hundreds on each post and dozens of posts.  Most were on the east sides of the posts with a few on the north sides. This is a new species to me, 16-spot Ladybird (Tytthaspis sedecimpunctata).

The 16-spot Ladybird is one of only a few vegetarian ladybird species (Orange Ladybird, 22-spot Ladybird and 24-spot Ladybird being others) and feeds on pollen, nectar and fungi.  It is mainly a grassland specialist but is also found in brownfield sites.  It is pretty common and widespread down south but doesn't venture farther north than south Yorkshire, which is a pity as we have plenty of grass up here.

I also saw a couple of 7-spot Ladybirds which show how small the 16-spot Ladybirds are.

And a real bonus, a solitary Adonis Ladybird, only the second one I have seen.

'Twas a dark and stormy night on OtterCam

We got off lightly in Storm Darragh compared with some places but after 24 hours of heavy rain and strong winds the water level had risen significantly - enough to affect the viewpoint of the cameras.  Anticipating where the otters will be is hard enough at the best of times but this made it more difficult.  This is another "if only" video, where it could have been much better.  The otters were out of view of one camera and not quite in view of others which made it difficult to stitch together in editing.  Added to that a reed was blowing in the wind, the camera supports were moving around and there was water on the lenses.  This was the best I could do.  It contains behaviour I haven't seen before, with one of the cubs grooming the back of its mother's head - she was very patient.

It's also another good example of how light from several cameras improves the night-time pictures.

The cubs star on OtterCam

OtterCam is on a roll at the moment with the cubs showing up nearly every day.  I think they are only about 20 weeks old but they are getting more confident and more interested in exploring. Here are a few more videos from the past week.  First the family coming down the bank to the water.

The next time only one cub came out of the water - the other stayed in and we get a glimpse of it as the mother goes back in.  The cub on the bank re-entered in a hurry and with a splash, perhaps wanting to catch up but it might have been spooked by a robin on the bank.

The third time mother came out with both cubs.

Three of the cameras weren't perfectly positioned for this action so I have realigned them, hoping for even better things next week.