Gosforth Nature Reserve has a new wetland, created less than a year ago. The stream flowing into a collapsed culvert was diverted into a series of newly excavated pools and ponds last November. To start with it ended up looking like a flooded building site but now it already looks as though it has always been there. Animals and birds took to it almost immediately and in recent months it has been a productive area for my cameras.
Earlier this month I posted a video of the local roe buck wading through the water and said I had never seen him go through the other way. Only a few days later a doe and her twins did just that. The mother was wary and crossed not far from the edge. The kids followed, taking a longer shortcut and were also very uncertain about the depth of the water. The video is two minutes long but good to watch. Notice the doe has a new smooth dark winter coat while the kids are still developing theirs.
A bigger surprise was seeing badgers wading through the water. There were four recordings over two nights and from their sizes it looks like at least two different animals. The water is deeper farther out and badgers are not tall so I expect they were swimming across before wading out in front of the camera.
The fox, by contrast is not at all keen on getting its feet wet.
The cameras also occasionally see a couple of sparrowhawks. Judging by their size I think both are female and one is adult and the other a juvenile, so presumably mother and daughter. They are usually too far away and too fast for a good video so this is the best I can do so far - slow motion is at 1/10 speed. I am working on getting better pictures.
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