My mammal year

2023 has been mostly about mustelids, from weasels and stoats in my garden, to otters nearby, to pine martens in Ardnamurchan, with badgers here and there.  Other mammals have been foxes, mice, shrews, voles and even a roebuck in the garden, not to mention rabbits and squirrels.  Oh, and a bat I rescued from a pond.  Here are some highlights.

Rescue mission

We were supposed to be counting bees but I got a bit distracted by dragonflies (it happens). Then I was more distracted by something in the water.  As I wondered what it was it started swimming towards me and I realised it was a bat.  I think it was swimming batstroke.

When it reached the bank I reached down to scoop it out.  It was soaked through and was happy to sit on my hands at first, before climbing up my shirt.

The bat seemed healthy but was wet through and was not inclined to fly.  When it had dried out a bit I put it on the trunk of a large oak tree and it climbed steadily, eventually going up out of sight. My hope is that it was warm and dry enough and high enough to fly, although it may have decided to wait for dark.

Having read it up since I got home I am not sure I should have released it.  I found advice about grounded or lost bats on the Bat Conservation Trust website, although I don't think this one was in either of those situations.  

I didn't know bats could swim but then most, perhaps all, mammals can.  It is unusual for a bat to be out in the middle of a sunny afternoon but it can happen if it is hungry.  Although I didn't see it flying I wonder if this one was hunting over the pond and made a misjudgement to crash into the water.

My left hand

I am right-handed so if I am holding something to be photographed it is in my left hand.  As well as feeding the robin and the pheasant I seem often to be catching birds that have strayed into the house or greenhouse or, occasionally, been stunned by flying into the window and everything has to have its photo taken before release.  Over the last few years I have collected quite a few photos of my left hand and here are some of them.  I wonder what I'll catch this year? Whatever it is, it will have its photo taken.

I expect you'll recognise everything.  The only tricky one is after the pheasant and before the blackbird and is a juvenile whitethroat that got stuck in the greenhouse.

End of year favourites - Mammals

This time of year gives an excuse for looking back.  These are a few of my favourite encounters with mammals.  It is interesting that they are nearly all the same colour.  I hope for more and for better pictures next year.