End of year favourites - Otters

What a year it has been.  The best yet in seven years of following my local otters with trail cameras.  Selecting my favourite videos of the year has been very difficult.

2025 started with the mother otter and her two male cubs, then about six months old.  They grew rapidly and were soon bigger than she was.  These are my two favourite memories.

The cubs were with their mother on 2nd May and by the 4th they were gone and she was courting.  The courtship went on for weeks, much longer than I have read about in the books but seems to have gone to plan.  The three new cubs were born in July and first appeared on camera in November, at about four months of age.

They will be with their mother until late spring and at the moment they are appearing on camera several times a week.  Here are three recent favourites.

The otters have been dominating the blog recently so expect more videos in the coming weeks. Happy New Year.

End of year favourites - Birds on trail camera

Birds show up every day on my trail cameras.  I don't usually keep the videos of moorhens, ducks, geese, robins, pigeons, etc that I see every day but some of the recordings offer us a privileged view of behaviour that we wouldn't otherwise see.  Here are a few favourites from this year.

I am used to seeing sparrowhawks at home but this one appeared on my otter camera.  It's a first year bird, probably a female from its size, and whatever it was chasing it missed on this occasion.  I thought at the time that the call in the background was a buzzard but now I think it might be another sparrowhawk.

Water rails are much more often heard than seen.  They have a strange un-bird-like call, as this one is showing in front of the camera.

Water rails mostly eat invertebrates but will take larger prey, here a fish and a newt.

Carrion crows are pretty clever but this one was outsmarted by a mouse.  The story is a bit long to repeat in this post but you can find it here.

I posted a video of a heron eating water shrews a couple of days ago.  Another one (or perhaps the same one) tried to eat a frog, but lost it, and caught a toad but soon let it go.

Cetti's warblers were first recorded breeding in the UK only 50 years ago and they are now resident and breeding birds up here.  Like water rails they are mainly heard rather than seen but this one did turn up on the camera.  Unfortunately it wasn't singing.

Cetti's warblers sing all day and all night in the summer.  One was singing while a common snipe was exploring the bridge.  There is a little grebe and a bumblebee in the background at one point as well.

Finally a video I haven't posted before but something that turned up on PolecatCam in Allendale. A tawny owl catching a black spider in complete darkness.  Amazing.

There are birds every day on the cameras that don't make it to the blog.  I hope this has given a taste of what goes on while no-one is looking.

End of year favourites - Ladybirds

2025 was my third year of looking for ladybirds and I continued to find new species.  The highlight was finding the Scarce 7-spot Ladybird in Northamptonshire in September.  It was the third time I had been to look for it, and very satisfying.  It is shown above with the very common 7-spot Ladybird which had a good year and was seen in great numbers all over the country, even interrupting a test match.  Here's another view of the Scarce 7-spot.

I posted it on this blog, finishing off by saying that my next target was the Hieroglyphic Ladybird, one I had been to look for in various places several times.  And the very next day I found two, only a couple of miles from here while I wasn't even looking for them.  Previously very rare in the North East (and everywhere else), there were several reports up here this summer so this is another species that had a good year.

The Hieroglyphic Ladybird also has a melanic form and I found one of those a few days later.

Another new species came from my mother's garden.  This one is tiny, the appropriately named Dot Ladybird, one of a group known as inconspicuous ladybirds or microladybirds, which are small, usually hairy, and mainly lack spots.

Here is another one, not quite as small but also black, Scymnus nigrinus, also known as the Black Ladybird.

And another, this time with spots, Nephus quadrimaculatus, also known as Ivy Ladybird.  This one is about 2mm.

And Rhyzobius chrysomeloides, both these last two from Mum's garden as well.  This one is 3mm.

Another species that thrived in 2025 was Adonis' Ladybird.  I had only seen two before but there were lots to find this year.

Finally a few favourites from the many dozens of other photos I could have included.  A Striped Ladybird,

a 2-spot Ladybird, f sexpustulata,

an 18-spot Ladybird,

and a 10-spot Ladybird, f decempustulata.  I'll be on the lookout for more new species next year.

End of year favourites - Shrews

My trail cameras have captured all four species of British mainland shrews this year.  And my shrew of the year is the Greater White-toothed Shrew.

Until very recently we had only three species, Common Shrew, Pygmy Shrew and Water Shrew. Then four years ago the Greater White-toothed Shrew was found not far from here in County Durham.  It was previously known in mainland Europe and some of the Channel Islands but how it arrived here is a mystery.  I set up a camera in Elemore Park and soon had footage of this rare colonist.  You can read the full story here.

The largest of our native shrews is the Water Shrew.  As its name suggests, it is mostly found near water and there is a healthy population in Gosforth Nature Reserve, only a mile from here. There needs to be too as the local herons have taken a liking to them.  One of my cameras recorded a heron (or herons) catching and eating nine shrews in six days in one camera position.

All three native species are found in my garden and turn up in my weasel camera box.  Common Shrews and Pygmy Shrews are both regulars and the Water Shrew which was so active here last autumn made a guest appearance at the beginning of this year, with all three shrew species turning up on the same night.

One camera has been back in County Durham since the beginning of this month so I hope to have more shrew videos soon.

End of year favourites - Dragonflies

I don't take as many dragonfly and damselfly photos as I used to, mainly taking record shots for recording, but I am always on the lookout for something attractive or unusual.  The weather in 2025 was really good for dragonflies and locally and nationally it was a bumper year.

My first dragonfly of the year, and the first record in Gosforth Nature Reserve, was an immature male Broad-bodied Chaser.

Then my new meadow pond produced three Broad-bodied Chasers.  I watched them emerge and fly away but didn't see them again.  The pond has produced damselflies in the past couple of years but these were the first dragonflies.

Another early season species, and a first for me, was a male Hairy Dragonfly at RSPB Old Moor in Yorkshire.

A couple of species had a notably good year in my local Gosforth Nature Reserve.  Brown Hawker has only been recorded once before (in 2021), as far as I am aware, but this year we saw patrolling males and ovipositing females over several weeks so there is a good chance it will become established.

Black-tailed Skimmer also had only occasional previous records in the reserve but this summer there were many basking males and an ovipositing female (which I didn't see).  Again there are high hopes this may become a regular resident species.

I have the privilege of counting dragonflies on the Hepple Estate in Northumberland.  It is a reliable place to see Golden-ringed Dragonflies, males easier to photograph than females.

I also see male Emperor Dragonflies there but this was the first time I have managed a decent photo.

Finally back to Gosforth Nature Reserve where I saw my first Willow Emerald Damselfly in September.  It is the most northerly site for this species which first arrived in East Anglia less than 20 years ago.

Dragonflies and damselflies are responding rapidly to climate change so we are likely to see more species arriving and becoming established in the North East in coming years.

End of year favourites - Stoats and weasels

2025 has been the best year yet for my trail cameras.  The number of cameras has increased and I am learning how and where to set them up.  The "weasel box" in the garden is a permanent fixture and is the best way of monitoring who's around.

After all the weasel excitement here in 2024 this year has been a bit quieter.  The highlight was seeing a mother carrying her kits past the gate, moving from one nest to another.  I have sneaking suspicion she might have been in my weasel wall and was unsettled by a stoat that was hanging around.

I remodelled the interior of the box just over a year ago with some old terracotta land drains to make it more interesting (for us and the weasels).  This male was new to the box and having a good look round.

I tried baiting the pipes with a dead mouse in the hope of seeing the weasels regularly but it hasn't been a great success.  The first time I put the mouse in the top pipe and the weasel could smell it but couldn't find it.

Next time I put a mouse in a bottom pipe and a male did find it but it didn't return for another one so for the time being I have given up.

Stoats haven't been as regular visitors to the garden as weasels over the years but I saw a lot of one female in late summer and autumn.  The first sighting was near the gate.

Soon after this one visited the weasel box, something stoats are generally reluctant to do.  (This also gave me the opportunity of making the composite photo at the top of this post to compare the sizes of female stoat and female weasel.)

Then in October I was lucky enough to see a female stoat (perhaps the same one) watching me from the base of a dead tree not far from my front door.

That was the cue to set up a camera and the stoat stayed around for a few weeks.

In the last month or two it has all gone quiet, with only an occasional sighting of a weasel in the box but I hope for more activity next year.

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.

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.