So last week I featured the best photos of each of the bird species captured on the trial camera. This week I will do the same with the animals - and the period coved is late November to late February, so everyone very much in winter mode. Having said that, there was a good variety and it was difficult to pick the four best photos for some species, and a December video for most of them too, but I've done my best.
The first photo is the only one I have of a mouse - otherwise they seem to keep away from the camera. I know they are around as the cats catch some, but I assumed they were near the buildings. This one is nearly as far away from a building on the land as you can get!
After that, let's stick to alphabetical order on what has been spotted (ignoring cat, dog, human and hunter). The badgers are around and about. I need to sort out more video of them as there is clear evidence of more than one individual, but for now, here are some photos and a video of a badger getting surprisingly up close and personal with the camera.
Then there are the boar - less keen on the edge of the meadow, although they are making a mess of it, but quite keen on their trail around the ponds. From the paper I gather that a sow can have two litters a year, of between 8 and 13 piglets - they are prolific and with no natural predators, so numerous but shy.
The deer love the edge of the meadow and were also very apparent along the trail by the pond. Apologies that some of the photos are just links - I think the internet is a bit overcrowded this evening.
And the deliberate errors there were that I didn't do a gallery of deer photos and the video name should be December 22 deer - you really can't get the staff! Then there is the fox. As we don't have chickens at that site, I'm pleased to see him or her.
My particular favourite by the meadow is the hare that has a hideyhole somewhere in the bank of brambles. We know roughly where as there is a tunnel in and a tunnel out, and the camera was by one of the entrances.
And finally my much loved pine martin, although the video shows a rather worrying feature - no tail! We fear that there is a snare or trap somewhere nearby and it got caught in that, although I guess there are other possibilities including a close encounter with an owl or a car. Anyway, he looks distinctly odd without a tail.
Next week there may be more animal videos, but there will certainly be a review of the winter, as we are now into what can be classed as Spring (well March anyway). Apologies for layout challenges - internet speed on a Sunday evening and perhaps the image files weren't as compressed as they should have been.
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