Skip navigation.

Sign up | Lost password? | Help

November 2009

( Monthly archive )

Winter Travellers

Sunday, 29. November 2009, 22:49:51

, , ,

Yesterday I looked for the sun in Otmoor, an RSPB reserve in rural Oxfordshire. The sunshine was fleeting, but the bare hedgerows that stand like battered waymarkers amidst the reeds and bullrushes and clayey banks were perches for some welcome Norwegian visitors :D

This is a fieldfare...





...and this a redwing.



Both are members of the thrush family, and both have probably spent their summers under the slowly-moving Scandinavian sun. But the length of the summer day in the far north is, of course, matched by the length of the winter night, and after their breeding seasons, they fly south over the North Sea to the slightly milder British climate. Like all thrushes, they are looking for the leftovers from autumn's table :chef:



The water was quiet, but a swan or two watched me pass :right:



Shovellers were around too, though their beaks never look less preposterous!



This is an attractive part of the country with many old stone buildings topped by thatched roofs. The landscape is like a strange hybrid of Norfolk and Surrey, with reedbeds framed by hills.





But I saw no foxes. I still say that south-east England is best for those :wink:

16 comments

Orion Rising

Thursday, 26. November 2009, 22:47:22

, ,



:sing:

The moon called me home again just this side of crazy
And pulled the tides in lee
I walked home in the full moonlight
Late November's starry night
A touch of lunacy
For the first time in a long time I could see
A silver beam of light...

Late November

Clear skies have been rare treasures in this autumn of rain and grey cloud and high wind. But the last two nights have given patches of respite, moments when I remember why I so love the skies at this time of year :D

Jupiter is still very visible; Mars is rising much later. But the moon is bright even through the haze, and throwing shadows behind me as I walk among the leafless trees in the deepening chill. The large crater in the middle of this photo is Copernicus, named after the 15th century cleric who argued that the Earth revolved around the sun.



The consequences of the Earth's daily spin, as opposed to its annual orbit, can be seen with a little patience :smile: The shots in this sequence were taken about ten minutes apart.



Orion might be the most spectacular constellation...



...but there is plenty else to see. The Pleiades are high over the horizon by the time Orion is fully visible :right:



Here's hoping for some more clear nights! :wait:

36 comments

Rain-Ghost

Sunday, 22. November 2009, 17:52:48

, ,



It's dark on these pseudo-winter days when the rain keeps falling and the clouds linger thick, and one storm trails another, until the sky looks up at me through the grass that grows like iris amidst the broad puddles, and the ring of a hiking boot on tarmac has faded into the silence of sodden leaves and pine needles and mud.



The wind is hassling in from the west, freeing dead leaves from the beechwood's boughs, occasionally blowing the sky shockingly clear, only for clouds to follow again.



Like me, the wild animals are waiting for the weather to ease; also like me, they have to continue with their lives in the meantime and simply manage as best they might.



But I saw something...something like a smudge of clean chalk against the unbroken blackboard :eyes:



Maybe the albino is more of an equal now; albinism is associated with poor eyesight, but no animal which relies on its eyes has an easy time in such days. It was with three or four "normal" grey squirrels, scrabbling around in the wet mishmash of mud and grass and leaves.



It is glaringly visible now, but come the snow... :ninja:



The clouds are changing again :right:

36 comments

Prime Real Estate

Friday, 20. November 2009, 23:43:29

,

It's always the same spot :right:

The Tip Vixen was there tonight, as most nights :smile:



There is something magnetic about this spot for all creatures vulpine. For generations, they've chosen to sleep :zzz: lurk :ninja: fight :knight: and cache :raider: there. It's not a learned behaviour; wandering vagrant foxes have come into the garden and immediately settled in the spot. And I'm left watching in bemusement, wondering what it is that attracts them so.

I think it's a perfect triangle. To the left, a thick hedge runs down the border of garden, providing both protection from unwelcome eyes and a weather-break. Just behind the spot, there is a tall conifer, which helps conceal the foxes from the top of the garden. But the view is clear from there to the house, so they can look out across the lawn, safe but observant. Close by, also, is a gap in the wire fence that runs within the hedgerow, so it's got its escape hatch too :smile:

As I say, the Tip Vixen was there tonight :smile:



But that, of course, reminded me of all the other foxes who have used that spot over the years.

February 2006
Interloper (Admittedly, a metre or so from the Spot, but he always did things in his own fashion :rolleyes:)



May 2006
Takahe



July 2006
SV (Ms Madness herself!)



November 2007
Bandit



February 2008
One-Eyed Dogfox


__

The Old Dogfox, of course, used the spot too, but I cannot seem to find a good photo of him there :frown: So, just for completeness, here he is at the back of the garden :smile:


__

Just one other piece of news: the Silver Dogfox has thrown off his ear infection :yes: and I'm no longer attempting to capture him. He looks in fine shape, but is still much less frequent a visitor than his vixen.

30 comments

Trails Eastwards

Sunday, 15. November 2009, 22:08:47

, , , ...

The storm has blown itself to pieces, but the roads have turned into rivers in its wake :yikes:



Even so, I've been out travelling today to my old haunts in Norfolk :smile: spending a while wandering around the soaked campus of the University of East Anglia.



This big peninsula is largely rural - a strange mixture of marshland and arable farms, although other habitats aren't lacking - and there's always some wildlife to be seen, especially around the university. Rabbits have been the focus of a long term study here. Any wildlife photographer who goes to the UEA and doesn't see a rabbit can consider themselves exceedingly unlucky...



Meanwhile, the squirrels are sorting the leaves and nuts...





As are jays.





I think these are largest shaggy ink caps that I've ever seen :eyes:



These strange fungi self-dissolve after dropping spores, gradually changing shape from a neat bell-like form to a tall, relatively "normal" mushroom appearance :alien:



But where there are students, one might find even stranger wildlife on the loose. I didn't really expect to find a spider the size of my hand sitting on the lawn :yikes: bug



I imagine that it is probably a refugee from a Halloween prank :left:

It hasn't rained today, but the land still has a tired, wintry, washed-out feel, and yet more heavy downpours are forecast for this week.

Lights from the Queen Elizabeth II Bridge over the Thames

24 comments

1 2 Next »

Showing posts 1 - 5 of 9.