Everything is Permuted

Most of my wildlife watching this weekend was from the wheel of a car (that's the one time I don't have a camera at the ready, so no photos of the buzzards or kestrels that hug the fringes of the A23). But there was a low sun over the garden when we got back today, and a greenfinch was feeding on the mousebird-feeder.
Greenfinch

Overhead the gulls were circling, watching for predatory intruders. A kestrel flew by, but too far for more than a reference shot. The gulls proved better subjects as they came in to land on neighbouring rooftops.
Gull

The garden is relatively quiet at the moment, though the frogs are more in evidence at the moment. I think they may be politely requesting that I clear some leaves from the surface.
Frog

And a garden (well this garden) isn't complete without a fox.
The Bold Vixen

The weather forecast looks promising, and with the reversion to GMT the light should be that much better early in the morning for a few weeks more. I hope it stays clear.

Camera note: all shots taken with the Canon 40D. The birds were both taken with the EF 400mm f/5.6L USM lens. The frog and fox were photographed with the Sigma 105mm F2.8 EX DG macro lens and Canon 430EX flash unit.

I just managed to delete this whole post before posting it, so this is the second attempt (this time I've locked the tab to prevent accidental closure) Anyway, it's an update on the frogs as promised, and starts on Saturday morning when I went outside to find that at least a couple of our frogs may have lost their sense of direction.
Spawn laid at the side of the pond

With care I managed to lift the spawn (it's unbelievably sticky) and place it in the pond, where it promptly sank! It finally settled just beneath the surface as it began to swell in the water and regain some bouyancy. I'll keep an eye to see whether it survives.

Meanwhile the frogs themselves are very active. I'm never quite sure whether they are guarding the spawn, or just basking and frolicking.
Saturday Night Fever!

The spawn is doing well, and the early signs of cell division are evident.
Frog spawn after two days

We have a very healthy crop of spawn this year (much better than last year), which may be just as well since the predators are already on the prowl.
Newt prowling over frog spawn

Newt attack

Those shots were Saturday night, as was this video of a fox It was captured with the trail cam and is an edit of about half a dozen 30 second clips. It starts with a local cat, but after that it's all fox. One thing that puzzled me was the fox's brush which is reminiscent of Kinky (the vixen we treated for mange a year or so ago). Having checked back over the few photos I have from this year, I suspect the featured fox is the young - shy - male we've been seeing recently. He also has that distinctive bend at the tip of his brush (see the final section of the video). A family trait? Quite possibly. Anyway, here's the video. It may take a few moments to load. And yes, that is a cat at the start of it...


Direct link

Camera note: the 'land spawn' and mass of frogs were taken with the EF 24-105 F4L IS USM lens; the newts and macro spawn were taken with the Sigma 105mm F2.8 EX DG macro and EM-140 DG ring flash. The video was taken with a GL80 infra-red trail cam.

Now that the pond has sprung into life, the time spent waiting for foxes turns into opportunities to photograph the frogs and newts. I'm not sure whether this will make the foxes more wary, but in previous years my quiet movement around the pond hasn't been a problem. One of the by-products of a lively pond is the choice of lens. From sitting around outside with a 70-300 zoom I'm now padding around with the 105mm macro lens.
Newt

There were several frogs in the pond, but my favourite for the evening turned out to be this fellow. He was settled in one of the few clear areas of the pond (we have far too much weed in it). The shots were taken with a very small aperture (f/25 and f/32) in an attempt to get as much of the body in focus as possible.
Frog @ f/25

Frog @ f/32

While I was taking these shots I kept an eye out for the fox, but nothing doing. It was a little later that we went back outside, this time keeping still and well hidden. The recent visitor has always emerged from the rear of the garden, but tonight while my eyes were fixed firmly ahead a fox slipped in from the front, went up the garden steps and trotted across the lawn. The shot isn't perfect (I'd set the camera focus manually at where I had hoped the fox would appear and this was a reasonably near approximation of the distance), and I managed only a single shot as the fox moved away. It's not the same (very healthy) fox we've seen before. Unfortunately this one is suffering from mange, and doesn't look in a particularly good state Unless it becomes a regular visitor there isn't a great deal that we can do to help, but we'll keep watching and if there is an opportunity to assist in some way we will.


Camera note: all shots taken with the Sigma 105mm F2.8 EX DG macro lens.