Woodpecker and Wood Mouse
Wednesday, 22. April 2009, 23:09:12
I'm enjoying the spring weather at the moment. Let's hope it lasts. It's making me more confident about a decent summer. As for the wildlife, well this time of year is excellent and there's plenty to see. There are butterflies (I saw more orange-tips, peacocks, small tortoiseshells and another brimstone today), and there are rabbits hopping all over the place. I even caught another glimpse of the campus fox this afternoon (no photo this time). But the day belongs to animals with 'wood' in their name.
At lunchtime I had time to get out to the woods. I could hear a squeaking noise up in a tree and on closer inspection saw a familiar shape perched high up. I wish I could describe sounds more accurately, but the call was quite unlike the usual high scream that green woodpeckers make. It was a female, and she posed like an angel (most unusual).
Female green woodpecker
Female green woodpecker in flight
A pair of mallards were enjoying the pond outside my window this afternoon, and I looked out for the fox again as I left work this evening, but without any joy. There were lambs out in the fields and I stopped to grab a couple of shots (the traffic was hardly going anywhere and I was stuck by a small lay-by). I would prefer to have taken this in the morning light, but there's no stopping point on that side of the road, so an evening shot - against the light - will have to do.
This evening brought more surprises. A wood mouse was out on one of the feeders, and sufficiently intent to stay put while I took some shots.
Wood Mouse
Wood Mouse
I will get some cam footage up soon. I've more or less got the computer straight (a few more files to transfer, blog feeds to re-create in Opera (which reminds me that I've lost my feed-creation software so that's another thing to sort), and some tweaking of my website photo album scripts to do), but last night included more of the fox (a vixen) and the hedgehogs (yes, two, together), plus another possible bat moment.
More woodpecker shots in the April Birds album, and more of the mouse in The Wood Mouse Files.
Camera note: the birds and the lambs were photographed with the EF 400mm f/5.6L USM lens. The mouse was captured with the Sigma 105mm F2.8 EX DG macro and Canon 430EX flash unit (set to 1/4 strength).
At lunchtime I had time to get out to the woods. I could hear a squeaking noise up in a tree and on closer inspection saw a familiar shape perched high up. I wish I could describe sounds more accurately, but the call was quite unlike the usual high scream that green woodpeckers make. It was a female, and she posed like an angel (most unusual).
Female green woodpeckerFemale green woodpecker in flightA pair of mallards were enjoying the pond outside my window this afternoon, and I looked out for the fox again as I left work this evening, but without any joy. There were lambs out in the fields and I stopped to grab a couple of shots (the traffic was hardly going anywhere and I was stuck by a small lay-by). I would prefer to have taken this in the morning light, but there's no stopping point on that side of the road, so an evening shot - against the light - will have to do.
This evening brought more surprises. A wood mouse was out on one of the feeders, and sufficiently intent to stay put while I took some shots.
Wood MouseWood MouseI will get some cam footage up soon. I've more or less got the computer straight (a few more files to transfer, blog feeds to re-create in Opera (which reminds me that I've lost my feed-creation software so that's another thing to sort), and some tweaking of my website photo album scripts to do), but last night included more of the fox (a vixen) and the hedgehogs (yes, two, together), plus another possible bat moment.
More woodpecker shots in the April Birds album, and more of the mouse in The Wood Mouse Files.
Camera note: the birds and the lambs were photographed with the EF 400mm f/5.6L USM lens. The mouse was captured with the Sigma 105mm F2.8 EX DG macro and Canon 430EX flash unit (set to 1/4 strength).
WIDGETIZE