Everything is Permuted

Taken shortly after midnight at the end of a very wet day...

Click to enlarge

Also after midnight, but from last night...



Camera note: mouse photographed with the Sigma 105mm F2.8 EX DG macro. The shot is uncropped.

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).

December is generally a relatively quiet month in the garden. Fox sightings go down. Whether that's because they are not around as much, or whether it's because they tend to arrive late at night I'm not sure. Certainly though, I tend to spend less time outside waiting for them in cold weather. But the nicked ear vixen is around, and the wood mouse has also put in an appearance.

The greedy peanut thief appeared in the early hours of Friday morning.




It didn't stay around for too long, but with a bit of care I'm sure it will become more tolerant of the camera. I've filled up the peanut feeder as an incentive for return visits. There are a couple more shots from Friday in The Wood Mouse Files album.

It was a similar hour yesterday (i.e. early hours of Saturday) when the nicked-ear vixen re-appeared, looking as gloriously healthy as ever. I'm not sure who was more surprised when she pushed her way through the hedge. We both froze, and for a moment I thought she would disappear again. She didn't. She was in one of her better (or bolder) moods and spent some time exploring the edge of the pond.






All of the above much needed update means that I don't really have room for anything from today. And today accounted for about 200 photos. If you like photographs of seagulls and blue skies you might want to take a look at the small selection from Brighton Beach over on my Flickr site. Here's one sample image of a black-headed gull in winter plumage as a taster...



Camera note: the fox photos, and the second wood mouse shot, were all taken with the Sigma 105mm F2.8 EX DG macro lens. The first shot of the mouse was caught with the EF70-300mm f/4.5-5.6 DO IS USM lens (which I also used for the Brighton Beach shots on Flickr).