Everything is Permuted

I'm going to start today with a photo taken yesterday in Brighton. it's a piece of graffiti on a phone cabinet, part of an on-going project around the city. The artwork (from what I can find on the web) is by Sinna Wun.


Now to today, which was mainly spent cutting grass in the garden. I use a lo-tech method (a pair of shears for the longer grass and a manual lawnmower for the rest), so it takes a while. Occasionally I look skyward to see what is happening, and to catch the occasional passing raptor. A buzzard flew over during the afternoon, but was too distant for a photo. Slightly closer (but these are still hefty crops) was a peregrine, being hotly pursued by a very angry - and presumably quite brave - herring gull.






This evening was spent in the company of fox cubs. Here are two of them scrapping over some peanuts.






A rather more peaceful scene played out over night. It's called So Many Mouths to Feed.




Camera note: all birds taken with the Canon 7D and EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L USM IS lens; graffiti with the EF70-300mm 4.5-5.6 DO IS; and the fox cubs with the EF 100mm f/2.8L macro IS USM lens.

The Bank Holiday weekend produced an overcast (and occasionally wet) Saturday which was something of a let-down after some good forecasts earlier in the week. I wouldn't have thought it the best day for some of our pond inhabitants to make their first appearances, but even damsels and dragons can be fooled by the weather. There were several around the pond, in different phases of emergence.

This is dragonfly nymph clambering up the side of the pond.


When it finds a suitable resting point, it will slowly emerge into a common darter, like this.


There were also several damselflies, the more delicate cousin of the bulkier dragonfly.




All of these will have wintered in the pond, and it's always good to see them appear especially after a relatively harsh winter. With a bit of luck the weather will be kinder to insects than it was last year when all that really flourished were snails and (especially) slugs.

The fox cubs are obviously better adapted to uncertain conditions. Foxes survive across the planet and are among the most adaptive of all mammals. These young ones have certainly 'adapted' to garden living. They are gaining in confidence and roaming much more freely around the garden, and taking much less notice of me. A little bit of food to start off with always helps.








No video tonight, not that there isn't any footage. I gathered around 50 minutes of clips overnight, but haven't had time to sort through them properly. I did spot a badger again, plus lots of fox cub playfulness, and some sweet interactions with the adults.


Camera note: all shots taken with the Canon 7D and EF 100mm f/2.8L macro IS USM lens.

It's time to force myself to create some variety. I could easily post nothing but fox cubs at the moment, but there are other things to see which reflect the changing time of year.

The first shot tonight is a moorhen. Nothing unusual about that (they inhabit the pond year round), but I did like the pose.


Overhead the swallows are beginning to build in number, and have been joined by house martins. No decent photos of the latter, but the swallows are already starting to gather mud for nest building.


There are sparrows...


...and chaffinches.


Even a proud puffed up crow.


A quick garden update... the cubs are still there, as are the three adult foxes. The local cats are shunning the garden at night, though they are active during the day. And watch out for the surprise garden visitor in last night's video.



Plus a fox cub portrait to close tonight.



Camera note: all birds photographed with the Canon 7D and EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L USM IS lens. The fox cub was taken with the EF 24-105 F4L IS USM lens. Video from the Bushnell Trophy Cam HD.