More from Cranford Park including trail cam test and a stunning Skylark

Recently I invested in a trail cam. I tested it out in Mum's garden for a few days and nights (it's also infrared) and considering we had placed it in that particular position to see if a Fox visited the garden, was pleasantly pleased when the results showed the camera also captured small birds, and other critters, feeding on the ground.....

 

Jackdaw on the left with Rat on the right

Jay

Collared Dove

Cropped photo - male House Sparrow on the left with male Reed Bunting on the right

We also discovered there are two cats that visit at night, but no Fox.

 

I was really pleased with the quality of the photos, so naturally was looking forward to using the trail cam at Cranford Park. We know Muntjac, and possibly Roe, deer are visiting the park at night, along with Foxes and, of course, the resident Rabbits.

I've found plenty of tracks and droppings from the deer, and spoken to many early morning and evening dog walkers who have seen a fleeting glimpse of the deer. But I have only ever managed one photo of a Muntjac from many years ago.....

 

This was taken several years ago on the pathway from the woods on the other side of the M4 leading up to The Crane pub. Yes the cat looks huge, but it is standing on a higher part of the pathway and to be honest Muntjac are the smallest of our UK deer.

 

 

 I had already contacted the admin at the Muntjacs and More Facebook page to get their thoughts on my tracks and poo photos. They confirmed the photos of the droppings and deer slots on last Saturdays blog post certainly looked like Muntjac deer, and they also solved the mystery of why Rabbit poo always looks flat. It's because the Rabbits sit on them !!

 

When I mentioned my trail cam they gave the following advice....

 

"Bucks use their paths constantly day and night patrolling their territory, so if you find a good path with fresh tracks on to put your camera trap you are pretty likely to get a deer on it the first night and if you want to attract them even more you could chop some fruit/veg up and pop it down, apples, pears, carrots, blueberries, celery are among things they particularly like and the sweet fruit gives off a lovely aroma they can't seem to resist checking out"

 

So late yesterday afternoon I went down to Cranford Park to put up my trail cam. It didn't work out quite as expected. Although I trust many on the Friends Of Cranford Park Facebook page, I don't quite trust everyone who uses the park, so I spent over an hour walking around looking for a suitable site to position the trail cam where it wouldn't be seen from a path way by any of the 'oiks' that hang around the park and woods in the evening. I eventually decided that as I have also seen Muntjac droppings and tracks in St Dunstans graveyard I would put the camera up there.

And then it started to rain.....

 

I had found when using the trail cam in Mum's garden that I had trouble with the strap that secures the cam to a tree or post. I seemed to have difficulty tightening it. And last night was no different. I found an excellent tree that was within the grounds, away from the path but which overlooked a large expanse of the graveyard. But I struggled to tighten the strap, and with it raining, I was struggling even more. I done the best I could, and put out some fruit as advised above, and went home dripping wet but hopeful.

 

This morning I was at the park at 7am. Not so much because I was excited about what the trail cam may have captured, but more because I was concerned that it might have been discovered and 'nicked'. Luckily it hadn't. But unluckily the strap hadn't been tight enough and the camera had dropped. Instead of getting the views I had got in Mum's garden, I had got views of the ground, not even the bait of fruit was in the pictures.....

 

But it wasn't all in vain. I did get a few shots of two mammals. One of them was a rodent that I could of put money on seeing, purely because I had already discovered their nut stash very nearby, and that was the Wood Mouse. The other mammal I honestly did not expect to see. A Hedgehog !

 

 

 

 

 

So I didn't quite achieve what I set out to do, ie- Roe and Muntjac deer strolling in front of the camera, but I did discover Hedgehogs frequent St Dunstans graveyard !

 

I had another reccee around the park this morning, and discovered a few more places to hide my trail cam. I might also make some adjustments like attaching the cam to a stake of wood and securing it at home before placing it in the ground when I can next visit Cranford Park. But it's all trial and error.

 

In the bad light of the early morning I took some silhouette photos of a Great Spotted Woodpecker...

 

 

and a flying Kestrel....

 

 

Later on in the morning I heard the Kestrels calling and rushing over to the noise I just spotted them mating before both flying off. Great news for our Kestrels. Looks like we'll be having 'Kestrel Academy' in the meadows again this summer (sorry Tony for pinching your phrase).

 

As it got lighter so the birds really started singing. As reported a couple of weeks ago the first migrant birds have started appearing, the Chiffchaffs. Over the last couple of weeks they seemed to be only along the river, but today they could be heard in Cranford Woods, the Headland, the Ice House Copse and in the Memorial Garden with that unmistakeable call 'chiffchaff chiffchaff chiffchaff'

 

Birds are also starting to collect nesting material. They've been busy the last couple of weeks checking out potential sites and declaring it with loud bursts of song, now it's time to 'move in'.....

 

This is one of the boxes deep in Cranford Woods. Other boxes were being checked out today too.

I was having a sit down when this Song Thrush appeared from the scrub and found a worm....

 

 

 

 

Other birds being incredibly vocal today, especially in Cranford Woods, were the Goldcrests. Their tiny and tinny call is sometimes not heard by others. I was standing on one of the paths watching several Goldcrests chasing each other and calling, when one of the regular dog walkers stopped for a chat with his beautiful Doberman. Although I could point out the movement of the birds, and he could see them, he couldn't hear them at all and claimed all he could hear were the marmite Parakeets and Robins.

 

 

There were plenty of Wrens around too. Their song is incredibly loud compared to their body size...

 

 

There's a clearing in the woods, which back in the days when the old Cranford House was still there, was a bit of an experiment ground for non-native and ornamental trees. Not all of them have survived, and many have died, but there's one old hollow tree that has been popular with several varieties of birds over the last few years.

I've seen Kestrels use it as a view point and to stash their food. I've seen both Green and Great Spotted Woodpeckers investigate the many holes and hollows. One year I watched a very persistent Great Tit trying to continously take nesting material in, which then all fell out the other side. But this year it looks as if a pair of Jackdaws have decided to call it 'home'...

 

 

This is the side view of the hole and the only photo I could get of the Jackdaw in it. As soon as they saw me they either flew off or retreated deeper within the hole. Not shown in the photo are the many other holes and hollows above it. As always, this will be a nesting site I will continue to follow.

 

Probably the high-light of my day was discovering more Skylarks have appeared at Cranford Park. They could have come over from the grassy verges of the runways at Heathrow, where plenty still nest successfully each year, or they could have come over from the stubble field on the other side of Frogs Ditch where they've possibly been disturbed by ground maintenance. Either way, it's nice to see more of them after my initial sightings of only two over the last three weeks.

I saw around six or seven birds this morning. Over the last couple of weeks, the best sightings I had of them was when they were up high and singing and then 'parachuting' back down to ground and hiding amongst the long grass. Today they were singing from the ground so it didn't take too long to locate one...

 

 

One also obliging perched on one of the tree guards for me...

 

 

 

Unusually I only sighted three Meadow Pipits today, compared to the c25 that I spotted a couple of weeks ago. Maybe they were feeding on the stubble field, or were already hunkered low in the long grasses preparing their nests.

 

So birds seen today but NOT photographed include the numerous Goldcrests in the woods, both Kingfishers flying up and down the River Crane, the solo Little Egret just under the M4 bridge, a large female Sparrowhawk that I flushed from the ground in the Ice House Copse, a pair of Coal Tit by the outdoor classroom (ring of logs), many 'yaffling' Green Woodpeckers and the mating pair of Kestrels.

 

On my way home I checked in on the Goldfinches nest which I found last week, and was pleasantly surprised to see it occupied. I have had to take the photo from a distance so as not to arouse suspicion from the many pedestrians that walk under the tree. I could get a nearer shot but the welfare of the bird is more important to me than the quality or nearness of the photo. You can just about see the lovely clown-like face of the Goldfinch peering above the tiny cup like structure.....

 

 

So another successful outing at Cranford Park. More work needs to be done with my trail cam but at least I am learning from the errors of my ways. One day I will get some night shots of the Muntjac deer, and hopefully one of the Roe deer that I am convinced is visiting the park too.