I hope you sitting comfortably, this could take a while...….
On Thursday evening, just before I went out to do my 'clap for carers' I happened to glance out of the lockdown loft window and saw a dog fox at the bottom of the garden. He was so busy scent marking the patch of nettles that he neither heard nor saw me, and soon disappeared under the chain link fence. I figured that if he had had to crawl under the fence, that scent marking in the garden was a regular thing for him to do. As he had turned up just before 8pm on Thursday, last night I put out a plastic dish of dried cat food (kindly donated by my Dixie cat). I took a photo of the dish at 7.45pm and from then until 8.30pm, I regularly popped my head out of the loft window to see if Mr Fox was back. He didn't appear...…..or maybe he did, but more on that in a moment.
After that it was getting too dark to really see anything...….
At 5.30 this morning this was my view...…not only had the food gone but the whole dish too !!!!!
Mum and I searched everywhere and never found the dish. Weird or what ?!? Would a fox really carry off a plastic dish ?
Obviously this requires more investigation. Watch this space.
After it was dusk last night, and whilst I was watching the food dish, a fox broke cover from the top corner of the field and I wasn't quite ready with my camera. He ran straight over to one of the scrubby areas by the fence boundary and before I could get focus on him through my camera lens, he was met by a male Muntjac. I'm not sure quite what I expected to happen, but what I saw next certainly wasn't any of them.....the fox and the muntjac literally 'bumped noses' ! It was almost like a greeting.
'Alright mate? Off on your nightly wanders? Have fun. Keep away from those virus ridden humans. Stay Safe'
By this time I had the camera to my eye but there just wasn't enough daylight for the lens to focus. The only three photos I managed are below. Dreadfully blurry and dark. And I didn't capture the 'nose bump', only the fox leaving afterwards and Munty watching him.
I'm gutted I didn't capture the 'nose bump' but absolutely over the moon to witness such an amazing coming together between two species.
I haven't really been out since I started furlough, but decided today to take my daily exercise around the local church fields. It was a sunny day but a bit breezy at times, so finding any wildife proved a little challenging. There were plenty of birds singing but not many actually showing well, although I did see my first Swallow of the year and had a Red Kite fly down so low I could see the yellow of its eye, but no photos of any birds today. The only focussed photo I managed was of a Chiffchaffs bum, and I couldnt be bothered to save it.
I had a bit more luck with the critters.
A Scorpion Fly landed inches away from me and at just the right eye level. This is the female. The males have a bulbous turned up bottom, hence the name 'scorpion'.
They really are disgustingly delightful ! The males equivalent of giving the female a box of chocolates, is to present her with a chewed up ball of dead insect spit. Yum ! The female definitely wears the trousers in these relationships. If he displeases her, she kills him. Simple.
There were plenty of hoverflies on the wing today. I only managed to photograph four species although I saw at least nine. Species name under each photo.
 |
| Syrphus species |
 |
| Sphaerophoria species |
 |
| Sphaerophoria scripta |
 |
| Leucozona lucorum |
I got my 'butterfly fix' today too. I spotted the below plus Large White, Small White, Orange-tip, Holly Blue and Brimstone.
 |
| Speckled Wood - underwing |
 |
| Peacock |
 |
| Small Tortoiseshell |
Watching the butterflies made me yearn for Cranford Park where I would normally be doing my weekly butterfly transect for the UKBMS by now. But there is no point moaning about it, I cant change it, none of us can change what is happening in the world at the moment.
To cheer myself up I decided to have a go at looking for butterfly eggs. I've never really tried before as my eyesight isn't that great these days but I recognised a couple of the favoured food plant of the Orange-tip butterfly. The Cuckoo flower and Garlic Mustard. Orange-tip eggs stand out quite a bit more than other species as they turn orange with age. So spotting them amongst green foliage can be quite easy. They lay their eggs singularly and I found loads along one small stretch of Garlic Mustard. The eggs are tiny - just 0.6mm wide and 1.2mm long.
As part of a lockdown experiment I bought two eggs back to the lockdown loft. The Garlic Mustard wilted a bit walking back, but once in a glass of water it soon perked up. If the eggs hatch successfully then I'll have to replenish stocks regularly. Watch this space....
As I sign off it is 8pm Saturday night, and I have just put out a handful of dried cat food and a raw egg (no plastic dish this time) for the fox, or whatever took all the food plus the dish last night. Watch this space...….
A long but very enjoyable day. Being out in the open with my camera lifted my spirits, and I felt safely isolated most of the time. A much needed solitary stroll out..
Stay safe everyone
No comments:
Post a Comment