Monday 1 April 2013

March 2013 - Garden visitors

In an earlier post, I noted the number of garden visitors I captured on my Bushnell trail camera over February.  Below, I've summarised the visits in the camera captured during the 9 nights I had it out in March. I've allocated each visit to a 2 hour slot as shown below.

Animal visits while the camera was out in March 2013.
The total number of visits (excluding cats) is down from 23 to 14. I am excluding cats from the grand totals because cats visit day and night and I don't often have the camera out in the day time. However, I am including them on the graph because I am interested in when they visit and their encounters (if any) with our wild visitors.

So what have I noticed?
  1. Fewer visits by wild mammals. The number of visits was to nearly half - some but not all of this can be accounted for by the camera being out for about for 9 rather than 12 nights. Maybe the rest is down to the unrelenting cold weather.
  2. Peak visiting time has shifted from the 11pm - 1am slot to 1pm - 3pm GMT.
  3. We have badgers!
  4. Most visits are foxes.
One of our foxy visitors near our daffodils.
Although it has been bitterly cold this month I can see that, comparing this month's photo with February's, the daffodils have grown from a couple of inches of leaf to their full size, including a few flowers.


2 comments:

  1. Foxes seem to be coming out much more in the daytime than they used to too. Saw a badger in my garden two years ago but not seen it since. It is still very cold so perhaps they are hunting more in the day than at night?
    Love the pictures Wendy
    K x

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    1. Thank you for your comment Kathy - and I'm glad you like the photos. That's an interesting thought. I have had the camera out in the daytime 9 times since the beginning of the year but have never picked up anything interesting. I'll have to make a point of keeping it out more often.

      The Collins field guide says about fox habits "Nocturnal and crepscular [twilight], but more diurnal [daylight] where undisturbed." I haven't ever seen a daytime fox in our part of Manor Park but I have seen one trotting down Hempstead Lane as bold as brass one day when I was walking. I willl keep an eye open. W.

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