2015's Garden Visitors

Once again, I've been using my Bushnell Trail camera to record wildlife that visits our garden. I missed a little bit of January because I needed to repaint the box. For most of the year I kept the camera in the same position. Average number of visits was well up on 2014, which had fewer visits per night than 2013.

Two regular visitors - sadly the dark buck hasn't  visited since 6th August 2015.

How many visits in 2015?

In 2015:

• Fox visits peaked in March/April - there were regular encounters between two individuals, maybe the youngsters we saw last year.
• We had badger visits through late spring, summer and autumn
• The fallow deer came in Spring, August and December.

How does this compare to previous years?

For the year as a whole:

• Fox visits are up by about half c.f. 2014 although we had far fewer visits in the latter part of the year. We are seeing more occasions when there are two foxes in the garden.
• Badger visits are up by about a quarter.
• Deer visits are down. This may be due to us removing a tree at the end of May 2014 and/or the possible loss of one of the regular visiting males.

I have spotted a few patterns over the 3 years I have been recording:

• In all three years that I have been recording, there is a dip in the number of fox visits in May - perhaps due to the birth of cubs.
• Badgers are always absent for a period in winter, when they are dormant:
• 2013 - November to January (2014)
• 2014 - October to April (2015)
• 2015 - November to ?
• Fallow deer are:
• absent at the beginning of the year first appearing in March (2015) and April (2013/4)
• appear at various times during the late spring and summer months
• absent for part of the autumn around October, presumably for the rut
• often return in December enabling me to make predictable Rudolf jokes.

30 days wild - Days 13 and 14 - the Weekend!

It's the weekend and the first time I went on a #30DaysWild outing. So far all my encounters with nature have been opportunistic - squeezed in, sometimes while travelling. Saturday was still like that but on Sunday, I visited Ashdown Forest.

Saturday, June 13

On the way back from the shops, I was happy to see that East Sussex council had managed the mowing of local grass verges so that the wild flowers including orchids could flower.


Spotted orchid.

My Saturday lunchtime treat was to open up my trail camera and see what has been visiting our garden. To my surprise, a fox had appeared in daylight so we have some colour pictures rather than the usual infra red. The badger continues to be a total diva, rushing by so we don't get a decent photo.



Fox, visited in the afternoon on the 11th of June.

I did a little tidying and watering outside and was filling the pond when I heard calls. To my delight there was a family of pied wagtails on our roof.

Sunday, June 14 - Old Lodge Nature Reserve

The day was dry but rather overcast. I decided to head out to Sussex Wildlife Trust's Old Lodge Nature Reserve on Ashdown Forest. Even before I left the Uckfield bypass, I saw young rabbits feeding at the side of the road. Once I got to the reserve, I decided to concentrate on details because the light was too dull for landscape shots.

Lichen on birch trunk.

The first thing I spotted was lichens and mosses on a craggy old birch tree.  As I walked along the top edge of the reserve, I was fascinated by the colourful and rather weird pine flowers and amazed to find bluebells still out.

Pine flower.

I was glad to see a cluster of foxgloves had sprung up again on the old bank and even more pleased to see a bumble bee scrambling in and out of the flowers.

Buff-tailed bumble bee on foxgloves.

Pink and purple flushes here and there show that the heaths and heathers are already beginning to bloom.

Cross-leaved heath.

Bell heather.

On the path down to the dragonfly ponds I noticed many other plants including the tiny, startlingly beautiful flowers of a sedge.

Heath sedge, just a few inches high.

Along the way I met a couple. The man was clutching binoculars and was pleased because he has seen a greater spotted woodpecker and heard the calls of its mate. The woman wanted to know about the white tufts she could see from the path. I explained they are cotton grass and told them about the green woodpecker I had seen on the higher ground.

Cotton grass.

I think it is too early and certainly to dull for dragonflies but I did see a damselfly.

Damselfly - Common blue, I think.

I was far to slow to catch up with the many ochre coloured moths that I disturbed while walking but I did manage to photograph a brown china-mark moth, which is unusual in that its larvae are aquatic.

Brown china mark moth.

Across the path from the ponds, three ancient and magnificent beeches cast a deep shade.

Three huge, ancient beeches.

For me, the sight of these lovely and rather mysterious trees is always the high point of a visit to Old Lodge. After spending some time with them, I returned to the car, pausing to enjoy something on an altogether different scale.

Tormentil, heath bedstraw and bell heather.

Three colourful little flowers had mixed to give the effect of a tiny garden.

Our own garden

After being out on the forest, our own garden seems so much more confined but is full of colour and interest. After lunch, I grazed my way through our alpine strawberries. Then I watched some bees feeding from our own foxgloves and borage. The borage had at least three different sorts of bee. White-tailed and early bumbles as well as a leaf cutter.

Patchwork leafcutter bee.

Just after 10pm, to round things off, I saw bats swooping past my window.

It's all kicking off!

One week into February and suddenly everything is kicking off in the garden.

First, the frogs. On the 8th, I casually looked in the pond and noticed spawn. It might have been there for a couple of days. I have been noting the date that the frogs spawn since 2005. This year's spawning date is a month earlier than in the cold weather last year. In fact it is earlier than any of the years since I started recording.

As for animals recorded by my Bushnell trail camera, the wet weather has continued but animals have started visting again. We have had some fox visits and our first badger of the year.

Fox - quarter to nine on the 2nd of February.

Badger - just after midnight on the same night.

Garden visitors - January 2014

We have just had one of the wettest Januarys on record. We have also had very few fox visits captured on our Bushnell trail camera compared to the colder, drier January last year.

One of the few fox visits captured in January 2014.

I have got no idea if the wet weather is the cause. Maybe, in the mild weather, they can find all the food they need closer to home. Maybe they are as enthusiastic as I am about being on a North facing slope in driving, cold rain.  The figures are:

Month	Nights camera recording	Fox visits recorded	Fox visits per night
Jan 2013	6	8	1.33
Jan 2014	12	3	0.25

Last year we also recorded one badger visit on a cold, frosty night.  So that's it. A bit of wet weather and the little turncoats disappear.

2013's Garden Visitors

I've been using a Bushnell trail camera throughout the year to find out more about the wild animals that visit our garden.  Note that I barely had the camera out in November.

Badger visting on the 10th of October.

How many visitors?

The following graph shows how many wild animals visited per night.

Number of visitors per night.

The peak number of visits was in August, when we often saw two young foxes together.  There is a trough in May, perhaps when young animals are being born or when there is more food available in the woods. November and December show another trough - perhaps because the weather is so filthy! 

When do they visit?

This graph shows the times of these visits.

Times of visits

I've tried looking for patterns in the timings but cannot really see any. Note that the gaps in the data above simply represent times when I did not put the camera out.

October and December garden visitors

October and December garden visitors

Again, I've been remiss with my blog. Blame the day job.

Below, I've summarised the visits in the camera captured during the nights I had my Bushnell Trail camera out in October and December. I've allocated each visit to a 2 hour slot as shown below.

October 2013

The camera was out for 12 nights and captured 20 animal visits (excluding cats). The species captured were foxes and badgers. The peak time was 11 pm to 1 am.

Animal visits while the camera was out in October 2013

 December 2013

The camera was out for 21 nights and captured 17 animal visits (excluding cats). Just foxes now.

Animal visits while the camera was out in December 2013

July to September garden visitors

Ah. I've been very remiss and not blogged for 3 months.  Time to catch up with my garden visitors.

Below, I've summarised the visits in the camera captured during the nights I had my Bushnell Trail camera out in July, August and September. I've allocated each visit to a 2 hour slot as shown below

July 2013

The camera was out for 13 nights and captured 13 animal visits (excluding cats). The species captured were fallow deer, foxes and badgers. The peak time was 9 to 11 pm.

Animal visits while the camera was out in July 2013

August 2013

The camera was out for 10 nights and captured 21 animal visits (excluding cats). This time, it was all foxes - there appear to be two fox cubs visiting regularly and hanging around in the garden. There is not really a peak time.

Animal visits while the camera was out in August 2013

September 2013

The camera was out for 19 nights and captured 21 animal visits (excluding cats). The two fox cubs are still visiting and hanging around. Badgers are appearing on some nights. Peak time is 11pm to 1am.

Animal visits while the camera was out in September 2013

A shriek in the night

Last week was busy. Very busy. On Friday, I finished work and got to bed sometime after 11 pm and, just as I was dropping off, heard the most horrible shriek. It sounded like a small but very loud animal. It seems that nature's food chain was busy right outside my window.  I couldn't see anything, because the security lights were off. This morning, I saw a few sad bones on our grass. Just a length of spine and some ribs. At this point, I half heartedly poked them with a stick but was too squeamish to investigate further. 

I've just investigated the contents of my Bushnell Trail Camera. I wasn't expecting much because the camera was pointing away from the front of the house. However, I found some fox activity that roughly matches the time of the shriek. The sequence starts at 11:56pm BST.  There are two foxes in the frame. Fox 1 is crouched quite defensively. It is blurred as if it is moving. Fox 2, further up the slope is looking down at fox 1. The next shot, below is clearer.

11:56pm - One second after the initial shot, fox 1 is now sitting.

One second later, it is obvious that the fox is eating something.

14 seconds later, fox 1 has temporarily left its meal to meet fox 2.

20 seconds after meeting fox 2, fox 1 has taken it's meal down the slope.

After this fox 1 disappears back up the slope, taking its meal with it. The last photo shows it roughly in the place where I found the bones this morning.

So that's mother nature being ruthless.  I don't know what was killed. I found it upsetting to find the bones but it didn't look like someone's pet or livestock.  I'm not even sure if the fox was the killer. There are plenty of potential culprits that visit our garden and foxes do like to scavenge others' kills.

June 2013 - Garden Visitors

Below, I've summarised the visits in the camera captured during the 14 nights I had my Bushnell Trail camera out in June. I've allocated each visit to a 2 hour slot as shown below.

Animal visits while the camera was out in June 2013

 
This month's score (12 excluding cats) is much better than May's 6. The peak is happening earlier  - 9 to 1 rather than slightly later in the morning but the mix of species is about the same as before May's dip in results.  A pair of fox cubs have been seen in the garden but, naturally, did not walk in front of the camera.

Badger trundling up the slope.

It it always lovely to see the badgers trundling round the garden. They have been making distinct paths in the long grass. Other field signs (yes - I mean poo) have indicated several visits by deer.
 

May 2013 - Garden visitors

Below, I've summarised the visits in the camera captured during the 15 nights I had my Bushnell Trail camera out in May. I've allocated each visit to a 2 hour slot as shown below.

Animal visits while the camera was out in May 2013.

Oh dear. These results are quite frankly pathetic. The total number of visits (excluding cats) is down from 16 to 6 even though I had the camera out for the same number of nights, i.e. 15.  I have no idea why there were so few wild visitors. Maybe there were busy breeding, maybe I placed the camera badly. There was much less variety. No deer or badgers and just a few foxes.

A curious fox. I know it's a back view but it really amused me.

April 2013 - Garden visitors

Below, I've summarised the visits in the camera captured during the 15 nights I my Bushnell Trail camera out in April. I've allocated each visit to a 2 hour slot as shown below. 

Animal visits while the camera was out in April 2013.

 The total number of visits (excluding cats) is up from 14 to 16 but I had the camera out for 15 nights rather than 9.

Fallow deer visiting on the 8th of April. The deer is not white, the security light has fooled the IR.

So what have I noticed?

• I now have fallow deer visiting as well as foxes and badgers - I was surprised not to have captured them before as, in previous years, they had been regular visitors, but they are certainly making their presence felt now.
• peak time is still the 1 to 3 am slot.
• there is a more varied pattern - with some bumper nights and some with no visits before - previously the visits were more evenly spread.

In previous posts, I noted the number of garden visitors in February and March.

A busy night in the garden

I've been putting out a Bushnell trail camera since the start of the year and been pleased to get pictures of foxes and the occasional badger but last night's visitors were special.

Fallow deer buck, photographed 11:52 pm GMT on 7th April 2013.

I supposed I should have expected something like this. One of our neighbours had seen signs of deer around the area for the last couple of weeks but there has been no evidence of them coming into our garden. Then, as I was coming back from picking up the paper, I noticed some poo on the path.

After work, I uploaded my pictures and here's the results:

Time	Species	Comment
7:51 PM	cat	Heads up slope.
10:51 PM	fallow buck	This is a big fellow and I think I recognise him. He has odd antlers - one flattened and one not. He browses round the bottom of the big atlantic cedar for a while then heads down the slope. There appears to be another sitting on the right-hand side of the photo (not shown).
23:29 PM	badger	Moves along foot of hedge towards oak.
00:30 PM	fox	Moves quickly down slope.
01:08 PM	fallow buck	The same buck as before, emerges from behind the Atlantic cedar and heads up the slope.
2:19 PM	badger	Heads up slope towards atlantic cedar.
3:10 AM	cat	Slinks along foot of hedge away from oak.

I've got no idea why we got so many visitors. It was warmer than it has been for a while. The deer have been out and about for some time - so maybe something spooked them and they hid in the garden. Whatever the reason it was a real pleasure to see so many garden visitors.

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.

February's visitors

I've had my Bushnell trail camera out for 12 nights in February. That's most of the fine nights. Over that time I've been looking for a pattern. I've allocated each visit to a 2 hour slot as shown below.

Animal visits while the camera was out in February.

Sometimes a fox goes through early in the evening. These early visits tend to be fleeting, with the fox often moving through at speed. I had already worked out that we usually get a midnight visit and, as you can see that is the peak time. These visits can be quite lengthy with the fox sniffing and sometimes digging in the grassy area. As we get nearer to morning, these visits tail off; the latest for February being at 4.23 am.

We are getting a few night-time cats. Like the foxes, the peak is around midnight. However, I have not yet seen both together. We also tend to get cat visits just as the light is fading and at dawn.

The 'midnight' fox, which visited at 11.09 on 24 Feb 2013.

This wasn't a very representative survey. I had my camera out for less than half the nights in February and never when it was wet. However, I am beginning to build up a picture of their habits.

Foxes: Why are they visiting?

We have at least two visiting foxes that trip the Trail Camera at least a couple of times a night. The question that I have started asking myself is why are they visiting? .

Fox checking out grassy area at 2:20 am, February 22nd

The foxes often snuffle round the grassy area shown in the image. Are they trying to smell out food, or checking to see if another fox has visited recently? I've had the camera out a number of nights but yet to capture any encounters between the foxes. This doesn't mean much as I think that they are most likely to meet at the entrance to the garden. One or twice they have moved very quickly across the screen but whether they are running towards or away from something, I don't know. I

They could be searching for food. According the the Collins Field Guide to Mammals, foxes are opportunistic feeders.  It says that their diet includes: rodents, birds, insects (especially beetles), eggs and earthworms. We have found odd holes in the ground after visits and they are likely to be digging for worms. The guide explains that they also scavenge at bird tables and compost heaps. We have both. So there is a certain amount of food they can find while in our garden.

I'm not sure why the foxes visit. I think that, at this time of year, they might be finding a small amount of food and that is the most likely reason. Maybe they have a regular route and we happen to be on it.

Two foxes

I've had the Bushnell trail camera out again. This time we had a very foxy night.  I believe we have two different foxes here. The first, in the top picture, is quite compact and fluffy looking, with dark ears and a thick, straight brush. It first appeared at 6:37 on Friday evening and sniffed round the grassy area, before disappearing 10 minutes later. The second, a somewhat leggier animal with a small downward dip at the end of its brush triggered the camera at :7:03 pm and again at just after 3 the next morning.

Foxes at Feb, 1 at 6.47 pm and Feb 2 at 3:05 am.

I don't know anything about the relationship between these two animals. They both spent some time sniffing round the same area but at different times. I can't even guess the genders. Male and female foxes are very similar except for size, the male being about 5 cm (2 inches) longer nose to tail tip than the female. It is possible that the more compact fox is one of last year's litter. 

This is the time of year when foxes mate. A few years ago I had the incredible experience of seeing two males wrestling on our front path while the female they were competing for looked on. They were on their hind legs with front paws on each others' shoulders. It looked exactly like they were waltzing.

So are my two foxes potential mates, rivals, or parent and cub? I can't guess at this point but I can keep watching.

Hello Brock

The thing that I really love about using a trail camera is the sense of opening a surprise gift. What will be in it? A fox? A cat? A couple of birds? Connecting it up to my lappie to download the photos, I feel like a small child on Christmas morning. Today's gifts were extra special. A couple of nice sequences of a fox, a pair of cheeky magpies and some rather self important looking woodpigeons. Then - the badger. 

Badger, 16th January 2013 just before 2 a.m.. -3 C

I was amazed. I had assumed that badgers would be tucked up in their setts on these cold winter evenings.  Instead here it is snuffling round our grass.  Maybe it's looking for worms, which form a large part of a badger's diet. It looks quite plump. Maybe it has benefited from the mild wet weather.

The whole fox

Finally, after getting a head and a tail, the trail camera bags me the whole fox.  The following sequence comprises four images taken over about 20 seconds.

Fox investigating Oak Shades at about 10pm on a January evening. 

We have been hearing odd, almost metallic sounding barks.  A post from WRAS tells us

"The Foxes do bark and call at this time of year when vixens are on heat, as they search for each other, studies have shown vixen try to advertise that they are on heat and try to mate with numerous foxes rather than just one. The noise is short term and stops fairly quickly."

Exit left pursued by .... ?

In the day our garden belongs to people. We plant flowers and trees, mow the lawns, trim the hedges and pause to admire the results of our efforts. As the light fades and we draw the curtains, the late shift begins. The garden is now owned by the creatures of the night. Often the morning brings foot or hoof prints, a nibbled plant here or some poo there. It's very intriguing and at the same time a little frustrating. Unless the creatures are considerate enough to walk in front of the window when I'm awake and looking out, I can't see what is happening.

Because I was such a good girl last year, Santa brought me a trail camera. I haven't really had a chance to play with it yet because of the incessant rain. Last night was the first time I felt that I could put it out without it getting drowned.  

 Exit left, pursued by a ???

I've got so much to learn about using this type of camera and this set of pictures was spoilt by shiny holly leaves reflecting infrared light back into the camera.  Next time I use it, I will take more care about tidying unwanted leaves.  That said, I'm now able to start building up a record of our night visitors. The first set of images show a fox disappearing behind the holly bush and, a couple of minutes later, fleeing.  I don't know what startled it - but I do know that I can now start to uncover the secrets of our night garden.