Coo, what a narrow escape!

Huge bang on the kitchen window this morning. The sparrowhawk, who regards our garden as his regular diner, had chased a pigeon that had been sitting on the power line going down to the workshop. Pigeon knocked itself out on the glass and fell down behind the watering can and the sparrowhawk veered off down the garden.

My partner went out to retrieve the 'dead' pigeon and as he put his hand down to pick it up, it shook its head, looked at him and flew away. Perhaps it mistook him for a giant sparrowhawk; he has got a bit of beak!

Fine fox

We hadn't seen the vixen for weeks. I had had a tin of dog food decomposing in my fridge - it had been opened at least a week ago when we saw one of the cubs - so last night I decanted it into the fox bowl and this morning, not only had it vanished but the vixen was back, looking wonderful with her thick winter coat and full brush, a terrific contrast to the rat-tailed, mangy-looking sight of earlier this year.

February this year.

Today.

I noticed what looked like a brown, withered autumn leaf stuck to the kitchen ceiling this morning. On closer inspection, it turned out to be a beautiful moth. I couldn't find it in my Butterfly and Moth Guide so I posted the image on Facebook. A short while later, I found it on an online guide and it's a Herald Moth. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Herald_(moth)

Absolutely beautiful, with its striped legs, glowing red outer wings with distinctive spots and wavy lines and serrated edges for extra camouflage.

Vixen Vamp

The cubs have grown up and been kicked out. We've seen her threatening them, tail down, snarling and snapping, driving the adolescents off 'her' territory, our garden! Now she has ceased her mothering duties, her fur has grown back and her brush is looking quite resplendent, as if she has had it combed out and blow-dried.

Next week she will be a superstar as her portrait is appearing in our local paper as Picture of the Week!

Here is how she looked in February while she was feeding the cubs. Her coat looks rather mangy and her tail is like a piece of ragged string. Even though she needed the scraps we put out, she didn't have a go at Flad for trying to steal them. The two sit side by side in the garden and seem to be the best of friends. However, she does chase off Charlie, the stray cat, but perhaps that's because he's ginger and about her size, so she might mistake him for a rival fox!

Here is how she looks now. What a beauty! 

Apologies to those who have already seen this photo on Facebook... but who wouldn't want to look at her a second time?

Great Spotted Woodpeckers

We had the delightful sight of a Great Spotted parent and youngster on the peanut feeder yesterday. The parent showed the fledgling the ropes, then sat on the cherry tree and watched while the young 'un ate its fill. Here are some photos of the youngster. What a pretty bird.

Jay and snail

This young jay was acting rather oddly. It swooped down and hopped about by the pond and I thought it was trying to get a drink and was foiled by the netting.

Suddenly, it flew up to the bush...

... and grabbed a snail!

What sharp eyes it must have had to spot it from the air. Then it flew to the cherry tree and sat enjoying its snack.

Blue Damsel Fly

I spotted this newly emerged damsel fly drying its wings in the sunshine while clinging to my rosemary plant. What a beautiful insect, with those iridescent turquoise 'eyes' on the top of its head.

The Second Cub!

We were sure the vixen's second cub must be dead as we hadn't seen it for at least a fortnight. But my partner was up early this morning and took these snaps, proving that perhaps Cub 2 is alive and well, but perhaps just a little shy, hiding behind its sibling. I'm so pleased. 


I have often wondered how Mum summons her cubs, because we never hear her make a sound, and yet they suddenly appear. Apparently, on one of the recent programmes about foxes, it was revealed that the vixen emits a wine which is too deep for humans to hear. I'd always though animals heard sounds on a higher frequency than ours, so I was surprised to learn that they could hear sounds below our lowest frequency too.


Which reminds me... Years ago, I shared a flat with a guy I'd been to university with. He got a bee in his bonnet about decoding bird song (too much wacky baccy) and would play his Ludwig Koch birdsong album at 16 rpm on his old record player, to see if he could hear what they were saying. As he often did it at four in the morning, I was not very pleased to be woken by the sound of a blackbird croaking like a stoned frog!