Even better day

 Again the sun shone and I could not resist another visit to the peregrines. This time I managed to get much closer and was rewarded with two real posers. The female was a little shy at first but soon settled down.

 She then sat quite happily for me. Showing me her best side.

 After a while she began to get a bit agitated and decided to go for a little flight.

 Not often do I get the chance of a shot taking off.

Meanwhile dad sat on a rock nearby totally ignoring the antics of his lady.
If only I could get a little closer, at the momemt I am using a combination on the camera equal to about 1500mm.

Good day with the peregrines

 A beautiful afternoon I thought I would pay the peregrines a visit. When I got there it was all quiet with the female sitting gazing out over the fields.

 The male suddenly arrived with much noise and landed on a ledge beneath her. She immediately flew to join him.

 There was a lot of squabbling over the next few minutes as they argued over a tiny morsel.

 I never did see who won the prize but it was some time after much flapping about before things calmed down with the male coming off worst.

When I left it was all peaceful and behaving as though nothing had happened.

 

Vanishing hedgehog ?

I read a letter in the Daily Mail the other day about the decline of the hedgehog. The fox was blamed as the predator and the letter writer had witnessed foxes killing and eating our little spiney friends. I am glad to say there were follow-up letters denouncing this and giving the true reasons, such as the loss of hedgerows, concreting and paving of gardens, over-use of insecticides and rat poisons. In gardens such as mine they thrive. Almost every night through-out the year several visit my garden, my infra-red cameras have recorded thousands of  such visits and often, as the picture shows, they share the food with the foxes, they have no fear of the fox and often eat together. The most that I have recorded is 2 foxes and 3 hedgehogs on the lawn together at any one time. I am considering buying some up-to-date infra-red equipment and get some really good pictures. Badgers are a bit of a problem for the hog as they can unfurl it when it rolls into a ball in defence. Fortuneately badgers don't come into my garden.

Peregrine

 Today the sun shone on me and the peregrine. I was able to get in a much better position and the sun came out. She watched dad flying about enjoying the sun.

Then I think she spotted me even at that great distance because for some time she stared in my direction and didn't move. Again these shots were taken from the car, I think its the car she recognises.

Garden animals

I feed my garden animals on a fairly regular basis but not every night because I don't want them to depend on it. I only give them enough for a snack. Here the dog fox tucks into some dog biscuits. I call him Broken Tail, If you look carefully you can see the damage.

After his biscuits he tucked into the dish of meal worms that were meant for the hedgehog. Normally that would not happen as BT doesn't call until after midnight when the hedgehog (Harry) comes early, about an hour after dark.

Peregrine activity

 This is the female. I thought she was asleep as she had been in this pose for several minutes.

But she suddenly came to life and appeared to be bright and alert. Perhaps she had something on her mind and was deep in thought.

I pulled back a bit for this shot, I thought this might be her nest site for this year. It certainly looks interesting. Going to keep a close watch over the next few weeks.