Battling with the badger

 Here it comes across the garden at the front of my house.

Getting nearer, always on the move which makes photography in this light difficult.

It passes right in front of the camera outside my window but still too fast for a good shot. I shall just have to keep on trying till one of us gets it right.

My new project

 With this virus lockdown I had to find myself something to do. So I dug out my old infra-red camera's and set them up in my garden to see what went on after dark. I've had creatures in my garden before a man with a strimmer in the house next door put paid to that many months ago when I discovered mutilated remains in the garden. Just lately I had noticed activity and put tit-bits out and I started getting results. The foxes and hedgehogs seem to get on well with each other and have been known to share the same plate.

 There are three foxes, two adults and one youngster. I knew of a hedgehog that had been seen locally but to my surprise this family turned up last night  and spent several hours in the garden sharing it with the foxes.

So today it was decided that a corner would be allocated to the hogs for their own home. I hope they like it.

Night photography

 Once again I am doing more during the hours of darkness and I am thoroughly enjoying it. The badger comes quite often but obviously doesn't like its photo taken.  I believe I know were the sett is and if I am right it comes down a busy road about 200m spends about 20 minutes in the garden, rarely facing the camera.

This is the vixen, she comes from the woods at the back of my house. The hedgehog lives in my neighbours garden, I have built it a two roomed bungalow in a quiet corner of the garden which I hope it will move into soon. They seem to get on well together and are often seen feeding side by side.

Garden Post

 Still not getting much luck in the garden. The animals keep turning up for supper but I am not getting good pictures. The foxes arrive before the street lights go out which is about mid-night. The hedgehogs come very early sometimes before it gets dark. This is the vixen which is Beaties mate, I havenot named her yet.

Here they are together. They often play on the grass but much too quick for the infra-red camera.

As you can see from this shot she is a female and has recently given birth. As this all goes on outside my bedroom window I am hoping to set up a better camera system and get better pictures.

JACKPOT ! ! ! !

 Last night I set the infra-red camera up as usual and sure enough just after 8o'clock along came the fox to be first at the biscuits.

 Just after midnight I was still working at my computer when a badger turned up. This I did not know until I checked the camera in the morning. The badger was about 2m from where I was sitting.

I have exterior light that comes on automatically when the sensor detects movement so if I had peeped through the curtains at that time this is what I would have seen.

Idle moment

 I sat in my garden playing with one of my cameras when this peacock butterfly decided to join me. The first one off the year. It stayed for a while before being chased off by a comma.

The young fox came round for supper early and ate all the biscuits before the others arrived. I have 3 foxes that call on a regular basis. I believe this one is an offspring of the other two. The badger calls but I can't seem to catch him on camera. Must keep trying.