Animal stars

This is Junior, he's been coming to my garden for a couple of years for his evening meal. He came with his mum and dad at first. They stopped their visits some time ago, there is a female that comes but I am not yet sure whether its mum or his lady friend. As I have said before she looks as though she has had young recently so I shall have to wait and see.

This was a nice surprise. This badger has been several times before but it has been difficult to get a good picture because of the limitations of the camera it cannot take movement and the badger rarely stops moving and does not stay long. I am hoping for more pictures when I find what flavour biscuits it likes.
 

Foxes keeping me busy

Two foxes, Mum and Junior are keeping me busy every night. This is Junior whose been around for at least four years.

He is always first for the biscuits. I am not sure whether he is responsible for Mums condition. They do get on very well together.

They really at home in my garden, sometimes visiting as much as five times in an evening.

As you can see this is Mum and I think that she is feeding young. We will find out in the coming weeks.
 

Fox at leisure

This is one of a pair of foxes that visit me every evening. As you can see she is quite happy having just eaten her evening meal.

Then she will sit or lay down so she can digest the biscuits and other items of food that have been left out for her.

From this picture you can see that she is a female and obviously feeding youngsters. I don't know what I shall do if I am right and she brings the family round.
 

The unexpected

Well after the excitment of the events of the last few days I decided to place the I/R camera at th bottom of the garden where there were scuff marks in the rough grass. The following morning when I checked the camera to my surprise I found these pictures.

 The fox was expected, but a badger was not. If you look close to the badgers tail you can see a dark patch. This turns out to be a hedgehog. The badger seems to be taking no notice of it. I always understood that a badger was a great enemy of the hog because the hog is a tastey meal, the badger is the only animal that can 'undo' a hog when it is curled up in defence.

As the following picture shows the badger walking off showing no interest in the hog at all. I wondered if it was another unlikely friendship.

Trip for coffee

Being a nice afternoon we decided to take a trip down to Amberly get a couple of coffee's and go and sit by the river for a bit of fresh air. The spot we chose has had peregrines for the past 10 years or so. I had checked it several times over the last couple of months but had found nothing.  After the return of the animals to my garden I thought my luck had changed and it sure had for there 100m or so over our heads sat a male peregrine.

I was unable to check on them last year because the restrictions but I understood they did not breed.  There was no sign of the female and no sign of a nest site. If they have laid she may hve been sitting. He looked as though he was on guard so we will just have to wait and see.
 

It had to happen

It had to happen, all quiet for months then my garden is over run with animals. I had put a camera out just to see if anything turned up and it sure did. I have just spent over 3 hours sorting out the pictures. This is the young fox who I call Junior.

 He is a handsome beast at 2 years old. I have been feeding him most of that time.

Here he is joined by Spike the hedgehog who I havn't seen for a couple of months. The pair of them are good friends and often feed together.

 As you can see sometimes they have a little game together. All the while this is going on at the other end of the garden one of the badgers is digging up my grass looking for worms. Normally the badger would be after the hog to eat but the hog stays close to his friend where knows he is safe. The camera is out again tonight so my fingers are crossed for another successful session.

Animals return

 

What a night. I put the animals food out as usual not really expecting anything to turn up. Just after midnight there was a scuffling noise outside my bedroom window, I looked out just in time to see a hedgehog scampering away. I had not had a hog in the garden for almost 6 months. So I decided to put a camera out and this was the result.  A badger.

A little while later the young fox turned up and tucked into his supper. Three animals inside an hour and a half. The most successful night I had for some years and just when I least expected it. So for tonight I have put out a sample of every bit of food that I have and of course the camera is set up. They are not good pictures I know but the record of the animals is impotant to me.