Tuesday 20 October 2015

Foxes and Barn Owls

With the nights drawing in and the darkness creeping in I have started exploring areas closer to me. This has led me to find a family of Foxes close to a river where I check up on this years cygnets.
On the few occasions I went to see the Swans I also saw the Foxes. Most evenings I left my DLSR at home and just enjoyed watching the older cubs play as dodge the dog walkers and chased the blackbirds into the trees. One evening when we had the blood red moon I watched the cubs cross the river using a falling tree which gives these cubs a good chance of surviving while they remain here.
I still go to see if the Foxes are around but unfortunately I have not seen them so I am guessing they have been chased out of there parents territory. Before they disappeared from the area by the river I had a sighting closer to home. One night I put out some meat bones and water for any night time visitors to my bird table which is next to the cemetery. While I was looking out later that night I spotted a cat chewing on the bones and the cat seemed distracted by something. Out from the darkness a young Fox came in but the cat chased it off and it never came back that night. I would like to think it was a last goodbye from one of the cubs before it headed off to find pastures new.
Also while out in the low light I found an area near to my home where a Barn Owl quarters the fields while on the hunt for prey. I tried to get a few photographs in the low light but as I did not want to use my camera flash as this would disturb the birds or temporarily blind the Barn Owls which would impair there hunting.
The best/worst photograph I got before the Owl disappeared is above. It seems wherever I find wildlife there is always someone with a dog off a lead which disturbs the wildlife from the area. I guess I will have to keep searching for those places where nobody else goes where the wildlife is.

Thanks for reading my blog
Stay wild, be happy and be safe
 
Mike

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