So we do have Badgers!

Further to the previous post showing a hulled out hedgehog skin, I put out a camera trap in the same spot and 2 days later this little fella showed up. I have slowed the video down by 50%; if you blink you will miss it dash past the camera! 

Unexpected find... Not for the squeamish!

 I was walking the perimeter of LBF and saw a hedgehog on top of a mound of dried grass at the edge of some trees. On closer inspection something seemed not quite right. I touched the spines to see if it would move... No, no movement, so I picked it up to have a closer look; as I turned it in my hand, it quickly became apparent that it was just the skin and spines of the hog, its body had been carefully eaten out from the underside!     

All that remained was the skin which was also rather foul smelling, so I put it down as quickly as I had picked it up.

I wondered what may have eaten the hedgehog, perhaps a fox had been able to take advantage of a dead or dying hog?  After a little bit of research - (posting pictures on a forum) and Googling 'what eats hedgehogs', it seems that Badgers are known to eat hedgehogs in this way, leaving just a 'shell' of spines as evidence.  This was somewhat of a surprise to me as I have not seen a badger or badger set anywhere near LBF in the years I have lived here and have been absent participants on the camera trap.  I don't know it was a badger for sure, but this seems like the M.O of a striped culprit, but needs more evidence... I will put out the camera trap in the same location with some dog food / biscuits and see if a badger shows up in the wee small hours.  

Reminiscing from July 2022 - A Walk around the pond at Longbeach Farm!

This short clip was taken on a beautiful Sunday in July last year, I hope to do a walk round each year to compare how the pond vegetation and habitat continues to develop and change over the years.

And a clip from this afternoon in-between the spring showers

Bat Box Roost (Approx. 90CM x 50CM x 10CM)

The Bat box / Roosting site went up today; as with the other boxes I have made, I used exterior grade plywood. I lined the landing plate and inside crawl spaces with mesh to enable the bats to grip the otherwise too smooth surface.  It has an asphalt roof to keep the weather out, and was only treated on the outside with wood preserver, as bats are sensitive to chemicals. I will be monitoring the roost over the coming weeks to see if we get any takers!  Once bats move in, then they have a secure tenancy as its illegal to disturb bats without a license.  This roost is situated on an Oak near the pond with an open access route at the from for them to enter and exit the roost.  I saw bats at dusk flying over the pond last year in the summer so know they are about. - I'm working on the 'Built it and they will come' philosophy. 

I made three woodpecker nest boxes yesterday and this is the last of the three going up. I deliberately covered up the entrance hole with a glued cardboard disk, so I could see if any birds found the box and pecked their way in.  Two of the three boxes I put up have been opened in the last 24 hours!  This morning I woke to the sound of a Great Spotted Woodpecker drumming on a tree outside my bedroom window and today the Green woodpeckers have been very vocal and active in the surrounding trees and grassland, so I think the boxes will be put to good use fairly soon. 

As I was putting up one of the boxes, I noticed the pair of Kestrels sitting at the front of the Barn Owl box, the male flew off but the female stayed long enough to allow me to take this picture from a long way away (hence the poor image). Will they use the Barny box to nest and ignore the brand new Kestrel box I put up just a couple of days ago? - I guess its a step up from the rock doves that nested here last year. 

Kestrel Penthouse with Waterside Views.

 

Sunday rolled around and the urge to build another nest box was hard to resist.  The Kestrel house was straightforward to build, but as with the Tawny boxes, it took some messing about with ropes and ladders to get it in place; its facing East over the pond, (pics above taken while up the ladder) and if the birds don't move in, I'm tempted to! 

So, raptors now have their quota of houses built for their needs, so next weekend I will need to focus on boxes for woodpeckers, blackbirds and robins etc.  The Swift nest boxes that I put up last year are still in place on the front of the house but did not tempt any swifts to move in.  Maybe, just maybe this year each of the bird species will recognise which house they are supposed to be in, and duly take up residence.

Tawny Owl Nest Boxes - fingers X'd

A productive Saturday; purchased some exterior plywood and set about building 2 x Tawny Owl nest boxes. - Hopefully more boxes for Bats, Little Owls etc. to come over the next couple of weekends. Anyhoo hoo, here are the two boxes which I built using a design plan from the RSP website, which I modified slightly to incorporate a front inspection hatch. I was surprised at how big the boxes were at 1.13 meters tall. (https://www.rspb.org.uk/globalassets/downloads/activities-pdfs/tawny-owl-upright-nestbox.jpg) 

So, I had built them and then had the task of putting them up! I had one location in mind for about a year, so the first one went up in a jiffy and looks right at home. - Fingers x'd we get a Tawny or twooo!  Here is the first one in situ, it is in an Oak tree in the Eastern corner of the meadow.

The second box went up in the small copse near the pond, and is also in an Oak, about a meter or so higher than the first.

This was really a 2 person job, but with the aid of some rope, fisherman's knots and 'Heath Robinson' inspired approach, they went up reasonably well. I will have to keep an eye on both boxes as the trees will obviously grow over time and expand, potentially pushing the boxes off their fixings. 

Chironomidae Exuviae - non-biting midge larvae.

Seems the insect life in the pond think spring is here as there was a large hatch of midge larvae today.  No sign of the midges just hundreds of the exoskeletons (Exuviae) on the surface of the pond.  I fished a few out and photographed them on a white plate filled with water. Used a macro lens for greater detail Click to Zoom into the images and you can see the breathing tubes from the gills around the head. These were not visible to the naked eye until the macro lens picked them up.

Common Toad - Seems perturbed after my unannounced lifting of his roof.

It has been one of those rare weekends when I simply did not feel motivated to get out and about... On Saturday morning I received a letter in the post advising that a planning application had been submitted to build two new 3 bedroom houses right next to the farm, just meters away from the house! 😡Needless to say, I'm not a happy camper and have unhappily stewed on the prospect all weekend! Late on Sunday morning I decided that getting out for an hour may improve my mood so I slipped on the wellies and went for a quick stroll around the pond (my happy place). At the top of the pond is rough grassland where I have a sheet of black onduline as a heatsink/warming station to attract snakes etc., more often than not, when I lift the sheet I will see a bank vole or small snake sheltering in the warm dark space; today was no exception but in addition to a vole, this little fella was also enjoying the relatively warm and moist environment, so I took his picture before gently replacing the sheeting. 

No sign of frog or toad spawn in either pond as yet, but this was a hopeful indicator that I might just be blessed this year with toads actually spawning in the pond this year rather than in the fen drains and ditches nearby. Hopefully that's going to be the subject of future post. 

I'm still smarting about the prosect of house springing up right next to me, but this little chap improved my mood for time. 

Roe, a deer, a female deer... (No, these are both males!)

Minding my own business in the pop-up hide this morning waiting for the birds to show and was rewarded with the deer strolling into view.  I had seen six in total earlier in the morning but only two came into view when I was in the hide with my camera; a little luck goes a long way. 

Finches, Tits and Great Spotted Peckers

 

Robin - Erithacus rubecula

 

Study of the Jay - Garrulus glandarius

 Click for feather details!

it then turned its back in protest!

Jennifer oh Jenny - (Wren) - Troglodytes troglodytes

A shy but noisy little bird, busy picking its way through low scrub looking for insects.

This beautiful little bird has a dark history in GB folklore, the bird was traditionally killed on St. Stephen's day (the day after Christmas day) and although the tradition still persists in parts of GB, thankfully no birds are harmed in contemporary traditions. 

St. Stephen's Day song

The Wren, the Wren

The King of the Birds

On Stephen’s Day

He was caught in the furze.

Up with the kettle

And down with the pan

Give us your answer

And let us be gone.