Friday 11/9/09 - No watching but what a sunset!

After not being able to feed or watch last night, I can at least achieve the feeding tonight. So, about 19:15 and I'm off to the Barn Owl Centre to put the feed out for the badgers. A quick chat with the staff, still all present, and off down to the hide. I've brought both cameras, video and stills, with me as you never know what you might see. Already, a glorious sunset is turning the few clouds that are about a lovely pink colour with a deepening red to the horizon. As I pass through the gate into the bottom field, I notice on the path ahead of me a load of feathers and a carcass of a pigeon, without a head! I wonder if a Sparrowhawk has been hunting and I've scared it off? The carcass has been partially plucked, hence the mass of feathers around, but the head gone, I'm not sure a Sparrowhawk would eat the head first? I take a bit of video for future reference and continue down to the hide. I put the nuts and dogfood out, check around for signs of activity and just hang around for five minutes in case anything turns up. It doesn't.

I am just about to walk a different way back, but decide to go back via the pigeon carcass just in case the hunter has returned. I'm about thirty yards from the pigeon when I see a fox sniffing around that area. Has he just found the dead pigeon and is taking advantage of the free meal? I don't see how a fox has caught a pigeon unless it was very lucky, or sly. I take a bit of video, although the fox is quite small at maximum zoom. I try and move a little closer, but the fox sees me and darts back into the hedge. When I get back to where the kill was, the carcass is gone. The fox has had his supper already; he must have been close when I passed here on the way down to the hide. It's only been ten minutes since then so he didn't hang around.

I continue walking back towards the farm when a notice a fox ahead of me on the path alongside the wild flower meadow. It's going away from me so I decide to follow it, about forty yards behind it. Suddenly it stops and sniffs the air, then turns around and comes back straight towards me. I begin filming and stay as still as I can. Every so often the fox stops and looks into the hedge and long grass. I take one of these pauses as the opportunity to kneel down and make myself less conspicuous. The fox continues on its path directly for me, but at about twenty five yards, it sees me and runs off in the opposite direction. It would have been nice to see it closer, but as I've discovered, their eyesight is very good.

I take some more video of the sunset which has now turned the sky a gorgeous red and almost wish I wasn't going out this evening, it would be nice to stay. I get back to the flying area and Vince and Juliette are there. I mention the fox and pigeon to Vince and the mystery is solved. In one of the adjoining fields they have been shooting pigeon all day and several wounded birds have come down in the nature reserve. The fox wasn't sly, he was just lucky!

I take more video of the sunset and as I chat to Vince, one of the local Kestrels starts calling in the bottom field. You can see it looking at something on the ground, but it is an alarm call it's making. Must be the fox says Vince. We then go on a mini Little Owl hunt behind the farm buildings. We do see one of the Little Owls, but we don't get too close. Still nice to see, though.

That's it for today, but all these things I've seen and written about have taken place in the last forty five minutes and not a badger in sight. Just goes to show what you can see if you are at least out there!