Rats nest.

I first discovered my local rats nest when I saw a magpie hopping up and down, some movement on the ground turned out to be a rat. Checking the hedge where the magpie had been  I found a hole and decided it would be a good place to come back to some evening and watch. That first evening there were quite a few rats emerging from the main hole and a smaller hole by the base of the hawthorn bush.

I was passing by the other day and checking the rats nest I noticed the main entrance had been enlarged and near by there was a new perfectly round hole. I decided to visit the holes again to see what was going on.

As the evening wore on I kept seeing heads popping out of the main large hole but they were not coming out. I changed my position as I had a thought it might be me stopping them coming out.

I had no sooner moved when the biggest rat I've ever seen came running over to the nest area right from were I'd been standing only minutes before.

During the time at the nest the rat went up into the hawthorn bush several times unfortunatley I could not get a picture of it in the bush (I checked the bush in the daylight there does not seem to be any nests there.)

When I was checking my photos I noticed that it was the same rat running about all night because the end of it's tail is missing.

High cold winds and wanting to be up early in the morning brought the session to an end.

Garden wildlife pond.

I've been doing a lot of reading on the Internet about wildlife gardens. It seems that water is one is one of the best features to add to a garden to attract wildlife. 
So I've added two small ponds to a strip of ground in my garden and a small wetland created with old under the bed storage boxes.
I've also made two rock piles with twigs and logs piled in the general area.

This is the other mini wetland I've created with the storage boxes, one has a hole in the bottom so I have filled it with soil to become a bog garden.

It looks very bare at the moment but I have some bags of bulbs to plant and a load of wildflower seeds so hopefully in the summer there will be lots of colour.

The birds have been enjoying the new pond area, most of these photos were taken by my trail camera.

I'm looking forward to watching the area change as the year goes on plants will be added to the ponds when they become available in the local garden center.

Bird box update

A Great tit has been in one of my bird boxes.
My heart was in my mouth watching it struggling to get out. The hole is 30mm and a great tit hole is only supposed to be about 28mm.

A great start to my garden bird boxes.

Bird boxes

I decided it was time to put some bird boxes in my garden, very supprised to find some in Wilkinsons for £2:50.

Garden Monopoly.

I put them up in two pairs one set on my fence 

and one pair on a tree.

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That same afternoon a Great Tit was checking 

it out.

Looks like they could be popular.

Next edition to my garden a small pond.

Only birds this morning.

This morning I Returned To were the fox had been feeding and was in a really good position to photograph the fox if it returned, but it was a no show. Nearby pheasants began to squawk and take flight, I missed one great photo opportunity as a pheasant flew straight at my head in the dark (I ducked) probably better to miss one photo than be hit by a bird.

As the day began to lighten up several flocks of geese passed by. A flock of plover (I think) took flight from the centre of the field.

The area were the fox had been hunting was riddled with rodent size holes, I'll go there again to watch the holes.

On my way home I saw a bird of prey it seems to be a permanent resident in my patch now but I've only been able to see it from a distance.

Also saw some curlew feeding in a field.

A very cold morning but It's always nice to be out and about.

A meeting with a fox.

A cold morning and I nearly stayed in bed, glad I made myself go.
Spotted something moving down the edge of the field.
We looked at each other for a while and the fox walked out into the field glancing over at me.

Then it came back to my edge of the field and started walking back towards me.Times like this I'm glad of the camouflage gear I wear.

I was standing quite close to a ditch where I've photographed brown rats before an the fox went there to check it out.

Moving back into the field it walked past me and went into a wild patch of field and spent the morning hunting in that patch.

Eating his catch.

Glad I made the effort to get up and go out this was a brilliant morning.

A new accessory

While shopping for a pair of gloves I saw this in a local shop amongst hunting gear. A shooting stick it extends to 193cm so I now rest my camera at eye level,  the V at the top unscrews so I can attach my camera if I want. Just thought I would share this as hunting gear is the last place you would expect to find a great photography accessory.