new_mexico_birder
Member
What a cool thread. Thanks for sharing these photos.
What a cool thread. Thanks for sharing these photos.
While travelling for work, and during brief lunch time visits, a Red Squirrel at Vane Farm RSPB (where they are approachable) and Brown Rat at Pennington Flash (where they have sort of over-run the bird feeding station).
Regarding the rats, I have seen one catch an eat a Blue Tit in the past , so hopefully they do not interfere with the vulnerable Willow Tit population.
Just thought this might be of interest to some readers of this thread.
I very rarely manage to even glimpse a weasel, and I had never managed to photograph one before. I have occasionally had success with stoats (although every close encounter is a rare treat) but never a weasel.
I was therefore very pleased to bump into one at dusk yesterday. It was using a small mammal burrow at the base of a tree stump in an area of recently cleared wooded edge on Therfield Heath, Hertfordshire. It never emerged fully but kept poking its head out of the hole to keep an eye on me. Unfortunately by this stage the light was extremely poor, hence the rather grainy photo. But it is, nevertheless, a photo of a weasel, so I'm pretty chuffed.
I will try to keep an eye on the hole in the next few days in case it turns out to be in regular use, but knowing how awkward these creatures are I won't be holding my breath!
Andy
I'd be pretty chuffed with that myself, well done! Any useful tips on what you were doing to spot it in the first place?
John
Thanks! Not sure it was much other than good fortune really - I was just walking over to a spot to watch for a local short-eared owl (that frustratingly only seems to appear at dusk) and noticed the movement. It's a path I've walked hundreds of times before, although perhaps less frequently at that time of day. Back in August I did see what I suspected might have been a weasel a couple of hundred yards away from this sighting, but it was the briefest of glimpses out of the corner of my eye and I hadn't seen anything subsequently.
The animal yesterday didn't seem to respond to my attempts at squeaking, rather poking its head back out for a few seconds every couple of minutes to see if I was still there.
I had a quick look this morning but was only able to give it 20 mins or so and unsurprisingly saw nothing. If I do have any further sightings and any pattern emerges I'll post an update!