Although the recent snowfall was only a couple of weeks ago, to be honest it feels like a lifetime ago! I headed out on the Saturday morning to look for snow tracks. I have a good idea what visits the field in the day and a fair idea of what wanders around after dark, but normally finding tracks other than roe deer is not easy. The snow however made it much easier 🙂
I had been told that the house next to the owner had been walking their dog through the field, so I needed to get there early so I didn’t have dog prints in the mix. Luckily they hadn’t been out by the time I got there. I did however have cat prints everywhere! They were quite easy to spot as the cat wandered out into the field so I could have a good look at his print!
Along the top edge of the field along with the cat! I found fox prints, it had been quite active during the night by the looks of it but I guess seeing I now know there are rabbits living along the hedgerow I can see why. It had been looking into the rabbit hole and it did look as though there had been a chase or at least a rabbit running in an arch. The rabbits had clearly marked their burrow entrances with urine! At least I now know for sure who the holes belong to! The only other tracks I found were pheasant, which seem to be spending time in this part of the field.
Instead of heading around the field I headed out into the next field along, I knew the mute swans were there and wanted to check on them. I also found roe deer, rabbit, brown hare, fox and badger prints 🙂 All the four legged mammals that I have seen in my patch. Its good to know that they were all okay out in the snowy conditions; well at least they were on the move 🙂 The snow began to thaw in the afternoon and I am sure they were all as glad about that as the rest of us!
photographing them, I was looking into the sun and there was a heat haze across the field – typical! I have never seen two hares together before and I was so surprised to see them. My attention was drawn away to the birds in the hedgerow, two robins that were hoping about having a slight territorial dispute and then to long-tailed tits in the top of the trees. Walking down the lower part of the copse towards the river I again spooked the roe deer. I hear them moving then normally see white bottoms bouncing off through the trees. I need to locate myself in the copse at some point to photograph them. My guess is there is normally two or three that run off. 
The river was full. It had obviously burst its banks recently as a patch of the field was a large puddle. I have never seen it that full before. It did look pretty with the sun shining and the neutral tones of the fields behind. Two swans flew over and later a cormorant. I heard a wren and a moorhen but didn’t see them. The holes that I have seen in the bank previously were fully submerged so if they were homes to any creature they were 100% flooded out. I was stood watching three goldfinch flitting between the trees, I turned round to find a hare metres from me. I slowly lifted the camera to take a photo but it was gone as soon as I moved a muscle, I hadn’t expected to see one right behind me! I estimate there were 3 to 4 hares in the field! As the river receded from its original flooded level it has dropped lots of plastic bottles along the rivers edge, I did think about trying to get them out, however, I was on my own and didn’t know how sturdy the bank was! I will take backup and fish them out next time I go. If the water level doesn’t rise again they look like they will remain wedged in the tree line.
Rather than walking round the field I walked back up the copse. Two wren were in the hedgerow and a blackbird was keeping a few meters ahead of me all the way along, I’d get close it would fly a little further along and the continued. I heard a bee, a queen buff-tailed bumble bee, it was buzzing along the side of the hedgerow.
January 30th – 31 mute swans were just on the other side of the fence, I didn’t have my camera so I took a quick photograph on my phone. I haven’t seen them that far up the field before. Hopefully they will be staying around for a little longer, I think they will still be there for as long as the crop is still sprouting. 
I made my way out into the field through the owners back garden as the road wasn’t a safe place to be! The mute swans are back 🙂 there were six feeding on the crop! I’m sure the farmer isn’t too pleased to see them but I was 🙂 Last April there were approximately 40 grazing so I am expecting the numbers to increase. I walked a different route to normal as I was trying to avoid the accident. I didn’t see a lot, a pheasant that ran away very quickly and a great tit in the trees. There were other small birds about but they were difficult to see as the sun was in my eyes and they were just shadows. As I got closer to the river I noticed a huge number of woodpigeon; I counted approximately 96, they were all feeding on the crop too! The river is so much easier to see into now its Winter. I can even sort of tell where the edge of the bank is! Today I only spotted a wren, grey heron and a moorhen.
On the walk back up I stuck to my normal route, I did however quickly realise it was the much muddier choice! There were three advantages though; I briefly glimpsed two roe deer in the copse, a brown hare ran out from the hedgerow in front of me and a buzzard flew over. I know there are brown hare in the copse and I have seen them in the next field along but but this is the first time on my patch 🙂
November 21st/22nd – I put a TrailCam out to see who might be wandering about in the dark. I wasn’t surprised to see Mr Fox, I say Mr it could be Mrs but its good to know that there is one about. It looked to be the same fox in each clip. I need to start documenting facial features to see if there is more than one about.
October 27th – I had a day off work so headed up to my patch. It was a lovely autumn day. No sooner as I walked into the field did I spot a single roe deer over by the copse. A rather good start 🙂 I walked along the top edge of the field being careful as you can’t see the rabbit holes because of all the stinging nettles! There is definitely a track through the hedgerow and into the field that’s being used by larger animals. I will at some point need to get the trail camera into the field to find out what is about after dark. Along the top hedgerow there were lots of small birds but most were too quick and nervous to hang around for me to see what they were. I did manage to identify a dunnock that sat for long enough to get the binoculars on it! There is also quite a lot of litter about, mainly from farming I would guess, like twine and black bags. 
Walking down the side of the field next to the copse there is occasional fruit still on the brambles, but most is now gone. I was surprised to see dragonflies darting around and also a red admiral. Just round the bend in the field is a nest of leaves in the tree, it looks like a dray, a little further on I heard a rustling, when I pin pointed it, I found a grey squirrel in the trees of the copse watching me just as intently as I watched it! There was more rustling in the copse, I knew it would be roe deer by the noise, I could see two through the hedgerow. Four woodpigeon were spooked and flew out of the copse. I’m not sure why or what they were doing but there was a collection of flies on a tree trunk. 
Down by the river the birds are very nervous, they really don’t see a lot of people. I thought or hoped I saw a bank vole, nope when I finally managed to keep it in sight it was a wren! I was surprised to see a little egret and two cormorants though! There was also rubbish in the river, not something I can do anything about as it is unreachable, in fact I couldn’t actually see where the edge of the bank is, it is so over grown. It does make me slightly nervous, it doesn’t help that I’m short and have to move close to the edge to be able to see in parts of the river! I heard a lot of noise and turned to see a red kite being mobbed by some carrion crows/rooks, it did drop something but I didn’t have the camera on them at that time to see what it was. I was very pleased to see a bullfinch in the trees, I haven’t seen one here before. 
Walking back up the field I saw a wren and came face to face with a roe deer. I had been walking in deer tracks, I guess I was on his path! We both just stopped and looked at each other. I wasn’t going to move, I thought I’d let him do what he wanted to. Of course I HAD to take a photo, but moved very slowly when I did. He decided that his best route away from the strange creature that was in his path was straight across the field. He moved a bit and stopped to check I wasn’t following and then ran off at full speed. I do worry that if he had come face to face with one of the deer cullers that he would have been a very easy target 🙁 At least he’s 100% safe in this field. In the distance I could see something on the floor – it was the squirrel 🙂
I spent a little time watching the garden birds: coal tit, blue tit, starling, chaffinch, great tit, goldfinch, dunnock, house sparrow, wren, magpie, long-tailed tit, robin and great spotted woodpecker. I haven’t seen the collard dove with the broken beak since July. Hopefully it is still doing well. I have however been told that a sparrowhawk has been seen in the garden on occasion during the day. I’m yet to see him. 
September 18th – I never like seeing shapes of animals on the road but when its next to my patch I dislike it even more. It was a badger. This isn’t the first badger I have found in this spot, there was another in February. I called the field owner to help me move her, we moved her from the road into the field to allow nature to take its course rather than her getting smashed to pieces by more cars. Next year I want to try and get to know the badgers that roam around the area. Thankfully there hasn’t been a cull here so they have been safe this year. I do worry that if I get to know them and a cull happens next year I would loose new friends. Of course I would try to protect them but unfortunately the land around the field has a different owner so there is little control. 
August 4th – The starlings are growing, and becoming noisier by the day. They are becoming rather bossy!
