Odd Behaviour from a New Fox

The foxes have been very late arriving for their food the last two or three nights, it has often been as late as 2 or 3 a.m., last night just after 1:00 a.m. on looking out I saw a different fox. He must have been born earlier this year, he was tiny and had a very scrawny tail, he must have been very hungry as he was really tucking into the food.

I stayed watching him, enjoying the thought of the food being found by a young fox, before our regulars turned up. He was quite picky and opened the tiny squares of sandwich, eating the filling and leaving the bread - not even licking the spread from the bread.

When he had finished eating he did something I have never seen before, he urinated all over the food he had left.

This behaviour is something I have read about in rodents, but never seen or heard of in foxes.

I would welcome any comments on this behaviour, if anyone reading this has heard of it before.

Muntjac Deer Visitor

While looking out of the kitchen window, a movement on the bank caught my eye, very slowly turning my head I saw our old visitor the muntjac deer, his nose just visible from the overgrown undergrowth. Not daring to move, I froze and waited, slowly he came forward, tentatively, hesitantly until I could see all of his head. Cautiously he stretched his neck and raised his head, scenting the air, he was as still as a statue. Feeling more sure of his safety he moved forward, now I was able to see the whole of his neck, again he waited and scented the air.

Now he felt very safe and stepped boldly forward, I was filled with such emotion, he was so beautiful. I was struck by how strong and fit he looked. Such a magnificent, wild creature and less than five feet from me, what an amazing view. I felt so lucky. I wanted to fetch my camera, but didn't dare move.

For a few minutes he stood motionless, then slightly lowering his horned head he gently and slowly turned it from side to side, looking first one way then the other. He spent the next seven minutes slowly wandering around and across the back kitchen lawn, before disappearing into the shrubs and on to the left hand back lawn.

The rest of the morning he spent on this lawn cropping the apple tree and resting. Amazingly where the muntjac appeared from this morning is the same spot that yesterday I saw a grass snake.

Female Grass Snake Basking

A beautiful bright, sunny morning. Surprised to see on glancing out of the back kitchen window the huge, female, resident grass snake. She does not usually bask so near the house or in such an open space, during the summer it is much more usual to see her either in the pond or under a bush.

She was coiled up - not smoothly but in a hotch potch manner - on the back kitchen lawn near to the bank and quite close to the base of the bird house. The sun was bright and that patch of lawn must have been temptingly warm.

This is the first time I have seen her this summer and I went to fetch my camera, but was saddened on my return to see her disappearing into the undergrowth on the bank.

I feel pleased to have grass snakes living here as I once read that snakes are a sign of a good wildlife garden.

Fledgelings

A good start to the day, looked out of the lounge patio doors and saw two young song thrushes, three young blackbirds and one young dunnock on the lawn.

Wild Flowers in a Garden

Again it is a lovely day, warm, part cloudy and part sunny.

The garden is full of butterflies, bees, arachnids and insects. The wild flowers in the garden are wonderful, they mix in with the garden flowers as if they are meant to be altogether - as indeed they are in this garden.

I have a feeling the addition of the wild flowers to this garden is one of the reasons for the great number of bees, butterflies and insects present here.

Beautiful Beetle

While watching T.V. yesterday evening I felt what I thought was a spider on my leg. Closer inspection proved it to be a beetle - a very large one with enormous feelers! It had obviously come in through the patio doors, earlier in the day.

I caught it in a jar, inspecting it in the electric light I thought how drab it looked. Next morning I released it into the garden, first on to the lawn where it froze and didn't look happy, so I moved it to a flower.

Once here it was much happier and immediately bent its head forward, looking closely I could see its mouth parts engaging with the centre of the flower. I fetched some water and carefully placed a droplet close to him, whereupon he turned his head and drank.

The longer I watched him, the more I became aware of the subtle beauty of his colouring and markings. His feelers, for instance, were striped across in alternate bands of pale turquoise and black. Where the head met the thorax was a beige triangle, while on the long wing cases were very tiny speck like spots of pale turquoise.

To think that last night I had thought him a dull looking creature!

Green Orb Weaver Spider?

One evening, a few days ago I noticed a pretty spider on the side of the bathroom window, she had a pale green abdomen and the head, thorax and legs looked a beige colour. I hesitated to put her out as opening a window would allow mosquitoes in, so I left her there.

Next morning she was still there and beside her was a long packet of eggs, again I left her. The following day she was still in place by her eggs. Next morning although she was still by her eggs, she seemed very weak and when I gently blew on her (thinking she was dead) she hardly moved, however inside the egg sac I noticed a lot of movement. How could I move her or her egg sac now without harming any of them, so I decided once more to leave them in situ. Next morning the situation looked the same except on closer inspection I realised the mother was dead, but there was much life within the egg sac.

This morning I went to check on them and found the egg sac empty and the dead mother gone. There was no sign of her or the spiderlings on the windowsill, wall or floor. Did they eat their mother?

Another interesting fact is that no web was made, the egg sac was in the angled edge of the window where it met the wall.

I am not even certain that this spider was a green orb weaver spider, but would be interested to have comments from anyone who is familiar with this spider.

Butterflies, Insects and Green Woodpeckers

A mild day, not much sun but plenty of butterflies.

I put this down to the meadow at the end of the garden, it has not been cut this year and the many varieties of grasses are neck high. During the day this area is alive with insects and butterflies, we also have a lot more butterflies visiting our garden, many more than we have ever seen before. We have always been pleased at the amount of butterflies the garden attracts, now we have broken all records.

The long grasses in the field at the end of our garden, have also meant that we have many more and different insects. Interestingly the moth count has stayed much the same, as has the number of bats flying over at night.

When we moved here there were horses in this field, a change of ownership brought a change of use. Lately we have termed it the orchard, because fruit trees were planted there. However this year it has been unattended and the grasses now are above the bottom most boughs of the fruit trees.

This has been great for some wildlife, but not so good for others, for instance the green woodpeckers are now unable to search for ants. We know the green woodpeckers are still about though, not only do we hear their call, but they still visit the garden looking for ants.

The two adult great spotted woodpeckers spend a lot of time at the bird feeders, looking for easy meals. This year they have produced one chick, who also spends a lot of time here, much to our delight.