Tag Archives: wildlife

Jun 01 2022
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Daily Post, Flora/Fauna

Return of the jay?

Tuesday 31st May 2022, 1.55pm (day 3,932)

Jay, 31/5/22

Jays are very handsome birds and it’s a shame we don’t see more of them. I could say that this specimen is the second jay to appear on the blog, but it may be the same one as depicted just under four years ago — as this photo was taken only around 100 yards from that one; both in close proximity to the Ellen Wilkinson building on campus (a.k.a. ‘the office’). I can’t spot any obvious differences in plumage, and I have a feeling that corvids like this can happily live for a decade or more, so I think I will declare this to be only the third bird — after two herons (Humph and Maris Crane) — that might have appeared on here more than once.

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May 28 2022
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Daily Post, Flora/Fauna

Blackbird

Friday 27th May 2022, 11.30am (day 3,928)

Blackbird, 27/5/22

There has been a lot of movement around the country for me lately, but today marks the start of a longish stretch at home. As in other such periods I will have to hope that Hebden Bridge keeps me inspired. The local fauna and flora is often a good place to start: this blackbird posed somewhat impatiently, but did allow me to get in his close-ups.

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May 17 2022
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Daily Post, Flora/Fauna

Fox, central London

Monday 16th May 2022, 9.55am (day 3,917)

London fox, 16/5/22

This is the second fox to appear on this blog. The first was depicted on the hills above Kentmere in the Lake District (on 4/3/2020) which one might think was an appopriate location to see one. However, I believe there are now more urban foxes in the UK than rural ones, and this one was seen less than five minutes’ walk from King’s Cross station, at roughly 10am on a Monday morning in central London.

It’s injured though. Whatever is up with its front left leg, it wasn’t putting any weight on it. Nothing I could do about it, sadly. I hope it is OK.

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Apr 01 2022
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Daily Post, Flora/Fauna

Nesting

Friday 1st April 2022, 4.10pm (day 3,872)

Nesting duck, 1/4/22

Now, she’s on the nest. If it wasn’t for the presence of the nearby, and bright green, drake (unpictured), I would never have seen this nesting mother among the undergrowth. Seeing as ducks don’t have a great deal of offensive capacity, doubtless this camouflage is her only real protection against having the brood eaten by someone/thing or other. She was definitely keeping an eye on me, put it that way.

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Mar 31 2022
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Daily Post, Flora/Fauna, Transport

Towpath life

Wednesday 30th March 2022, 3.55pm (day 3,870)

Geese and barge, 30/3/22

Sometimes in my more romantic fantasies of downsizing I wonder what it would be like to live on one of the barges on the Rochdale Canal — but these thoughts never last all that long before I think of the music and movie collections. If I really wanted to do it I’d probably already be doing it. The immediate neighbours would be Canada geese, too.

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Mar 19 2022
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Daily Post, Flora/Fauna

Crow King (of Southwaite services)

Friday 18th March 2022, 4.10pm (day 3,858)

Crow, Southwaite, 18/3/22

Southwaite services on the M6, just south of Carlisle. This huge crow, possibly a raven, with a beak to strike terror into any smaller and inferior creature, was definitely in charge: principally of waste disposal, but, I suspect, of various other aspects of the operation too.

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Feb 14 2022
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Daily Post, Flora/Fauna

You haven’t seen me

Sunday 13th February 2022, 8.45am (day 3,825)

Deer in woods, 13/2/22

An early start for me on this Sunday morning, for a walk that bagged me the County Tops of Kent and Greater London (which are very close together in case that sounds like a more significant expedition than it was). Not a great walk scenically, but redeemed by the sight of four deer in the woods. You try capturing these guys on camera, particularly if they know you’re there, which this one clearly does — but he tolerated my efforts for just long enough before scooting away to rejoin his gang.

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Feb 04 2022
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Daily Post, Flora/Fauna

Blackbirds pose

Thursday 3rd February 2022, 11.15am (day 3,815)

Two blackbirds, 3/2/22

The guys give it the “mean and moody, but still cute” look, as if they are modelling for the blackbird version of a Hugo Boss ad. A shame this one is a little out of focus, but I couldn’t persuade them to repeat the pose, sorry.

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Jan 01 2022
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Daily Post, Flora/Fauna

Kestrel, New Year’s Eve

Friday 31st December 2021, 2.10pm (day 3,781)

Kestrel, 31/12/21

Out on a walk on the hillside above our house, and my father-in-law Dave acted as the ‘spotter’ for this one, pointing out the kestrel that was hovering above the grassland, hunting for mice or sparrows. Obviously wanting its profile done, it then landed and obligingly waited on this lamp-post for a minute, so I could get the shot (that’s the old, ruined Heptonstall church behind).

A Happy New Year to you all. I mention no politics here; I will merely say that had the shot of another bird-of-prey, the hawk on 5th March, been just that little bit better in focus, that would have been my favourite shot of 2021. However, instead I will give it to the minutes-old lamb captured on April 11th.

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Dec 16 2021
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Daily Post, Flora/Fauna

Waiting by the weir

Thursday 16th December 2021, 11.30am (day 3,766)

Heron, 16/12/21

The weir is where the herons work, in town. Maybe I return to this subject quite a lot — this particular heron might have been on the blog several times by now — but it’s sometimes a relief to see one, as on days like today (spent 95% inside, marking), there isn’t very much else to see. May they continue to fish happily away.

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