Marvellous Mustelids and Tawny Updates

I am getting very excited about the Tawny Box project at Yew View! If you follow my blog, then you’ll know that this pair have nested for the last 2 years in this location and this year I designed a new nest box and built it with the help of friend, Dave.

I have built this box to house two internal cameras, placed perpendicular to each other. I started with the camera I used last year; a Vivotek that I have used a lot in these boxes. It is a great little camera, but it has it has its limitations.

My initial set up had the Vivotek in one position and a little Hikvision mini dome camera in the second position. I was so pleased with the image from this cam that, last week, I decided to swap the Vivotek out for another Hikvision. I am really pleased I did as I am now really happy with all three camera angles and footage in this box.

I become quite obsessed with getting it just right as, once they settle in there, I can’t fiddle with them any more.

This week’s footage is the best I have achieved so far and, with the owls showing all the right signals that they are going to nest again, I am getting very excited for the 2019 breeding season!

With the audio now sorted, it is fantastic to hear their calls…

Over the last week, the have started ‘paddling’ with their feet in the box. I line the box with a deep layer of rough wood chipping and they like totes it and hollow out a small depression. This paddling is a very good indication of intention to breed here….

This footage is from the second, newly installed Hikvision. I have focused the camera about half way across the box. This cam is a bit closer into the box, giving a really close up on the owl. She will nest in the far corner, so hopefully any owlet action will be perfectly captured!

Thank goodness, the pair seem intent on using this box for breeding, but they are visiting the other two boxes as well. They are using the Owl Mansion and the eco-box (made of recycled materials) as day roosts…

We have not had much badger action recently. Neither of the setts on site are being used, but the badgers are coming through the site…

The lack of badger occupation has meant that I have seen more species around these sett entrances…. the buzzard landed her last week…

The mink has also been in and out a few times….

Lots of pheasants around…

We occasionally have muntjac coming on site… brave with so many dogs on site!

Another mustelid I have captured this week has been the stoat! This individual was captured numerous times in this location. I am going to set up the Bushnell here. Watch the clip below to see the stoat being chased out by a rat!

I can’t wait to see what we capture next week!



from www.wildlifekate.co.uk https://wildlifekate.wordpress.com/2018/11/22/marvellous-mustelids-and-tawny-updates/

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

2019 off to a reasonable start

Image
Overcast, 5°, light NNW. A Little Egret seen today on the way out to Lollingdon and appeared to drop down near Amwell Spring. The hill hosted around 100 Fieldfare and a flock of c50 Meadow Pipit for a time before moving off over the top. Several Reed Bunting and Yellowhammer around the hill and a single Corn Bunting . A small flock of c20 Pied Wagtail feeding out with the Sheep. A few more Fieldfare and Redwing scattered around the Lollingdon area, a Goldcrest , Grey Heron , Kestrel , a couple of Jay , 2 Bullfinch and several Starling amongst other species. A Brambling in a private garden. Per Alan Dawson. 2 Blackcap in TW’s garden and 2 Chiffchaff at CSW. The flock of c60 Golden Plover still around Cholsey Hill. Brambling (courtesy Alan Dawson) from Cholsey Wildlife https://cholseywildlife.blogspot.com/2019/01/2019-off-to-reasonable-start.html
Read more

A Butterfly day

Image
Another sunny day, 24°, light E. A walk alongside the Bunk line from Church road to the bypass. Butterflies were the order of the day with literally hundreds of Meadow Brown on the wing today. They were everywhere. Another 8 Painted Lady seen with some looking very tatty after a presumably long flight and ageing. Best one of the day was a single Silver-washed Fritillary seen flying around a large garden before disappearing from view. Good numbers of Marbled White all along the route. Other species noted were: Small Skipper , Large Skipper , Large White , Small White , Green-veined White , Brimstone (1), Brown Argus (3), Common Blue (8), Red Admiral (6), Small Tortoiseshell (c20), Comma (3), Speckled Wood (2), Ringlet (12) and Small Heath (2). Some thistles were in flower on the edge of a bean field and these held the majority of Painted Lady , Small Tort and Marbled White . Dragonflies: Banded Demoiselle (M&F), Large Red Damselfly and Southern Hawke
Read more

A Great Start to 2020 at Yew View – Tawny Owls & Interesting Feeding Station Meetings!

Image
We had a great year at Yew View last year, with lots of great wildlife and some amazing insights into the lives of our local wildlife, especially our lovely Tawny Owl pair who raised  their beautiful owlets to fledge into the garden. We built an otter holt, with cameras and encouraged as much wildlife as we could into this 7 acre site. We have lots of exciting ideas and projects for 2020, of course. Hopefully, after months of high river levels, we will get our otter holt up and running with its two cameras. It has spent more time under water than above water so far and the cameras are sitting up in the office, waiting for the river to be stable enough for me to feel confident about reinstalling them! We are also going to upgrade some of the cameras we have, as well as creating some new feeding stations. We have a new piece of land that is also going to be developed for wildlife this year….. a large pool and boggy area for dragonflies and damselflies, wild flower meadow, tree planting
Read more