Expectant Tawny Parents, Otters and a Buzzard Stare!

Tackling the M42 and M5 on a morning is never a pleasant experience, but the 2 hr commute to Yew View is always worth it, especially when you are met with a view like this…

 

With rising temperatures rising, blue skies and sunshine, Spring is definitely springing! The chiffchaff was heralding the official start of Spring and the site is looking just wonderful! I always start my day with a wander around, stretching my legs after a few hours on the motorway and checking out what has been happening over the last week… where did these appear from… hardly visible last week?!

I can’t believe a year has passed since these beautiful snakeshead fritillaries were out. So beautiful and lots of bumble bees enjoying the nectar and pollen feast.

Lots of other beautiful blooms as well….

The willow has just come into leaf and flower an, in the sunshine, it was positively glowing; the most stunning green. When standing underneath it, the sound of the insects  on the emergent flowers, was incredible! It was full of bees, hoverflies and other insects… such an incredibly important source of nectar and pollen.

Then, it’s up to the office to check on my beautiful tawnies! With the hatch date looming, I am keen to see what they have been up to for the week and all was looking good. Lots of mouse and vole deliveries from the male…

…. and the female is looking settled as she nears the end of the 30 day incubation period….

The male has been spending most of his days roosting in the Owl Mansion at the river end of the garden. He loves the sunny terrace with river views and was sitting out on there when I was at the PC. There is a PTZ camera at this location, so I am able to move the camera from the PC. This clip shows the box in context with the landscape. This is some lucky tawny owl!

Back to the female on her eggs, we had some rather nice woodpecker visitors to the outside of the nest box this week…

Checking the Kingfisher perch footage, as I do every week, I was thrilled to see a male kingfisher appear a couple of times. We have not had them visiting since last summer and I was starting to think they would not return. I really hope they will start hunting here again as I love seeing them and filming them.

I hope this rather spectacular buzzard won’t deter the kingfisher! It has alighted on this perch a number of times…..

I am able to move the video through, one frame at a time and lift some stills. This is an impressive raptor!

You may remember that last week, I set up a wired camera to try to film the otter who was travelling up from the river to the ornamental pond outside the house. I need to adjust the camera angle a little, but he visited twice last week….

It has been pretty quiet on the badger front, but this guy appeared in the week and spent a few hours sleeping… and sneezing… in our sett.

The muntjac pair are still around and there was some interesting interactions filmed this week…

 

Hopefully, next week’s post will be full of tawny owlet footage….. 🙂



from www.wildlifekate.co.uk https://wildlifekate.wordpress.com/2019/03/31/expectant-tawny-parents-otters-and-a-buzzard-stare/

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