Mammal of the day

[The Black Rabbit]

Originally Posted by mh68

Cheers Doug, i`m amazed that Rabbit/Stoat shot came out, my hands were shaking with the adrenaline of watching the whole thing

Mark H

I bet!

[vole-woman]

Fantastic!

[Rob T]

A great set of shots there Mark the Rabit/Stoat shot is facinating, nice deer to.
As it proved so successfull I would recomend you enlarge your 'squeeking' skills to . . . hooting and roaring, who knows what you could be showing us next week.

Regards
Rob

[mh68]

Originally Posted by Rob T

A great set of shots there Mark the Rabit/Stoat shot is facinating, nice deer to.
As it proved so successfull I would recomend you enlarge your 'squeeking' skills to . . . hooting and roaring, who knows what you could be showing us next week.

Regards
Rob

cheers Rob, but I`d probably end up showing you the inside of a padded cell, and its hard to type wearing one of those coats with the big buckles on!!

Mark H

[nutmeg]

Love the stoat and rabbit

[jennyb]

What a fantastic day! This stoat-speak is very interesting. I don't suppose you have any deer-speak you can teach me?!

Jenny

[mh68]

Hi Jenny, definitely one of those days that will stay in my memory for a long time
Although I havent tried, I was told by a mate who knows his stuff, that you can replicate the call of a fawn blowing through a blade of grass (he lives in SW Scotland so i`ve not had the chance to see him demonstrate it). During the summer when the fawns are around, using a call like that can bring the parents straight in.There are also commercial Roe Deer calls which do the same thing.It`s something I plan on trying this summer so i`ll keep you posted

Heres an example of a commercial one below, not cheap but they do work well apparently....

BUTTOLO ROE CALL - £19.95

Mark H

[The Black Rabbit]

Well...
I thought about making my first "mammal of the day" post, something about the bottle-nose dolphins that often swim up our local drainage ditch, or the wildebeest that sweep majestically across the recreation ground behind our house every morning...!

Yeah... Ok pal, I know its not a stoat (I wish), in fact I wish it could be anything else but this....

My first mammal of the day is.....

(drum roll purlease...)








































A RAT!

This one (and its brethren no doubt) enjoy a comfortable living in our compost heap right now.
I know they get their bad press, on WAB too, recently, but they are surely the evolutionary kings of the mammalian world.

Watch the feature length video (well, 4 seconds anyway), shot this afternoon using the video mode on the stills camera - by clicking HERE.


From little acorns....

Doug.

[mh68]

Nice pic Doug, and a decent little video clip too. I wouldnt consider Brown Rats any less worthy of mention on here than any other mammal. Given the opportunity i`d be happy to photograph them

Mark H

[The Black Rabbit]

Originally Posted by mh68

Nice pic Doug, and a decent little video clip too. I wouldnt consider Brown Rats any less worthy of mention on here than any other mammal. Given the opportunity i`d be happy to photograph them

Mark H

Cheers!
Had to find something else to film today - my Blue Tit camera imploded this afternoon!

[tufftie]

Before it all went pear shaped today something very funny happened. One of the younger squirrels, Chico (named after spaghetti western character), came in through the top window....errr he landed on me...not sure which of us jumped the most! He was looking for nuts - knew i had some hidden away - i've been cutting down on the amount i've been putting out for them since leaving for Cornwall soon.

Another issue altogether - but people i think i've told will read this thread - my old cat is being put to sleep tomorrow afternoon. (Just so you don't ask me how he is at some point!). He'll be turning into a beautiful butterfly

[jennyb]

Originally Posted by mh68

Heres an example of a commercial one below, not cheap but they do work well apparently....

BUTTOLO ROE CALL - £19.95

Mark H

Interesting. I have never heard of these. I have searched on the Internet for instructions on how and when to use it but I can't find any. I would guess it is easy to overuse it to the extent that it gets ignored.

Jenny

[mh68]

From the limited info i`ve found Jenny, it seems theyre most effective during summer, around rutting time (Doe call) and when the fawns are newborn/very young (Fawn call).

Mark H

[Rob T]

Spent some time at Arne again just watching the Sika deer in their family groups their calves still cry if separated from mum, the fallows on the Forest stopped doing this a while ago.

my mammal of the day (although got a nice stag) are these two.









Your not having your photo taken looking like that come ere.


Regards

Rob

[mh68]

Great stuff Rob. I always get sidetracked in the summer when the Roes up here are with fawns,i`ll have to make more effort to get out watching them this year

Mark H

[Kayleigh]

I saw some deer prints on the bridleway.. Its just not the same as seeing the deer..Can you tell from the prints what deer they come from..They were very small.

[jennyb]

I tried to post here this morning but found that wab was not available. It did not come back until this afternoon.

Anyway, when I opened the curtains first thing this morning there were 5 roe deer in the garden. The buck was grazing around my bird table. We don't often see 5 together and I am fairly sure these were the doe who had twins last year and the buck, but I don't know who the fifth was? There was another doe last year with one youngster. Maybe that youngster has joined the other family, but what happened to its Mum?

Of course, my camera was downstairs and there was no way to get downstairs to retrieve it without alerting them (yes, they were that close).

Maybe I should start sleeping with my camera?

Jenny

[mh68]

Originally Posted by Kayleigh

I saw some deer prints on the bridleway.. Its just not the same as seeing the deer..Can you tell from the prints what deer they come from..They were very small.

Kayleigh, next time youre out, if you can snap a couple of shots of the tracks I`m sure one of us can help ID them for you

Went back to the area where I photographed the Deer and Stoat/Rabbit on Monday but today was extremely quiet in comparison. Biting cold wind, very few birds around and no Deer or Mustelids to be seen anywhere.
This cheeky chappy below saved the day though, came across him on the way home. Unlike most Reds I come across this one didnt chatter angrily while scurrying to the top of the tree. Instead he just sat watching me at head height around 20ft away (if that). I snapped plenty of shots, while observing him at the same time before he decided to leave.He didnt bolt off though like most do, instead he crept round the other side of the trunk, and kept popping his head round to see if I was still there Amusing to watch,he kept this up for a few minutes before scurrying across the treetops out of sight. It was my first Red sighting in this area for a few weeks so aswell as getting some half decent pics, I was pleased to know a few Reds are still around and doing ok.

(click on second pic again to view at full size)







Mark H

[coasty]

Well Mark ,,, I am truly envious,,, I have never taken shots like those,,, And Doug for a rat that quite cute...

I suppose I must start to take my camera with me when I go out

Andy

[mh68]

Thanks Andy it`s about time we saw some shots from your new camera

Mark H

[The Black Rabbit]

Lovely shots again pal.
I must get back to Scotland soon, to see my reds again...
Doug

[vole-woman]

Aw, magic, Mark!

[Kayleigh]

Thanks Mark I will try to get some pics of the deer prints..

Your squirrel is stunning..Why anyone would bring in greys, when ours are more colourful and clearly better looking.

[jennyb]

As I mentioned in an earlier post, 5 roe deer have been visiting the garden together every day this week. It is usually early morning or evening and usually too dark even if I have a camera handy.

But, I managed to get these today. There were only 4 roe does. Dad was not around, but a little muntjac was also hanging round with them, which I did not manage to get a picture of.







It was not very light so these were taken at ISO 1600 through the upstairs window and handheld, so not very sharp.

Jenny

[Gill Catton]

Originally Posted by mh68

Kayleigh, next time youre out, if you can snap a couple of shots of the tracks I`m sure one of us can help ID them for you

Went back to the area where I photographed the Deer and Stoat/Rabbit on Monday but today was extremely quiet in comparison. Biting cold wind, very few birds around and no Deer or Mustelids to be seen anywhere.
This cheeky chappy below saved the day though, came across him on the way home. Unlike most Reds I come across this one didnt chatter angrily while scurrying to the top of the tree. Instead he just sat watching me at head height around 20ft away (if that). I snapped plenty of shots, while observing him at the same time before he decided to leave.He didnt bolt off though like most do, instead he crept round the other side of the trunk, and kept popping his head round to see if I was still there Amusing to watch,he kept this up for a few minutes before scurrying across the treetops out of sight. It was my first Red sighting in this area for a few weeks so aswell as getting some half decent pics, I was pleased to know a few Reds are still around and doing ok.

(click on second pic again to view at full size)







Mark H

oh wow These are fantastic Mark and a small tut from me from critisising your work, I'd be chuffed to more than bits with these fantabulous images. Well done