From Dusk till Dawn

This isn’t an account of a 90’s vampire movie (it is a great movie though), but more an account of how my time outdoors has been spent. Late night wanderings after work when time permits and some very early mornings when I can manage them.

As I fininished work for the Easter break I decided to put the time to good use. Good Friday morning and I was out in the fields at around 4.30am. I decided to look in on one of the badger setts and stay there until the light levels increased slightly. Then I had a few spots I wanted to check for foxes and Hares. I have yet to see my first local Hare of 2016.

I arrived in the badger area before 5.00am and hung around until around 5.30am. No sign of the badgers. I have a trail camera set not far away and collected the SD card as I passed it. It showed there had been plenty of activity from both foxes and badgers during the night/early hours, but nothing since 4.00am.

I left the area as light values began to increase. I headed back to the car and moved onto a new area in hope of seeing a local Hare. Last year, locally was one of the best for Hares I can remember. This year I’m still waiting to see one. I parked and set off to look over areas that had provided good sightings last year. The full moon was still visible, but dawn was not far away.

 

I sighted a fox and followed it for a couple of fields. As light values improved I attempted a couple of record shots. I struggled for a decent shutter speed in the low light.

 

I may not of seen any badgers this morning, but three foxes later, I wasn’t disappointed with the mornings mooch. All foxes seen were dog foxes. I expect they are hunting for the family, with the vixens denning with the young cubs. I managed to follow one of the foxes carrying what looked like a rabbits hind quarters to an area that l believe its vixen is denned in. I lost sight of it quickly once it entered this area. I didn’t want to disturb them, so moved on. Still no Hares though!

Once the Sun properly appeared, it turned out to be a classic bright spring morning. I heard some geese calling in flight behind me and turned to identify the strange whistling that I could also hear. Two Canada geese passed by calling as expected, a white goose accompanied them making a higher pitched whistling call as it flew. I soon lost sight of them.

There were quite a few Yellowhammers sitting on hedge tops calling and I tried to get a few pictures.

I decided to head back towards the car as I was feeling the need to put my feet up with a hot coffee, on route I encountered the geese I had seen in flight earlier, the white goose being very easy to spot grazing in the field.

 

Finally, a Raven displaying over some distant tree tops made me think it was indeed, a very Good Friday!