Wildlife Update for 2012

I have been very lazy with updating this part of the blog this year. Records have been kept, but for whatever reason, I have never managed to get it onto the blog, so here goes for January to May 2012.

All the usual suspects have been around, with squirrel visits always a highlight, but also always a worry as so many get killed on the road outside. 3 so far this spring already. If only people would slow down, they may stand a bit more of a chance.


A single sighting of an Ermine running through the garden in mid April helped to explain what had carried the rabbit carcasses away so swiftly after they had been despatched. A new visitor this spring - and a fairly rare one, so we feel quite chuffed, is this Twite. Almost identical to the Redpoll in the picture below, but he is lacking the red, and has a patch of pink on his back.

Swallows, House Martins and Swifts circle all around us again, as do Long Eared Bats at night. We are fortunate enough to have frequent fly bys from Buzzards, Curlew, Oyster Catcher and Lapwings, all of which nest nearby, and the first of our regular hen pheasants has appeared with her (single) chick. The fields behind are full of life as usual, with sightings of Fox and Roe Deer in broad daylight.