Its always nice to see mammals on the patch, unfortunately often the only way to record them is when they have perished, and this, literally is what had happened to this Common Shrew that I found one frosty morning. I placed him on a post for a photo,
Although I had a couple of sightings of Fox on the patch at the start of the year, I had not had a sniff of one since. On the 28th I spotted a foxy fella in the paddocks, and on the 29th, I went a huntin' for my first patch record shot.
I got more than I bargained for in the end, as I actually flushed a Hare that Mr Fox had obviously been stalking for lunch, and appeared a few seconds after the Hare had bolted, giving me a dirty look as he skulked off.
The patch year couldn't have ended better.On New Years Eve, on the last few steps of my last circuit of the year, I spotted a Stonechat, a patch lifer ! (Distant record shot below).
A fitting end to the year, I felt like the patch was giving me a final reward for all the hours I've tramped around it over the last 12 months.
Looking forward to finding more natural history of interest out and about in 2015 . Thanks for reading.
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| Happy New Year ! |
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