Friday 23 December 2011

Foxing Around


Ive spent a fair bit of time lately trying to get decent snaps of the local Foxes in the area, and was rewarded on a few occasions with this individual which took to sleeping in the same area of fallen leaves for a couple of hours; at always the same time each night. After a few visits it became very very approachable and I managed to get decent (amateur) shots on three occasions, if it was a dry night it would always be reliably in the same area, until Glendale decided to blow all of the fallen leaves away and collect them in.....hence, since this happened I haven't seen it again! Why on earth the parks department deems it important to remove leaves from wooded sections of parkland is anyones guess! But I did feel rather privileged to have had the opportunity to get so close to a wild animal without disturbing it.





Tuesday 20 December 2011

Firecrest

After visiting Sudley House today I was walking down North Mossley Hill road today around 3:30pm and heard a small mixed flock calling away at the entrance to the Halls of Residence just before Rose Lane, I was delighted to find a (female?) Firecrest accompanied by at least 3 Goldcrests, Treecreeper, and plenty of mixed Tit species. The sighting was brief but 100% and my first in the area for about ten years (Calderstones Park), the flock could be easily located by the amount of calling birds including the Firecrest, I viewed the flock for around five minutes before leaving them in the same area (and of course their was no trespassing on the university grounds......heaven forbid).
Apart from this sighting Redwings, Nuthatch, and Sparrowhawk in Sudley House along with a clump of flowering escaped Japanese Anenome near to Mossley Hill church. In Greenbank Park the Parakeets are still in attendance, coupled with a pair of Tufted Ducks, Nuthatch, Great Spotted Woodpecker, and a Tawny Owl on Greenbank Lane yesterday evening and two Foxes, also in the park a couple of flowering Daffodils and a clump of flowering Snowdrop on Gorsebank Road....... am I missing something?!!!