Baby Badgers cubs caught on the trail camera.

I finally managed to capture a baby badger using the trail camera last night. 

The whole feel of this part of the sett seems much more relaxed than the adults grouped at the back of the sett the night before.

There was lots of mutual grooming in one film and in this film it looks like two adults are grooming and nuzzling the young one at the back while the tiny cub at the front is trying its best to follow its mum around.

It looks like both mums only had one cub each.

Cute badger alert

Yesterday evening was one of those evenings where lots of wildlife was out, the weather was windy but the sunshine tried its hardest to stream through any gaps.
We mainly came out to see the Hares and put down the Trail camera to see if the baby Badgers had come out yet.
The Hares were very active and out in the open, we mananged to see 4 of them, dashing and chasing each other around in circles. When they spotted us all the action stopped and they dropped down before sprinting off into the distance. One of them had an half closed eye and I wondered whether it was the one from last year whose eye was closed all the summer.

After laying the Trail camera down we were just heading home when this cute face poked out of the ground, I think this Badger is a cub because of how fluffy it is. I found it so adorable that I had to get some snaps.    

Earlier in the day, whilst doing my maths homework, these two birds apperaed. I've not seen a Black cap so close to my garden before and it was quite distracting while I was working because it kept doing its alarm call at me.

Long-Tailed Tit

I think this is a Blackcap

In the morning my dad picked up the Trail camera, I was very pleased to see a Fox, and although I was happy to see 6 badgers together I didn't like watching all the squabbling.

They seemed very unsettled but according to the time on the camera, by 9.30pm, they had all gone off away from the sett.

 When I saw the Fox video I was amazed because it was not exactly what I expecting to see in the badgers sett.

Witney Lakes

This morning we had to take my sister over to a St George's parade, so we had two hours to find something to do in. 

My mum remembered a lake at the back of a trading estate from when she used to live in Witney.

It didn't look promising at first. We walked past a trading estate and under the main road using an underpass which was full of graffiti and rubbish, but once we came out the other side we were faced with a beautiful lake and lots of wildlife.

As well as the photos below, we saw two Kingfishers, loads of Long tailed tits, coal tits and black caps. Plus lots of baby ducks.

Along the stream that ran along side the lake, we saw many holes and runs in the undergrowth which looked a lot like Water vole holes.

Can't wait to go back another day.

Swan getting angry at a passing dog.

Nesting Great Crested Grebe

Little Egret

Chiffchaff - I think

Nesting swans

There were 3 Robin's strutting about and flying at each other

Swan pecking a willow leaves

Swallow

Back garden pigeon

While we were away the pigeons have built a nest in a fir tree in our back garden. 

Over the last two year they have been nesting in a hazel tree, but moved to the fir tree this year.

They are currently on two eggs that I can't wait to hatch, I love watching them fly in and out of the nest.

 ( Just a couple of times they have nearly fallen out because it is such a tight squeeze) 

Easter Holidays - Last part - Dolphins

During our Whale watching trip we were surrounded by 600 Rissos dolphins. There were so many we didn't know which side of the boat to look from.

Risso dolphins look different from other dolphins because they don't have a beak, but they still have the dolphin smile.

They are born a dark grey colour which changes as the become adults because they get covered in scratches made by squid and other dolphins, eventually their head will become white.

 I saw these two dolphins from the beach house. I think they are Long beaked Common dolphins.

Easter holidays part 5 - Whales

One of the things I was most looking forward to on our Easter holiday was Whale watching. We had booked a boat trip with Monterey Bay Whale Watch. 

We had researched which company to use on-line before we went and were happy that they knew where to look for the Whales and most importantly that they respected the Whales space and didn't hassle them.

This one was after a sealion which you can see its head to the right of the photo

Right at the beginning of the trip we had lots of information about what we might see and the animals of Monterey.

It wasn't long before we spotted our first Whale - an Orca!!

Ignore the one below it only has sound no picture.

Another boat joined us for a bit which shows you how big the Whale was in comparison

It wasn't long before the Orca swam off and left us to look around for something else.

Two Humpback Whales came really close to the boat. Humpback Whales can be up to 55 ft long, they come from Mexico to Monterey during the summer. The Humpbacks feed on krill and anchovies.

Our beach house is in the background of this photo

 The whole trip was very informative, especially learning about how the pollution of the oceans is affecting the whales and their babies.
We were also told about the jelly fish like Velella Velella which were floating everywhere on the sea and being washed up on the beach.

We could see the Humpback whales from the Kitchen window of our house. They come so close to the shore because their food concentrates along the submarine Canyon

One morning we even saw the Orca from the beach, but unfortunately didn't get a photo of it.

Easter holidays - part 4 - Birds of Monterey

We saw a huge amount of different birds while on holiday, some are very similar to the ones we get in the UK, others are native to the USA. Some of them I didn't get the name of, so if you know please comment and I'll edit the blog as I find out. (Also if I have got them wrong)
One my favourite was a hummingbird. I didn't get a photo and I don't know which one it was except it was blue/green. We were in Universal Studios in Los Angeles just going up a slope of the Jurassic park ride and the Hummingbird was feeding on some flowers, it then flew right over our heads while we were on the ride.
Here are a few of the birds I saw.

Brown Pelican

Brown Pelican

Brown pelican

Cormorant - There are 3 types of Cormorant in this area.

It interests me how birds and animals use man made structures - every bridge on the road from Monterey to Los Angeles had a group of nests under it.

Swallows

Brewer's Blackbird

Red shouldered hawk

House Finch

Not sure what this is.

Swallow 

Whimbrel

Marbled Godwit - similar to the bird above but with a straight beak

The effects of plastic in the ocean

Possibly Western Gulls

Brant

Snowy Plover

Both these birds feed at the water's edge, running up the beach everytime a wave comes in.