Common Kestrel hovering, looking for small rodents.
Kestrel.
nature spots
Fox.
Our fox is equally at home within our woodland and farmland, or city streets. At the top of the countryside food chain, they consume a variety of animals. Their diet includes everything from birds and beetles to rabbits and rats. In the city, they scavenge around human activity waste bins and abandoned fast food is a favourite.
A spash of colour.
Or for those in the USA – A splash of color .
Stonechat on Gorse and Magpie in an Apple Tree.
Mandarin
Mandarin Duck Cadmans Pool New Forest.
Lapwing.
One Lapwing was sitting in the grass, and two others were flying /displaying just over her head. My interpretation was that they were two males trying to impress. The mating season has started in the wetlands.
Another.
Another female Redstart. A beautiful bird, almost understated compared to the bright male bird.
Antlers.
Fallow deer bucks typically cast their antlers annually, usually between April and May. The regrowth of new antlers follows this process. They are initially covered in soft, velvety skin. This skin is later rubbed off, leaving a hardened antler by August or September.
I watched 4 bucks in the New Forest this morning. Three had cast their antlers. The one still with his antlers had taken the alpha role and was dominant in this small group.
Farmland.
Some wildlife of the farmland on the South Downs.
Brown Hare.
A “spooked” Partridge by a running Hare
Common Buzzard.
Redstart.
The Redstart is a bird of deciduous woodland. Many are found in the New Forest, arriving in April and leaving in September or October. They migrate to their wintering location in trans-Saharan Africa. The name Redstart comes from the colour of its tail. ‘start’ is an old colloquial name for tail.
We spotted one in the Forest on Monday. So today, we returned to an area of Oak woodland where we had seen good numbers last year. I was pleased to see they had returned.
Breeding males are stunning, with slate grey upper parts, black faces and wings and an orange rump and chest. Females and young are browner, with some chestnut tail feathers and pale bellies
Tadpoles!
Further to my March posts showing Toads mating in a New Forest pond, the spawn has now hatched. A quick underwater film of the Tadpoles.
Continued Reflections from my World. 