France Part II - Trailcam

I'd been wondering if these things were any good since I saw them being used on a wildlife program on TV. So I decided to take the plunge and fork out the best part of 200 quid on one to take on my trip to France.

Here are the results.

I think the first one is a young and very nervous Roe Deer.

Later on and after it got light an older Deer appeared for a short time.

This Fox appeared on the first night but it didn't quite know what to make of the jam sandwiches that I'd left out as bait for the Pine Marten.

Finally and after several blank nights my main target - the Pine Marten - showed up. Normally a nocturnal animal (or so I thought) it appeared before it even got dark.

The Pine Marten made one more appearance, this time in the dark where it appeared to show some displeasure at being filmed!

For several days I had been putting food (mainly nuts) out for the birds in the hope that I could tempt some Woodpeckers down onto a tree stump to photograph them. I never saw as much as a sparrow but the food kept dissapearing as though it had been hoovered up. So I decided to set the trailcam up on a tripod to try and capture the culprit..

..it didn't take long...

France

My third trip to Perassay in Central France has been met with a bit of unseasonal weather. In the week leading up to our visit the temperature had been over 30C but since we arrived it has dropped back into the teens! This has curtailed the wife’s sunbathing but no matter as the birds are still around in their usual numbers!

However the Golden Oriole’s at the bottom of the garden are as elusive as ever and although one did present itself the other day, I didn’t have my camera with me.

This Dormouse came to join us for tea the other night. It was scurrying around above our heads in the roof of our hosts’ gazebo when I managed to get this shot of it eating a bit of ham that we’d left it. I was surprised at the size of these creatures – as big as a Hamster.

Black Redstart?

Dunno what this bird of prey is but there were about 20 of them circling a farmer’s field as he cut back the grass.

Young something or other…

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

A few pics from the garden...

 Hummingbird Hawk Moth

I took the rest of the photos on a visit to La Brenne nature reserve.

Black-Crowned Night Heron (Hopefully)

I'm not sure what this is though. It was hunting above the reedbeds which I was sat above inside a hide. I thought it could be a Marsh Harrier but the one I got the other week at Far Ings didn't have a white head!

Reed Warbler