Now there are two!

 I suppose they are eating worms, they have made a right old mess!

Wildlife Camera

Previous wildlife camera conked out so we bought a new one.

Still getting the hang of it… got some pretty strange animals!

I think this is a fox, we were trying to find out what lives in the hole (below and a little right of center), we are none the wiser on that, maybe it has been eaten by a fox…

Blue Bird Eggs

Not planning on incubating these! I was tempted for a second, but they hatch helpless not like chickens, ducks, guinea fowl etc...

They have built the nest in a very stupid place, and I don’t suppose they will last long sadly. It is at about knee high and although we are keeping the dog away from it all sorts of wildlife (eg fox) would love to chow down on them...

Walk round the Virgin

This is one of our favorite walks so you may get bored of hearing about it (though I don’t post every time!). It is close to home and has amazing dramatic views. It isn’t too steep but feels like you are in the mountains.

View of Bagnéres

The Virgin

Might be a tilleul tree. They are good for bees and for herbal tea also.

Bug!

Going through the rainforest section on the way down. 

Lovely looking thistle

Owl in the chimney!

We heard some strange noises for hours and hours. It took us ages to realise they were coming from the chimney of the wood burner out the back of the house. An unfortunate owl had fallen down!
We rescued him and called him (or her!) Sooty.
To be honest we didn't think he would survive the night after the shoc, but we left him in one of the stables with some water and meat just in case. And HURRAH, in the morning he was gone - having apparently bathed in the water as it was black, eaten the meat and flown off.
Now every time we here an owl was say it is Sooty thanking us...

 Not looking very happy or clean in the chimney

Doug fishing him out

His head really can rotate right round!

Looking confused in the barn

Badger on the drive (and other wildlife photos)

We saw a deer and a pheasant on the drive so I put the wildlife camera there to try to catch them on film. But instead we have a badger.

On the camera there were also a number of photos from last winter which made me smile with relief at no longer having the highlands!

I guess this one was a similar time to now (or just a bit later) as that is me blowing leaves off the drive - which will need doing soon. It always makes me think of David who bought us the leaf blower when he visited.

Rodents

We keep all the animal feed in these bins. They are metal because the rodents chew through plastic.
I noticed the other day that one of the bags had been chewed through. We took all the feed out and tried to find where there was a hole - but there just wasn't.
We eventually worked out that they were climbing up on that pile of hay by the further one and then in under the lid which isn't very tight fitting. Doh!
So we have rearranged the hay and hopefully the number of rats we are catching will reduce again as they have less food.

Wildlife

I hope that fox stays away from the chickens! If you remember, last summer ther was a young chick massacare, I suspect there are quite a few foxes around, so may have been this one or not.

These snowy ones are from some weeks ago

Wild mountain man?

Badger? Hopefully they don't all give TB to cattle!

Ok so these ones shouldn't we wild, but they escaped.

Big bird spreads the word

Title is a line from a Fluke song (Absurd), I can't say the words 'big bird' without hearing it. Anyway, here are some photos I took a while ago of some massive massive vultures. We saw them the year before last too, but again just on a couple of days. There must have been something like 30 or 40 of them circling over the house. Their wingspan is more than a meter. Watch out chickens, rabbits etc!

Aaargh what is it?

Yes it is HUGE! And look at the size of its sting!

However you will be pleased to hear that that is not a sting, but its ovipositer (for laying eggs).

I looked it up and it is a giant wood wasp, harmless to people and buildings although it does lay its eggs in dead and dying trees it doesn't do it in dried and treated wood. Gave us quite a turn though as it lives up to its giant name.

Wildlife videos

The wildlife camera takes short videos as well as stills.

That is a big gun!

Wildlife camera

We have had thousands and thousands of photos. Most are triggered by raindrops or something moving in the wind, but we have had a few of good/interesting ones.

Poppy pointing

A hunters dog passing through

Light dusting of snow on the ground

All gone a few hours later

Magnificent deer

Lovely pair!

Look what Doug found!

He found a nice one last year, then found one of these and hoped it might be a good match. But then he found another one which really does look like it is from the same deer. They are quite a bit bigger than the one from last year.

Wildlife Camera

A while ago we bought a wildlife camera (waterproof and with a movement sensor and night visions). We have had it in various locations, but have not taken pictures of anything except ourselves, Poppy and Sambuca.
Doug put it higher up the land than before and we finally got some pictures of actual wildlife (and some of the neighbor - presumably picking our mushrooms - which might explain why we never find any cepes)

A deer

A fox (watch out chickens and rabbits!)

A wild boar (sanglier) at night

We are now wondering how to catch the wild boar. Mmmmm that would make tasty sausages!