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Showing posts with label RABBITS/HARES. Show all posts
Showing posts with label RABBITS/HARES. Show all posts
Sunday, January 06, 2008
THE RIDGEWAY
We took a walk (as promised) on top of the Berks/Oxon Ridgeway today - a long escarpment that borders these two counties, just south of Harwell and Didcot.
Its becoming quite a famed wintering ground for Short-Eared Owls, and we were incredibly lucky today to see a DOZEN of these beautiful birds, both perched in the bare thorn bushes adjacent to the Newbury Racehorse Gallops, and flying around us.
I'll post one of the photographs I took of this magnificent bird in the post above, to enable any readers of BG to enlarge it by clicking on the image.
Short-Eared Owls are probably the most likely Owl one can see during the day.
They fly like Harriers, "quartering" relatively low over the ground, searching for voles, as their diet consists of these rodents in the main. SEO's populations fluctuate in accordance with vole population - massively so. In a good vole year, there'll be many Owlets fledge, when the vole population crashes, there'll be a corresponding crash in the SEO population.
I'll tell you the answer at the foot of this post, but have a stab in the dark at this question (without looking at the answer first)!
How many voles per day, can a Short-Eared Owl eat, if vole populations are such that the Owl can hunt, find and eat its fill? Have a guess. Answer, like I said, at the foot of this post.
Along with the dozen Short-Eared Owls,we managed to see lovely views of Stonechats (photo above), Buzzards (the "Telegraph Pole Eagle"), Kestrels, Grey Partridge (a covey of about 8), Yellowhammer, Corn Bunting and Fallow Deer in the distance (photo above).
We also had a VERY close encounter with a huge Hare. Typically, this Hare crouched in its scrape in tussocky grass, until Anna had literally stepped a foot from its ears - then suddenly it EXPLODED out of its hiding-place, and pegged it across the meadow. Thats the closest we've been to a wild Hare!
Unfortunately we didn't see where it hid again, so couldn't sneak up on it, and take a photo - you'll have to take our word for it (and look at the photo of its original hidey-hole above).
Anyway - a wonderful day, in beautiful winter sunshine, looking down from the top of the world with the beautiful Short-Eared Owls....
By the way....
16 (SIXTEEN ) voles a day.
Its becoming quite a famed wintering ground for Short-Eared Owls, and we were incredibly lucky today to see a DOZEN of these beautiful birds, both perched in the bare thorn bushes adjacent to the Newbury Racehorse Gallops, and flying around us.
I'll post one of the photographs I took of this magnificent bird in the post above, to enable any readers of BG to enlarge it by clicking on the image.
Short-Eared Owls are probably the most likely Owl one can see during the day.
They fly like Harriers, "quartering" relatively low over the ground, searching for voles, as their diet consists of these rodents in the main. SEO's populations fluctuate in accordance with vole population - massively so. In a good vole year, there'll be many Owlets fledge, when the vole population crashes, there'll be a corresponding crash in the SEO population.
I'll tell you the answer at the foot of this post, but have a stab in the dark at this question (without looking at the answer first)!
How many voles per day, can a Short-Eared Owl eat, if vole populations are such that the Owl can hunt, find and eat its fill? Have a guess. Answer, like I said, at the foot of this post.
Along with the dozen Short-Eared Owls,we managed to see lovely views of Stonechats (photo above), Buzzards (the "Telegraph Pole Eagle"), Kestrels, Grey Partridge (a covey of about 8), Yellowhammer, Corn Bunting and Fallow Deer in the distance (photo above).
We also had a VERY close encounter with a huge Hare. Typically, this Hare crouched in its scrape in tussocky grass, until Anna had literally stepped a foot from its ears - then suddenly it EXPLODED out of its hiding-place, and pegged it across the meadow. Thats the closest we've been to a wild Hare!
Unfortunately we didn't see where it hid again, so couldn't sneak up on it, and take a photo - you'll have to take our word for it (and look at the photo of its original hidey-hole above).
Anyway - a wonderful day, in beautiful winter sunshine, looking down from the top of the world with the beautiful Short-Eared Owls....
By the way....
16 (SIXTEEN ) voles a day.
Friday, May 25, 2007
RABBIT
On friday evening (as in the changed time and date of this post), Anna and I drove to a secret location in the Chilterns to see if we could see any Badgers. Well, to cut a long story short, the wind was NOT in the right direction by the time we'd got there, and also, after watching the sett from a distance, I realised that at least 2 of the openings to the sett had been taken over by wabbits.
Badgers and rabbits will very rarely co-exist in different parts of an old Badger Sett, but like I said... very rarely. Generally for that to happen, the sett has to be quite large and old, with "satellite openings" out of the way of the main Badger sett activity.
Before we left, we scouted around and found another two promising openings , right on the edge of the wood which we may stake out later in the summer. We really want to see Badgers this summer!
Anyway, we DID see two rather nice big, brown wild rabbits - one of which obviously caught our scent, and did a "Thumper", ie sounded the rabbit alarm call by thumping one of its hind legs on the firm woodland floor.
No photos from me... I won't take pictures in a wood at that close distance for fear of scaring the subject. (Everyone knows what a rabbit looks like anyway).
Not really much to say about rabbits. But, in case you didn't know...
1) Rabbits are NOT NATIVE to the UK. They were introduced 900years ago.
2) Becoming a pest, myxamatosis was introduced in the 1950's to control their population.
3) Myxamatosis wiped out 99% of the UK rabbit population in 1953
4) Myxamatosis still exists, but the majority of rabbits are now immune.
5) Rabbits can have 'kittens' every 5 weeks for 8 months of the year. NOw you understand fully (in case you never did!) what "Going at it like rabbits" means...
Badgers and rabbits will very rarely co-exist in different parts of an old Badger Sett, but like I said... very rarely. Generally for that to happen, the sett has to be quite large and old, with "satellite openings" out of the way of the main Badger sett activity.
Before we left, we scouted around and found another two promising openings , right on the edge of the wood which we may stake out later in the summer. We really want to see Badgers this summer!
Anyway, we DID see two rather nice big, brown wild rabbits - one of which obviously caught our scent, and did a "Thumper", ie sounded the rabbit alarm call by thumping one of its hind legs on the firm woodland floor.
No photos from me... I won't take pictures in a wood at that close distance for fear of scaring the subject. (Everyone knows what a rabbit looks like anyway).
Not really much to say about rabbits. But, in case you didn't know...
1) Rabbits are NOT NATIVE to the UK. They were introduced 900years ago.
2) Becoming a pest, myxamatosis was introduced in the 1950's to control their population.
3) Myxamatosis wiped out 99% of the UK rabbit population in 1953
4) Myxamatosis still exists, but the majority of rabbits are now immune.
5) Rabbits can have 'kittens' every 5 weeks for 8 months of the year. NOw you understand fully (in case you never did!) what "Going at it like rabbits" means...
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