A few short updates from the past few weeks

I have been doing lots of stuff the past few weeks from working on the Tawny Glade hide mainly getting it ready for winter and now the feeders are right next to the hide windows so I can get some close up shots of them feeding and a quick update on the birds visiting this new woodland feeding station are the Great spotted woodpecker and Goldcrest but they were only there for a short while so I ended up just watching them and was just glad to these great birds feeding on the food and feeders I put there. I can't wait to see what birds the winter weather brings into the woodland but I have just bought a few bags of food to last through the winter months and as I have plenty of raisins in stock ready for the Berry eating birds I am hoping to get very close to some of the Fieldfares and Redwings that visit the holly trees to feed on the bright red berries and as its next to my house I do not have far to go.

I also visited Tatton park with a friend who I let use my DSLR while I filmed to see if there were any last minute rutting going on but everything seemed relaxed and Red Stags were in small groups with does mixed in but the thing that surprised me was that the bigger Stags were all pretty much layed back and were enjoying a well deserved rest.

The real stars of the day were the Fallow Deers which rut was just beginning and as you can see below it was a very relaxed rut but there were a few Fallow deers nipping in trying to steal a mating opportunity while the main Stag was busy chasing others away from his harem. A white Fallow Stag was the main culprit but every time the main Stag came in the white one were soon back off.

As the clocks had changed the light began to fade early and this Fallow Deer came over the hill and stood out against the blue and white cloud sky and it looked stunning due to the Deer being in the shadows creating a black silhouette of a fantastic stag in perfect rutting condition.

Shadow of the Victor

Over the next few weeks I have a number of things I want to do from going to North Wales to pick up a Gannet skull that we buried in September hopefully any flesh will have been stripped away by now leaving the skull of one of the most beautiful sea birds that breed on our coast. I have to get the Bird boxes up at the woodland ready for roosting birds that may nest in them in the spring but my main aim is to get the artificial Otter holt over on my kayak to Otters pass piece by piece which should be interesting so with that thought I better get on planning and working on a few side lined projects due to the change in seasons.

Thanks for reading

Mike