Trail Cam

What do you think?  A Weasel or a polecat?  Or ...... ?

I will have to move the cam closer and take another look.  I know we have both animals here.

Lai

Hmmm   B  BBC Nature Polecat Link
http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/life/European_Polecat

BBC nature Weasel Link
http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/life/Least_Weasel

BBC nature Stoat Link
http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/life/Stoat

Great clip of the Fox, I'm not sure about two different Badgers in the second clip, just at the end as it goes out of view that one still seems to limp on its rear leg
WS

Sorry WS perhaps I posted the wrong 2 clips, we definitely have two different badgers but I had quite a few clips to pick from and could only wait for Youtube to upload two!

I think it may be a polecat as a weasel is very small and has a lot of white on it, a stoat is bigger but also has a lot of white. I need to see the head as a polecat has white eyebrows and muzzle.

I didn't post the badger clips as the batteries were going flat so it kept cutting out in the dark which was annoying.

Hopefully I'll get the cams out tomorrow.

Lai

No apologies needed Lai, you may have the right clips. I just thought at the end of the second clip it seemed to stumble on its left rear leg like the first one, and You Tube's a pain at times takes ages to upload.
My initial reaction at first is Pole Cat to, it would be great if you got a head shot.

WS

I have just watched your clip a few times Lai and I will say definitely a Polecat and a female one. Apart from my neighbour having Ferrets he also had a female Polecat called Daisy and we have had many a cuddle. Male Polecats are bigger than the females but the males are slightly smaller than male Ferrets, he also used to have a male Polecat who was pure white and called Boy. Polecats are lovely and your right they are bigger than weasels, so i'm sticking with you have a female Polecat..........lucky you   

littlewid-x-

  thanks Littlewid.  Much appreciated you letting me know, I am very excited and will keep an eye out again.

So after the sad news of our resident ducklings here's a short clip from our river cam (the date isn't right so it's a couple of days ago). I will be putting both cams on the river tomorrow in the hope of seeing them again and the heron and maybe the mink although that will not be good news for the duckling.



Lai  

Loved the clip thanks Lai, is that your Mrs D who had the 11 ducklings as it was taken a few days ago ?. I really hope you don't get to see the Mink, it would give the ones who are left a better chance of survival

WS

No it's a different Mrs D WS. The ducklings in our garden are surrounded by a high wall so we either let them all out or wait until they fly. Mrs D likes to keep them in here (safe but not this year) so those 11 on the river are another family which is lovely to see. Both Mrs D's in the garden are now without any ducklings but have paired up so maybe some new arrivals soon? It would be lovely and I will keep an eye out.

I'm putting both cams out again this afternoon so may catch the mink who knows. It's tempting to try the woods for the badgers and the polecat but I think I'll concentrate on the river this week   

Oh yes meant to say WS the badger has a bad leg so we know we have at least 2 visiting the latrine - more on that soon I hope. Not enough cams   

Lai    

 Good news that at least the Mrs D on the river has that many ducklings at least Lai, and hopefully the new pairings will produce more, and fingers crossed the majority will get to grow up safe. I remember your clip of the Badger with the limp, it looks as though it's not hampering it to much, and fingers X as there are now two of them, we will see baby Badgers soon on your trail cams

WS

So many places to think about putting my 2 cams WS - it's       where next?    This weekend I am trying the river again, hoping for kingfishers and mink (not because we want them but to know if they are still here).

I also thought one near the bird feeders to see the ducks, pheasants, partridge et al   

Lai

Sorry Lai I have kind of missed this thread a little bit. I'm sorry that both Mrs D's have lost their ducklings from your garden, that is sad but good to see Mrs D in that clip with her little ducklings, are they all still there? I hope so.

You have so many interesting places to put your trail cams I can understand it must be tough deciding where to put them .........I think you need Springwatch to film from your garden then you will get everything covered   

Looking forward to seeing what you have managed to capture   

littlewid-x-

  Littlewid, we are extremely lucky with our diverse wildlife and spoilt for choice. Just now the trail cams are all in as the river is up! I was hoping to try and get the kingfishers and the Mandarin ducks but may try and put them out later if the river drops a bit.

I have some lovely clips of the Mandarins in our garden with the Tawny owl in the tree above but need to upload to Youtube so will do that after I finished posting .........   

Lai

A little bit later .......................

Here's 3 short clips of the Mandarin pair feeding in our garden.





On this clip is you put it on full frame and look just above the Mandarins (about 1/2 inch) in to the apple tree you'll see the Tawny owl moving it's head

 Great clips Lai. He really is a beautiful looking Duck, lovely to see them in your garden feeding happily. I saw the Owl on the second run through, but I don't think I would have if you hadn't tipped us off.
Thanks for the videos Lai

WS

Thanks WS and I admit I would have missed it if I didn't know the owl was there WS     the trail cam didn't pick it up when it swooped down on a small vole/mouse but Pete and I watched it   

Lai

Well i'm coming with my tent to move into your garden Lai    It's a garden you would never get bored in, so watch out, i'm on my way........Ooops...a problem........I don't have a tent   

Those really are lovely clips, the mandarins are so beautiful but I must also admit, seeing the Owl was just lovely, it really made me smile the way he spun his head round, his eyes were like "Oh Yes, what you doing", just brilliant.

Right i'm off late night shopping to buy a tent   

littlewid-x-

   Littlewid, you're welcome anytime with or without a tent, the dogs will happily share their beds    I agree about the owl, such a lovely thing to see and his movement was so slight but it was great to see.

I've just seen the Mandarins a little earlier and sadly spooked them when I went out with some food, so hope they return later.    their young are safe on the river.

Lai

I could curl up with your 3 lovely dogs Lai........I would be all warm and toasty........now I just need to check train times   

Hopefully the Mandarins will return later. Good to know their young are safe on the river. Has the level gone down a bit now so you can put your cams back out?

littlewid-x-

The Mandarin pair came back later for some food and then vanished hopefully back to the river which is dropping so maybe I can put the cams out again   

This morning we had 4 Greylag geese in the garden.  Wow are they noisy and when they decided to fly away they sort of wind themselves up, run, honking loudly and then take off.  I hope they'll be back for a photo opportunity   

Lai

I'm going to profusely apologise for my absence. Combination of work, real life and general dramas getting in the way. As an apology I have a video which was taken by a friend of mine with his newly bought wildlife camera of some nesting great tit visitors. He said that there are very loud chicks in there



There is also some of my latest videos on my youtube site https://www.youtube.com/user/MsPurpleHippy

Another one from my friend, they were visiting the nest as he was re positioning the camera

Just catching up on this thread after my absence and    those are some amazing videos. They put my birdies to shame, I wish I had a garden where I had lots of lovely visitors. I may have to 'borrow' a few of my friends garden as one of them definitely has some hedge pigs visiting

  

Hi PPH
It's lovely to have you back and don't worry, we all have things going on at times that keep us off the forum, life can be manic at times can't it but it's nice to have you back.
How lovely for your friend to have little visitors in his nesting box. A friend of mine at work has a nesting box with a camera in it and they have been watching Blue tits nesting, incubating and then hatching chicks. Its great that your friends weren't really scared by him moving his camera. Thanks for the clips and I will have a look at your link over the weekend for sure.

Have you had the Greylag Geese back yet Lai? I hope so, they do sound comical with their take offs, it must be lovely to watch......and hopefully get some more snaps.

littlewid-x-

During the nice weather we've been having I put my camera out again. In 24 hrs I got over 3000 pics so I had to be vicious in my whittling and I got down to 78

https://plus.google.com/photos/100227069702111384952/albums/5959188612374366353?authkey=CKPdj9K-m8arlwE

Its a bit fuzzy but this is one of my faves

"

also a baby starling being fed on my feeder