A scraggy fox early this morning skipping through a hedge.
A scraggy fox early this morning skipping through a hedge.
Paul C.
... continuous effort - not strength or intelligence - is the key to unlocking our potential.
Sparrowhawk leading the way through Crayke Hall as I drove behind it today!
'The birds are the keepers of our secrets'
Compressed account for this week....2 Hen Harriers, 1 Peregrine, 16 Buzzards, several Heron and 2 dead badgers.
oh no,
my house backs onto a pond
yesterday saw a mink.
we had it last year and it decimated the frogs,toads,moorhens and grebe that we had.
owner has set a trap,any advice on how to catch?
Attachment 5976
Deer in the garden again. It's pretty well moved in - at what stage does it stop being 'wildlife'?
Eleanor Knowles, Ambleside AC
Several golden plover seen and heard between Beamsley Beacon and Round Hill this morning. My first of the spring. Plus a bonus redshank
Poacher turned game-keeper
Never!
Looks as though he's still got his velvet covering the new antlers; I'm surprised that the velvet hasn't been shed by now?
I found this on a website...
During its development, the growing antler is covered in a grey furry membrane known as velvet. This carries the blood vessels and nerves for the developing antler; the antler is bone growing on the outside of the body from the pedicles unlike horns, which are hollow and not cast each year. Should the velvet become damaged during the antlers’ growth, deformities can occur. The antlers are usually fully developed between March and April (earlier in older animals), when the increasing length of daylight causes a rise in testosterone levels. This causes the blood supply to the antler to be cut off. The velvet dries out, shrinks and is removed by the buck fraying its new antlers against saplings. During the period that the velvet is being removed, the buck is said to be ‘in tatters’ with dried velvet hanging in strips from the now hard antler. Whilst removing the velvet, damage is caused to young trees as the buck frays. It is whilst the buck is fraying saplings that the antlers become stained and coloured with tannin and sap from the bark, which changes the colour from white bone to a deep burnished brown. In areas with few trees like Salisbury Plain, antler colour is much paler due to lack of bark staining. It is the older bucks who clean their antlers first in readiness for spring.
Taken from this website... http://www.countrysportsandcountryli...g/Roe_Deer.htm
2 red deer hinds below Silver Hill on our way back to Patterdale from Place Fell last night. Then 2 more crossing the road between Patterdale and Bridgend.