Illustrated Wildlife Short Anecdotes
Woodmice occasionally get into my home, after the birdseed, but am usually able to locate one that gets in and expel it. On one occasion I couldn't find one so I started leaving out small amounts of sunflower seed, sealing the rest into plastic containers. It soon became apparent that the amount of seed eaten was feeding more than one mouth, so I had a thorough search to locate a nest, but again drew a blank, After some weeks I set a humane trap with the only available seed in it, and sure enough, it caught a female woodmouse which I released into nearby woodland. The next day I was working in my bedroom cum workroom when a young woodmouse came hopping out from under the bed, hopped right up to me and stared up at my face. This was very odd, they are normally instinctively frightened of humans and also normally strictly nocturnal. Satisfied, it calmly hopped on through the flat to where I'd reset the trap and sure enough, click, it was caught. So I popped it into a lidded bowl with some sunflower seed and carried on working. Shortly after, another young woodmouse appeared
from under the bed, hopped up to study me, then hopped off to get the seed and got trapped. Finally a third and final one repeated the whole performance so there were three in the bowl now, all of which I took up to the area where the mother was released and left them with plenty of seed for a few days. They are strictly nocturnal, but the photo is of one of the young as I released it. Following that I made a very thoroughly search and found a small hole in the base of my divan bed at the head end. What the mother had done was hopped up and gnawed her way in, building a tiny nest inside the base with the stuffing material. Of course that explained why the young were so tame with me, they'd grown up active at night just under my pillow area so were completely acclimatised to my smell and presence. Since the young ones were quite mature, all four must have been roaming about my home at nights once all lights were out.
This woodpecker chick flew the nest too early and couldn't maintain height. It had followed the mother from the wood at the top of my hill to where she was on my peanut feeder but was unable to gain enough height to perch near her to be fed as they usually do. As a result the mother ignored it and as the hours went past with several visits to the peanuts from her it became obvious that she'd abandoned it. From time to time the chick had tried to fly away from where it was clutching onto this larch trunk but just slipped further down each time and was in danger from the local cats, so I brought it indoors to attempt to rear it until it was more ready and able to fly well.
After some initial struggles and some patient persistence it eventually started to accept food, some crushed peanuts mixed with a little lard and stopped panicking when I was nearby. It made rapid progress and I was able to get it to do some indoor flying lessons to increase it's strength and ability, and here on the right you see it perched on a chair back after a successful fifteen foot across a room flight.
And finally here it is on the left on it's release five days later when it flew off confidently direct into the woods on the other side of my area from where it had been reared. I've no idea how well it did from then on since the young woodpeckers rarely visit after the parents stop feeding them, only eventually returning in adulthood.
This female chaffich flew into my lounge window and knocked herself out cold. Obviously shocked with a weak heart rate, I held her inside my closed right hand with fore finger supporting her head up to keep circulation free, and inside my shirt against my body for warmth and darkness. After half an hour she had gained a strong heartbeat and was stirring, so I put her into this handkerchief "nest" in a bowl to further recover. She soon relapsed, so I returned her to inside my shirt held in my hand until another recovery was evident. With french door open, another hour later she flew off into a tree outside, but then stayed there watching me for more than an hour before eventually departing!
These two starlings on the left were having a squabble about which one was going to bathe in this small pool I have at the tree base, one an adult bird from a front gutter nest on my building, the other from a rear of building gutter nest.
As you see on the right, they then decided to sulk for a few minutes with their backs to each other, the one of them on the left having sneakily stood just into the edge of the water.
They couldn't keep this up for long though, soon deciding to settle their differences and both bathe together as you see left.
These two dead bank voles, an adult and baby plus a further baby nearby, were found on a meadow at the edge of local woodland. I assume it would have been a local well fed cat that was responsible, since most wild predators would be hungry enough to eat them rather than leave them.
The distance from local housing would indicate a tom cat rather than a queen, tom's territories being three times larger at around one and a half square miles.
The distance from local housing would indicate a tom cat rather than a queen, tom's territories being three times larger at around one and a half square miles.
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The starling on the feeder seen here in winter plumage was from a pair nesting in the front gutter of my building. They had both learned how to perch on the peanut feeder, a difficult skill for walking ground feeders.
In the rear gutter was another pair of starlings nesting and they hadn't mastered that skill at the time of this photo. Here one of the rear pair is watching how it's done, it's head first tilting to one side, then the other as it studied the detail. They soon learned how to do it!
In the rear gutter was another pair of starlings nesting and they hadn't mastered that skill at the time of this photo. Here one of the rear pair is watching how it's done, it's head first tilting to one side, then the other as it studied the detail. They soon learned how to do it!
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This little dunnock chick flew the nest too early and couldn't maintain height. Unfortunately it had to be grabbed before a cat got it and couldn't be left for the mother bird to care for it. Therefore I fed it for a few days on captured flies, beetles and some blended egg, and checking the progress of it's flight ability each day.
Here it is a few days later looking more mature with wing feathers grown out and beak looking more adult in form. I had intended a few more days of care but checking it's flight ability one day it suddenly took off with complete confidence and flew off into the adjacent nature reserve. Being a ground feeder beneath the cover of undergrowth it would doubtless find enough insect food to be ok.