Six wild boar, two pigeons and a fox

Here's some assorted videos from our trail camera for you... First, the largest group of wild boar we've seen yet, and the first time the male is with the others:

Next, one wood pigeon chasing another one in front of the camera:

And finally, two videos of a fox. First, in the early morning, with the camera still in infra-red mode, and then later in the day, but also with an unidentified creature running very fast the other way along the path - any ideas what it is? It's about 8 seconds in, and you'll probably want to switch the video to HQ mode to see it.


We've now moved the trail camera to the other side of the wayleave, into the wood that my friend Alex owns. It's by an animal trail and a seasonal stream (dry at present), so it'll be interesting to see what it picks up...

Mike

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Wild boar - lots of them this time!

As I said, we put our trail camera back near the mud bath the boar like to use, and we were rewarded with some results! In this video you can see four boar together at one point. At the end of the video is a single boar on its own - this was actually taken the next evening. This makes me think the big boar at the end might have been a mature male, roaming on his own, while the group could be females and adolescents. Anyway, watch the video and see what you think:

We didn't just get a boar, we also got a rabbit as well. OK, not as exciting, but here's the video anyway:

Mike

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Catching up - more photos of the boar skull

The last couple of weeks have been very busy at work for me, hence the small number of posts to the blog. Things are a bit quieter now, so let's do some catching up...

First, some more pictures of the boar skull I mentioned earlier. We went to collect it to deliver to the guy Tracy knows who works for the People's Trust for Endangered Species (PTES) - he'll use it when he's doing lectures.
The first thing to do was separate the spine from the skull, which Paul helped with:
I'll spare you the picture of the remains of the brain leaking out the back of the skull!

The spine has gone to a local school where Tracy teaches sometimes - a member of staff has access to an autoclave, and will get it cleaned up for the kids to have in the classroom.
We didn't have to boil the skull in the end, as we met someone from PTES on Saturday at the SWOG meeting, and passed it over then.
More posts coming up over the next day or two...

Mike

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Electric bikes to the wood!

Our electric bikes arrived yesterday! We both had to work, but that was OK, as the batteries needed a long initial charge... Today started with rain, but then dried up in the afternoon, so we set off to the wood on the bikes to see how they compared to our normal bikes. Well, they got us there a bit quicker, about 25mins compared to my normal 30min going flat out - though Tracy probably would prefer a slower speed on the normal bikes! This time should come down a bit as we get used to them.

The important thing though was that we arrived there without being tired, so it should be realistic to cycle there this winter, work for a day coppicing and then still be able to cycle home afterwards. The biggest difference is on the hills, of which there are several between Rye and our wood. Hills that on my normal bike I can just about maintain 4 mph can be done on the electric bike at 8+ mph, and you're not out of breath at the top!

Anyway, I'll write more about the bikes in future...

One of the main things we wanted to get to the wood for was to see how things had coped with the rain this week. The answer was "pretty well". The only thing slightly amiss was some water collected on top of firewood drier, which was easily dealt with by putting a bit more tension on the plastic sheet.
Autumn has definitely arrived, though with the weather in August you might think it's been here for a while! Up in the treetops the leaves are turning:
Though this dragonfly still managed to find a sunny spot to rest in for a while:
Over in Sweep Wood we found some hazelnuts on the ground. We didn't see any last year, but we probably didn't look this early, and perhaps the pesky squirrels had got to them first anyway.
There's a few unripe chestnuts down with the recent wind, and they are clearly providing a feast for the squirrels:
I really ought to get an air rifle soon, then after the squirrels have eaten our chestnuts then we can eat the squirrels! ;-)

The boar have been causing havoc at our pond, and recently as well, judging by the cloudiness of the water. The neat channel Tracy usually keeps clear for the spring to flow to the pond had been replaced by two mud baths!
Still, nice to see they're enjoying the facilities! :-) I think some time with a spade will be required soon, as the dam has got a bit trampled again as well.

That's all for now, not sure if we're going to the wood again tomorrow, it will depend on the weather. Next weekend is the Wood Fair at Bentley, which is a big event for us, and my parents are coming to visit the following week, along with my brother and his family. I hope we get some sunshine...

Mike

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Shed building, and a dead boar

Over the past week we've been building a shed at our allotment, trying to get a bit done in the evenings. It was nice doing it on sunny days:
and before long we had the floor built, resting on logs from our own wood! :-)Today it was raining, but we decided to go there anyway in the afternoon and carry on, getting the walls up:
We put on the beam that goes over the doorway and then quit, as it was miserable weather and we wanted to pop up to the wood for a bit before it went dark.

One of the things we wanted to see at the wood was a dead boar that we'd heard was near the road in one of the woods that borders ours. It was quite easy to find, but very sad to see. It didn't look like it had been wounded, not sure what killed it. (p.s. Just in case anyone is wondering, we didn't touch or move the boar in any way)
On a more positive note, we noticed something happening to the stumps left from the chestnut we coppiced:
It's exciting to see the buds forming for the new growth - and also a relief, seeing as this was the first time we'd coppiced our wood, and although we knew it would grow back, there's always that niggling doubt until you actually see it!

Pete and Tom have had a good week. Something out the window surprised Tom just as I took this photo - if you look carefully you'll see he's airborne:
Pete said he was an eagle, and tried to prove it, which also gave us a chance to count his feathers and see that they are all growing back nicely after his moult:
After all the excitement it was time for a nap:
though once rested Pete serenaded Tracy, being careful to sing into her eye!

Mike

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