Oxfordshire

This evening there was a mink on the lawn in broad daylight. The initial excitement of this sighting was soon overtaken by concern for the chickens who were only a few feet away.

I followed it in to the bushes where it sat quite boldly apparently not too bothered by my presence - at one point it even lay down and was cleaning itself! Unfortunately my camera was low on battery and I didn't manage to get a decent shot of it even though I had a clear view. After a while I chased it along the bottom of the wall and back again before it disappeared I think through a hole. It is probably an American Mink (Mustela vison) rather than the European Mink (Mustela lutreola). The latter has a white spot on the upper lip/nose but I don't know of any other differentiating features. This one had a white patch over the throat but was otherwise a wonderfully soft chocolate brown fur with a hint of reddish / chestnut. Not difficult to see why they have been farmed for their fur...

After such a hot July, August felt a bit disappointing being rather chilly and windy. At least there was plenty of rain to revive the plants. The wildlife sightings seemed to tail off too but maybe because we were outside less. The flycatchers were busy but no more nests. There have been plenty of tits, sparrows, chiff chaffs and finches. The second clutch of swallows fizzled out. The parents seemed to visit the nest only intermittently. One egg was pushed out and smashed on the floor below and a couple of weeks later a dead chick was on the floor beneath the nest. There have been no visits since then but the nest in the chuch porch is still going strong with chirping chicks almost ready to fly. Other bird sightings were a kingfisher and the green woodpecker especially when it picked a fight with one of the chickens!.

There have been plenty of newts, dragonflies and damselflies. The number of butterfly sightings was slightly disappointing overall but there were regular visits from a red admiral, peacocks, whites and blues. I discovered an area of woodland nearby with literally hundreds of woodland butterflies along the bramble covered edge. It is a long while since I saw butterflies in those numbers. We also paid a visit to a new community woodland called Weavely Furze (SP464182). It has recently been restored and looks promising, I was interested in the small hazel coppice which is in its first year. Whilst there we saw a hare. The only other sightings that come to mind are several muntjac deer and last night a hedgehog on the lawn but it managed to run away before I returned with my camera.

The old uknature site will shortly be closed down and all the content moved to the current nature diary / Nature & Wildlife (UK) blogs. This should hopefully enable me to keep the content more accurate and avoid some duplication. To see a larger image of the front page and read some of the history click on the read more link below.

I went out to lock the chickens away last night and almost trod on this toad on the back step. It is a common toad with the great latin name of Bufo bufo. The other evening I heard a bird knocking on a tree. Initially I thought it was a woodpecker but the tapping sound was too slow and quiet. Through the foliage I caught a glimpse of a small elongated bird running along the branch and it looked like a nuthatch. We have been excited to have a pair of spotted flycatchers in the garden and this past weekend one of our visitors found the nest on the back wall in the roses.

One thing I have noticed since moving out of London is how little the weather previously affected us in the inner city. November seems early to have such a harsh frost and the ground has been frozen for the best part of a week. I haven't really seen a frost like this for many years. I went out early one morning to take photos of all the ice cystals covering the plants. The chickens weren't as taken by the beauty of everything - one foot on the frozen ground and they hopped up on my back for warmth. The other thing you really notice is the stars. In London a clear night meant you could see the stars. Out in the country a clear night means you see thousands of stars of different size, colour and intensity and some of them really do twinkle!

This weekend there was a ploughing competition in one of the fields at Rousham. There was an impressive collection of vintage tractors and ploughing machinery. We went out of curiosity with a few friends expecting to stay for a few minutes but ended up being hooked.

I thought I'd add a photo of the "parents" of Millie and Katie. There is a flock of 20 or so Barbu D'Uccle bantams that wander around on the lawn of the house at Rousham. They are predominantly Mille Fleur colouring although some are Porcelain and other colouring. Millie and Katie came from the 'clutch' produced by this flock.