Up Close and Personal
birds, mammals, wildflowers, woods May 4th, 2009I wanted to capture some more images of spring this weekend. There were 3 specific things I had in mind and that was fox cubs, badger cubs and a muntjac fawn.
It was harder than I thought it would be. The easy one was the badger cubs as I’d been watching them all week. Unfortunately, the footage is a little dull but I managed to get a good 5 minutes worth of two cubs, two adults plus a juvenile.
I spent the longest time on the fox watch. I went straight to the fox earth from last year. I waited for about 4 hours before they came out. They were very skittish and I counted only 3 as opposed to last years 6.
The adult lapwings tried to lure me away from the chick, but I’m a little too wise for that one. Even so, the youngster did a great job of keeping still and blending in with the background.
Although I captured plenty of plant images (the above is a Star of Bethlehem) time was running out for the muntjac. I saw a total of 3 adults (2 bucks and a doe) but I didn’t see a youngster.
As a last ditch attempt I went into Broaks wood. Although not as warm today as the two previous days, it was nice and quiet before the dog walkers came in.
I saw another buck – but no young. However I did come across this grass snake trying to grab the few rays of sun that were trying to break through the cloud. I haven’t seen one for ages and he was very amenable to my study, allowing me to get up close and personal.
I was pleased to see a white throat as well. This is a common summer visitor to the UK but it has managed to escape my all time bird list… until now.
I never did find any mutjac fawns. But I spent a great three days trying and I’ll try to finish editing the full “Springwatch” video by mid-week. In the meantime, here are the fox cubs.
Thanks for the visit.
Pablo.






May 4th, 2009 at 8:30 pm
Great video – looking forward to seeing the rest
SBW
May 5th, 2009 at 12:06 am
You always have such beautiful pics. I especially like today’s snake. Thank you for sharing these with us!
May 9th, 2009 at 1:40 pm
This is so beautifull. Thanks.
Those foxes seem nervous with passing vehicles. Well, hardly supprising I suppose.
Thanks for sharing your talent for capturing wildlife.
Hh
May 18th, 2009 at 2:39 am
Your photo of the Grass Snake is fabulous. I only ever see them when I’m kayaking, and getting a good close shot has proved difficult.
The foxes seem to be breeding well this year. I’ve been very lucky to get some footage of a litter of seven.
May 28th, 2010 at 10:40 am
Superb shots & video Pablo, thanks for sharing.