Added more books to the books page – not all about wildlife, birds or walks!
Tag: fox
MY PATCH (part 1)
This is a map of my patch ie: the place I can walk from my home and where I go regularly.
I can walk out of my house down the path onto Holt Lane and onto what used to be Holt Farm land and a piece of land that I believe was included in some sort of covenant, when the High Farm land was sold to make way for the Holt Park estate development. It was to be left open as common land.
Great for us and brilliant for wildlife.
There are loads of different varieties of trees. Deciduous and conifer.
There’s hedgerow a plenty and plenty of cover within the scrub and brambles.
As I’ve mentioned before, I know there are plenty of foxes around here and I see one regularly on Holt Lane. I think I may have found a den but I am not certain. I am surprised because it is so near the path and people like me walk there dogs past.
There were plenty of berries on the trees and bushes this year, as well as plenty of blackberries. they say its a sign of a hard winter and by gum did we have some snow.
Trees always look fabulous in the snow.
The sky can look really magnificent or menacing.
It was great for seeing tracks in.
I never realised how many rabbits there were.
I think I found fox tracks as well but its quite hard to tell the difference from some dogs paw prints. I know they are narrower and they were in places i wouldn’t normally see dogs.
The birds seemed pretty quiet whilst the snow was around, but I saw all the usual : blackbirds, finches, tits, thrushes, crows, gulls.
Thats when I saw the single waxwing in the trees. Brilliant first on my patch.
Deep and Crisp and Even!
The snowy weather has hit Leeds over the weekend and at the moment it is beautiful. I’m lucky as I don’t work Mondays, so have been out on my patch with Sparky.
It was very quiet and I couldn’t hear or see much around. I guess they were all at the garden feeders!!
However, I soon saw blackbirds eating the berries still left on various bushes and trees.
The chaffinches were nowhere to be seen, but a dwindling flock of
goldfinches were about.As I walked across the golf course I noticed a small family of four greenfinches. The younger ones often fool me, as they are not very green at all, but you can tell they’re finches by the bill and greenfinches by the flash of a yellow bar on their wings.
Next to them on the same tree were a couple of bullfinch.
I am almost certain that I have found a foxes den/earth on my patch and keep meaning to get up before dawn, to see if I can confirm this with a glimpse, but guess I’m just too lazy!
I will one day.
Adel Dam
Adel Dam is a small Yorkshire Wildlife Trust nature reserve at the far end of Golden Acre lake.
http://www.ywt.org.uk/_filestore/File/Nature%20reserves/Adel%20Dam.pdf
It is well managed by a group of volunteers. It consists of mixed woodland, with marshy areas and a lake. I have seen plenty of wildfowl, herons, teal, mandarin, pochard, cormorant, coot, moor hen, woodpeckers, foxes, thrush and roe deer.
There are two hides. One overlooking a marshy area, that has feeders. All the tits and finches visit and the greater spotted woodpecker. The other hide is at the far end of the lake. It was here that i got the best view I have had of the fox.
Foxes are such beautiful creatures I cannot understand anyone labelling them vermin.
On walking back, i spied the greater spotted woodpecker in the trees.
It doesn’t take much to please me – I was totally made up to have seen these chaps.