I’d put a bit of leftover roast pork out for the creatures, and just after 5am the fox found it. It was just starting to munch on it when a white streak shot across the screen – it was one of the cats but too fast to see which one. The fox fled for its life. Two minutes later the camera activated again with Schrodi sitting on the stone where the meat was – so I guess the victor was him. So the fox is terrified of the cats, presumably because although he is larger, they are in their home territory. He couldn’t have been that scared though because half an hour later when the cats had gone he was back to finish his dinner.

We had another wonderful creature night as always seems to happen when we get a mild one in winter; pine marten, two badgers and the fox. Plus there were deer crashing around in the trees when I was out making a bonfire this afternoon.

The picture is of the fox just before Schrodi swooped in.

I’d love to have the expertise to identify the species as I am a big fan of food from the wild, but I draw the line at potentially poisoning myself and R, so I passed on gathering them and just took some photos.

Today was also a good day for wildlife. I was on the phone in my office this afternoon when the fox came out of the wood and slowly made his way up the path, smelling everything as he came. He really is a beautiful creature, so I hope he stays off the farmer’s land. I also hope the cats stay well clear of him. Anyway, after the call I was just walking down the hall when I saw something move in the back garden; it was a red deer and her newish looking fawn, still with its spotted coat. I also saw our little roe stag today – his antlers are getting quite big now.

And I gathered some cherries from the tree today – they tasted good although the skins were a bit split.

I was quite sad because I love our squirrels, but then I got thinking about the scrawny fox and the cubs she is probably trying to keep fed. So all nature’s way I suppose. Actually the presence of the fox (which I have only seen on the webcam at night during the winter) explains why the cats have been a bit jumpy over the last few days.

I didn’t get a picture of fox and squirrel, so the one above was taken by V when she was staying recently..

The heron is catching so many of the poor frogs that today for the first time I tried shoeing him off – just to give them a chance of enjoying their conubials in peace for a while. But to no avail; three times I chased him, and each time he was back within half an hour. The ducks are also spending nearly all their time on the pond at the moment – they are very sweet the way they sleep on the water with their heads tucked under their wings.

Then this evening there was one mature red deer hind and a yearling – presumably her offspring from last year grazing on the back lawn. Hopefully they will keep clear of the daffodils which are now coming into full bloom. As soon as R saw them he ran to get the anti-tick liquid for the cats – it is about that time of year again.

The picture is a bit of a cheat as I didn’t manage to get a photo of the heron today. As you can probably tell from the lush vegetation, that one was taken in the correct location, but in June last year.

R and I scared a heron off our pond this morning and there are plenty of signs of spring around the village, but the snow being back definitely shows us that winter has not departed for this year as yet. There were also some good tracks down our drive which are definitely not the cats so must be a badger or fox.

I’d love to be off for a mountain walk today, but unfortunately (or from the point of view of the company finances, fortunately) I have tests booked in until the end of the month.

These are some views of the snowscape and tracks this morning.

This week, however, we have an almost nightly visit from a pine marten, who yesterday morning about 7am sat eating the nuts put on the ground for the badgers for about 20 minutes (presumably he had finished the ones put on the bird table for martens!).

We have also had a few visits from a fox who is also helping himself to the nuts (apparently from research on the Internet they like peanuts – who knew). I feel quite sorry for him because he is very thin and the farmers around here shoot foxes.

I like foxes and this is only the third one we have seen on the Donich. I was very glad to hear the other day that plans to bring back fox hunting have been shelved. Having said this I hope ‘our’ fox stays away from the local farms as I am sure the farmer will have no compunction about shooting it if starts hanging around the sheep.

On the same night, we had our first ever webcam view of a fox. I’ve only seen a fox around here twice; once in the garden around this time last year when it was snowing, and once up near the waterfalls where there was a dead one by the side of the path. I’m wondering if Tora saw it the other night and it was what caused him to come in howling at 5am.

When I was feeding the birds today I noticed that we have some poo which corresponds to this description near the bird feeders.  I am not getting down on my knees to see what it smells like (!) but this is the first evidence of the elusive marten we have seen.  Unfortunately the fox has similar looking poo so we may be disappointed yet.