Hogging the limelight

The village in which we live generally has a really good population of hedgehogs which isn't necessarily the case everywhere else: one morning last year I stumbled out of the house at 2:30 am for a bat survey to find one literally sat on our front step, but of course having one in our garden would have made spotting a hedgehog with the girls far too simple this year! Knowing several neighbours have regular visits from hedgehogs gave me a good starting point for the concoction of a PLAN - 'Hedgehog spotting in lockdown: 101'. In reality this involved asking a neighbour if Turtle and I might quietly sit in their garden one evening in a socially distanced manner, to see if we could see 'their' hedgehog, and happily they kindly agreed.

Thus Turtle and I skipped out of the door at 8:45pm - leaving the house a whole hour after her usual bedtime might have been more of an adventure to her than anything else! I had prepared ourselves with a couple of cameras - a thermal handheld one to help see the animal if/when it arrived, and a camera trap I could leave in place in case it was all getting so late I needed to pull the responsible mum card and take her home to bed.

Trying to persuade an active 6yr old that my persistent requests that she were both still and quiet were simply to ensure we didn't scare away the hedgehog before we got a chance to see it fell mainly on deaf ears, but fortunately we had lovely and very understanding company in the form of our (socially distant) guests who also laid on home-made elderflower cordial and raspberry and white chocolate cookies - I'm now slightly concerned that Turtle will expect this level of hospitality for all future mammal excursions!

It was just getting dark towards 10pm when, right on cue, a hedgehog entered the garden via the hedgehog highway between there and the adjacent alley and headed straight for the bowls of water and food laid out in expectation. Turtle sat with her mouth wide open as I quietly talked about what we were seeing. I then had a look through the thermal camera, at which point she duly pushed in front of the camera to come round for a better look herself - nothing like it for proof of presence!

The hedgehog hung around for 10 minutes or so, mooching between the feed and water bowls before heading off at a brisk pace to explore elsewhere. Turtle followed it down the garden path and was soon back, proudly reporting that it was last seen heading into next doors garden - who knows' what delights awaited it there?

However, for us it was time to go. We gathered up everything including the camera trap which had also captured the experience, gave our thanks and headed off home. I'm still not sure whether the hedgehog or getting home at 10:30 at night made the bigger impression!

British mammal tally: 10

Learn more about hedgehogs here

If you are interested in supporting Turtle & Seahorse, and through them the Mammal Society please click here for our fundraising page - thank you.

It's getting 'otter and 'otter

It's so frustrating when you know that otter are around locally, and yet finding any evidence in the usual places proves 'challenging'!  A few years ago a new fish pass was installed on the river, and as part of these works I was involved in protecting an otter holt in the wider vicinity. Since then, both as part of the legal monitoring works and also because I'm interested, I've been keeping a close eye out for otter spraint and usually find some with no problem.  Typically however, with the girls in tow things are never that simple. However, we did find one small spraint, complete with fish bones, on the edge of this wooden sleeper - what you can't see here is that the fish pass starts directly behind Seahorse on the left and I was holding her rather precariously, with Turtle holding onto my leg whilst I was attempting to get photographic evidence. Fortunately my husband hasn't yet asked me to complete a risk assessment as part of this challenge...

It was getting hotter and hotter by this stage, and any self-respecting animal would have been tucked up in the shade. NOt only that, but I was being reminded with increasing regularity that the girls hadn't had their snack (after only 3 breakfasts' that morning), so any more ideas for mammal searches were put on hold in favour of mini-cheddars and cold juice, picnic-style, before we mooched our way home again. One final highlight, although not part of our challenge, was this beautiful heron that was keeping a careful eye out for the girls...

Otter in general are becoming far more widespread throughout the UK, and are currently doing really well in Oxford. In recent years I've had reports of them being spotted on Salters' Steamers boats by Folly Bridge, being captured on video by Magdelen Bridge by a student wandering past and being seen catching fish in Hinksey Fish pond on a Saturday morning while dog-walkers were watching (and I saw photographic proof of that one too!).  To have one of our largest predators seemingly at home on the busy waterways of a small city really highlights the ability of many species to integrate into our world if only they can be left in peace. Lockdown has given rise to increasing numbers of reports of wildlife being seen in our towns and cities, but how much of this is due to a lack of human activity, and how much due to an increase in how much people are noticing is as yet to be determined. Regardless, get out there and keep your eyes open - you may be amazed at what you can see!

British mammal tally: 9

Learn more about otters here

If you are interested in supporting Turtle & Seahorse, and through them the Mammal Society please click here for our fundraising page - thank you.

Deer oh deer

Another day, another site to explore with Turtle and Seahorse on our seemingly never-ending quest to find 26 different species of British mammal.  This time we headed along the Mesopotamia way towards University Park. It was taking us quite a while, given that two-year old Seahorse decided that she had no intention of sitting in the buggy and instead insisted on pushing it - cue a rather lengthy pin-ball wizard style wander along the path. With Dad in charge this gave me a chance to check out obvious animal crossings over and through the wet ditch to one side into the field. I saw some beautiful roe deer prints that were really obvious in the mud, and looking up spied a small group of deer.

 This at least gave us a reason to distract Seahorse from steering the buggy into the ditch and she watched them for a good few minutes - no mean feat for an active toddler!  Turtle was just catching us up at this point (she was busy discussing the meaning of life and interesting smells with the dog), and her excited shouts at the fact there was a baby deer with them soon encouraged the herd to head off into thicker cover.

British mammal tally: 8

Learn more about roe deer here

If you are interested in supporting Turtle & Seahorse, and through them the Mammal Society please click here for our fundraising page - thank you.

Evening meanders

It's been a quiet week on the mammal-spotting front, so on Friday Turtle and I decided to go for an evening adventure together. I wanted to take her to the meadows by the Thames near our house - somewhere that is more tricky to go to with Seahorse in tow too, but I knew we'd be able to tick off various species together.

The first spot was numerous mole hills that Turtle saw without my even having to nudge her in the right direction. There are some fairly sizeable mole hills around at this time of year, usually indicative of a nest, meaning lots more wandering through feeding tunnels just below the ground for mum in a bid to find worms for her and her brood. 

At this point Turtle seemed more excited by the fact that we were up past her bedtime, and that I had a ready supply of butter mints than much else, but next on my list was a water vole.  Water voles are one of Britain's most endangered species due to habitat fragmentation and invasive American mink, but they are a species I've worked on for many years so are quiet special for me. Turtle has seen pictures, and has stamped her foot in frustration when I've said she can't come to work with me, so I was keen to show her indicative signs, if not an actual live water vole. I recently came across a new population on our local patch, which involved traversing patches of nettles, thistles and brambles to get to. Some things are worth it though, and it made it an adventure within an adventure (cue Turtle singing quietly en route about Turtle and Mummy being amazing explorers - and I wasn't going to burst that particular bubble)!

Water voles leave really distinctive piles of feeding remains, and in this particular area there were several piles, alongside some latrines, where female water voles stamp down old droppings and poo on top of the flattened piles to mark their territories. There was no sign of actual animals however, and only so long a 6yr old can remain interested in chewed vegetation and poo - and I had one other destination in mind before heading home.

I was on the hunt for otter spraint - yet more poo, but usually left in prominent places and often easy to find. Not quite so on this particular evening unfortunately. My usual go-to places (everyone has go-to places to find poo, right?) were totally devoid, so that one will be something to return to. However just as we were heading back home, a family group turned up armed with binoculars, obviously expecting to see something of note. Turtle isn't backwards in talking to people, and we quickly found out about a local barn owl that frequently hunted over the meadow and was due to turn up in a few minutes. Obviously we hung around, and literally three minutes later it quietly flew in over the Thames and started quartering the field. Turtle was utterly mesmerised - as was I, but she was literally watching it with her mouth hanging open. It swooped down and disappeared for a few moments, presumably eating whatever it had caught, but then was up again and resumed it's quartering. It came and went, fairly closely at times and always utterly silently (as was Turtle, which is nothing short of miraculous), and after it's second successful hunt it emerged with a small mammal in its' feet. Judging by the short tail clearly visible as it flew overhead, this was a field vole (another tick for us). At this point the owl began to be mobbed by four black-backed gulls and it beat a hasty retreat back over the Thames, still clutching it's prize. 

At this point we too beat a hasty retreat back home, with one very happy Turtle who was still singing to herself about the amazing adventures of Turtle and Mummy!

British mammal tally: 7

Learn more about moles here, water voles here and field voles here.

If you are interested in supporting Turtle & Seahorse, and through them the Mammal Society please click here for our fundraising page - thank you.

Where is everyone?

While I didn't expect to hit anything like the 26-species target within a few days, I've been surprised at quite how slowly we're getting there. Common species that we usually see (either the animals themselves, or clear fieldsigns) such as moles, rabbits and squirrels, have been curiously elusive to date. Do they know we're 'after' them somehow? Our village is crammed full of hedgehogs and I regularly chat with one neighbour over the road who had them mating in their garden just two days ago. Last year I tripped over one on the doorstep (literally) as I headed out at 2:30am for a dawn bat survey, but this year, thus far, nothing!

Not to be defeated however, we headed up to Chilswell Valley Nature Reserve - a beautiful, idyllic fenland and wooded valley full of wild flowers, birdsong and woodpecker knocking, and with a couple of perfect trees for climbing which always adds to the allure of any place.

We had long chats about how the two horses, one of which was galloping around the field on the opposite side of the valley, could not be included because they aren't wild (nor even feral, although this particular individual was attempting to prove otherwise), and even I couldn't spot any rabbit poo on our perambulations. Rolling down the field back down to our starting point did however introduce Turtle to the particular delights of the tiny, early-season nettles and their particularly ferocious sting as she tried hard to roll straight down, rather than repeatedly off to one side!

Along the lane however, watching yet more horses in the early evening sunshine, we spotted a fox. Please do excuse the quality of this photo as holding two children and attempting to take a photo simultaneously is a skill I've yet to master, but hopefully you can make it out.  As we got into the car it duly sat back on its' haunches and watched us go, patiently waiting for peace to return to the valley once more.

British mammal tally: 4

More about foxes may be found here

If you are interested in supporting Turtle & Seahorse, and through them the Mammal Society please click here for our fundraising page - thank you.

It's all in the poo

For the time being whilst social distancing and lockdown are so essential we are limited on options for getting out and about but nonetheless we are exploring new places where we can. It's a real eye-opener how much more I notice when I'm out on my own rather than with the girls, and I'm not entirely sure whether that because my attention is elsewhere or because they can be SO loud! Most parents of young kids are used to the never-ending monologue of 'put that down', 'don't eat that', 'stay away from the big river' and the constant plea for snacks and drinks and tissues and...

We headed to a local nature reserve set alongside the River Thames that is usually teeming with muntjac deer and the occasional roe deer and together we've seen them frequently in the past.

Today, however, was not that day. Perhaps it had something to do with people exercising dogs in the area, but nonetheless Turtle and her eagle eyes did spot some poo and requested help with the ID - muntjac without a doubt. It's great to see a 6yr old so excited at spotting field signs. Seahorse on the other hand was less enthusiastic after I stopped her trying to squish it!

If you're not too sure what a muntjac deer looks like and can't quite envisage them from this photo, do check them out here.

British mammal tally: 3

If you are interested in supporting Turtle & Seahorse, and through them the Mammal Society please click here for our fundraising page - thank you.

A spy in the hedgerow

One thing I have in my favour in attempting to complete this challenge together is that I am a Mammal Ecologist by trade, therefore I have a few tricks up my sleeve for easy ways to spot different species. One of these is the small mammal camera trap box – a simple wooden box to which a camera trap is attached at one end with a close-focus lens, and a pile of food placed at the other end. We duly set one up and placed in the dense shrubby hedge in our back garden overnight.

Bingo!  One very busy woodmouse captured coming and going all night and well into the next morning, extracting one tasty morsel at a time. The girls were so excited to see the footage on screen, although admittedly began to drift off after the first 50 or so 30-second clips of the same animal. Nevertheless, this brings us one step closer to our aim.

I had been hoping for a little more diversity in the garden than this - when I used the same set up last autumn I captured rat and hedgehog too even tho the builders had been with us since July and our garden was increasingly full with their paraphernalia, but even leaving the camera out for additional nights didn't increase our yield, and the front garden gave the same results, albeit probably with a different individual.

Find out more about woodmice here

British mammal tally: 2

If you are interested in supporting Turtle & Seahorse, and through them the Mammal Society please click here for our fundraising page - thank you.