Yesterday I found tracks in Scarlett’s sandpit and tentatively identified them as coming from a mouse. Well, I was wrong. Not the first time, won’t be the last either. The tail drag was the clue, but I didn’t think it through enough. One animal consistently leaves a tail drag – a lizard. I thought about [...]
Archive for the ‘Tracking’ Category
Tracks in the Sandpit – I was wrong
Posted in That's not a badger!, Tracking, tagged common lizard, Tracking on July 31, 2011 | 8 Comments »
Brief Encounters
Posted in Birds, Tracking, tagged mouse, Sparrowhawk, tracks, woodpecker on July 30, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
I’m on parenting duty again this weekend, so no badger watching. But there’s always something wildlifey to be seen out there. Take these tracks for instance. They appeared overnight in Scarlett’s sandpit (yes, I really have used my daughter’s plaything as an impromptu tracking box. The scale is in centimetres, so the tracks are small. [...]
CSI Bedfordshire
Posted in Tracking on May 31, 2011 | 1 Comment »
It rained on Sunday. I can’t remember the last time I saw rain, it’s been that long. Nevertheless, we went for a little walk in the field behind my house. It was a bit soggy for the wildlife, only the odd rabbit and a muntjac barking in the copse. The persistent rain had washed out [...]
3rd January 2011 – Welcome to the New Year
Posted in Background, Fieldnotes, Tracking on January 3, 2011 | 6 Comments »
It’s a belated Happy New Year actually, as we’re three days into 2011 already. I’ve had a great time with friends and family over Christmas and the New Year and things are settling back into a more normal routine. The cold weather broke a couple of days after Christmas. Christmas day was on Saturday; by [...]
Fieldnotes: 18th December 2010 – Let it snow…
Posted in Fieldnotes, Tracking, tagged snow, Tracking on December 18, 2010 | Leave a Comment »
I’ve mentioned this before, but the village I live in has a connection to some of the most courageous polar expeditions in history. The frozen ends of the earth are a long way from our green fields and woods and hedgerows, but I like to think I’m keeping the polar tradition alive by going outside [...]
Fieldnotes: 8th July 2010 – Stoat feeding signs
Posted in Fieldnotes, That's not a badger!, Tracking, tagged feeding signs. feathers, stoat on July 8, 2010 | Leave a Comment »
“You know my method. It is founded upon the observation of trifles.” Sherlock Holmes . Here’s another piece in the jigsaw puzzle of my tracking the stoats in my neighbourhood. I took a stroll through the field behind my house this evening. I didn’t see any stoats, and my carefully smoothed patches of loose sand [...]
Fieldnotes: 4th July 2010 – A short walk with stoat scat
Posted in That's not a badger!, Tracking, tagged polecat, scat, stoat, weasel on July 5, 2010 | 6 Comments »
If you’re looking at this page in the hope of reading about badgers, I’m sorry. I’m afraid I’ve been very busy lately. We had Scarlett’s Christening on Sunday, and a very pleasant day it was too, but it did take a certain amount of time in preparation. I haven’t had a chance to see how [...]
Polecat Paws
Posted in That's not a badger!, Tracking, tagged polecat, Tracking, tracks on June 29, 2010 | 2 Comments »
After I described my roadkill polecat (I’ve had it confirmed as a ‘pure’ polecat by the County Mammal Recorder, by the way) Pablo took the time to comment, saying “I suppose you didn’t take its pawprints before you disposed of it?“ Pablo – I like the way you think! As a tracker you get used [...]
Absolutely the last of the snow tracks – tentative stoat tracks!
Posted in That's not a badger!, Tracking, tagged stoat, Tracking, weasel on January 19, 2010 | Leave a Comment »
The weekend before last I went out into the snow, and amongst the tracks were a set that puzzled me. The gait was very like a rabbit or a squirrel – a bounding gait with all four paws together in a group. The size as very small though – bigger than a mouse (and a [...]
Last of the snow tracks – the New Jersey mystery
Posted in Tracking on January 17, 2010 | 4 Comments »
I’ve been away for a while with work, so I’m late catching up with my correspondence. Sheila, Rick and Mrs B – thank you for your comments and apologies for being so slow in replying. I always enjoy hearing about other people’s experiences, so please keep them coming. Somewhat accidentally, I now have an international [...]