Tag Archives: Moorhen

Moorhens and Foxes

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1st June 2024

The weeks before we went on our Outer Hebrides holiday, I had been monitoring a Moorhen nest in our wild garden pond. Interesting visits from a fox who came around several times but gave up trying to scavenge the eggs. Foxy didn’t like getting wet. As fate dictated the eggs hatched when we were away on holiday. Luckily, they started to hatch as we left, so I did get some video footage of a couple of chicks. The constant movement of the Moorhen, and vegetation caused the trail cams memory card to fill up in two days.

Looking for Foxes 6

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6th April 2024

It has been a full month since I shared the video documenting our foxes. However, the passing days have ushered in a sense of stagnation. The adult foxes continue their routine traverse across the field, perhaps eyeing the neighbouring chickens with intent, yet showing no signs of ousting the resident rabbits. Occasionally, a male pheasant makes fleeting appearances in the vicinity, though we now observe just one solitary bird frequenting our feeder. Gone are the days of jumping up and knocking the feeder to get some seeds. This pheasant, leaps up & down, squawks and flaps his wings. It doesn’t appear to cause any food to drop, but he’s working on it.

A pair of Moorhens briefly graced us with their presence as they crossed the mound, prompting me to redirect one of our cameras towards the tranquil pond. Despite the addition of rabbits to the scene, there seems to be a palpable absence of avian activity this month. However, a solitary Eurasian Jay did make a rare appearance, briefly breaking the monotony with its presence.

Looking for Foxes 5

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9th March 2024

It has been a month since I last shared any updates from the wildlife cameras. I’ve been diligently moving them around the garden, but unfortunately, sightings of foxes have been almost non-existent. However, I’ve come across some remarkable footage of foxes on other YouTube channels. I highly recommend checking out the ‘Nature Live Camera’ hosted by Morten Hilmer on his land in Denmark. There are a couple of clips from the live video feed capturing foxes in action: here and here.

So, what can I report from our own observations?

  • A grey squirrel, though thankfully it doesn’t frequent the bird feeders too often.
  • Rabbits, included this month just to prove their presence in our area.
  • A pair of Moorhens, intriguingly investigating a rabbit hole. Could they possibly be considering nesting there? We typically have a pair of Moorhens that visit and breed around our pond, so I’ll be setting up a camera to monitor the area closely.
  • A male pheasant, a familiar sight as he wanders our field, enjoys the bird feeder, and pays visits to our neighbours.
  • Foxes, with a couple of rare sightings captured. The last sighting revealed a pair of foxes; one can be seen crossing from left to right, and behind a fallen tree, there appears to be the reflection of another animal, presumably another fox.

Here’s hoping for more exciting sightings in the days to come!

The Fox Cubs

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30th June 2023

It has been a long while since I posted a video about our fox cubs. This five-minute video shows the fox cubs still with the Vixen down at our waterhole. The timeline is from mid-end June.

On the waterhole (pond) you can see a pair of moorhens racing around the pond, and preening. In one shot at about 32 seconds in you can see a fox cub on the bank, and the moorhens in the pond.

At 45 seconds in, a Muntjac (?) deer makes an appearance, after which we see a Vixen and her two cubs walking along the bank in the darkness.

During daylight hours, a grey heron comes fishing and catches a small unidentified morsal of food from the pond.

More fox cubs and their mother appear during daylight and darkness, often to come for a drink from the pond.

A Greater Spotted Woodpecker appears at 3.15. It hangs around entertaining us for a few seconds.

Not so nice is Ratty at 4.45.

Finally, a Jay comes for a drink.

The Secret Life of the Compost Heap XIIII

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We had a pair of Moorhens nesting on the pond, and then a brood of cute black Moorhenlings (Moorhen chicks). The pond was unusually full for the time of year, so the Moorhenlings were there for quite a while. One of the very few benefits of the incessant rain this year. Before the arrival of the Moorhenlings, the Moorhens actually coexisted with three Mallard ducks for several weeks. The Mallards could be spotted on the pond day and night. They appeared never to sleep, steaming around the pond at any time of the day or night, unlike the Moorhens. The Moorhens disappear back to their nest during the night. For many days we had only one Moorhen, presumably the other was hatching the eggs. At this time the ducks vanished, I presume forced off by the Moothens. We now had a set of baby Moorhen chicks (Moorhenlings).

The Moorhens chicks soon increased in size. You can see them searching the margins of the pond for food, and being offered morsels by their parents. A Heron paid a brief visit. Did any of the Moorhenligs fall prey to its avaricious appetite?

The Moorhen chicks also spent a considerable amount of energy hiking across the fields in search of food. Sometimes we would see them in the garden. Recently I was surprised to find the adults and chicks investigating the badger sett in our Compost Heap. This is a considerable distance from the pond with long grass in between. (We are limiting the grass mowing this year, with a no-mow Summer.)

The Secret Life of the Compost Heap XII

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Over in the field pond, I caught several songbirds on camera while trying to capture foxes, badgers and Moorhens. Here is a Thrush, Blackbird, Greenfinch, Goldfinch, Moorhen and Pigeon. The last shots are birds drinking from the pond. I do have a small video of the Moorhen and chicks coming soon.