2022 - Hopefully no more lockdowns & more photography?

5th January - First trip out in a long time and decided to go to one of my favourite places, Bushy Park. My initial intention was to catch a sunrise with my new lens & filters, but that was a non starter, so wondered around the park to look for some interesting wildlife. Unfortunately, I took the wrong lens with me, so not a great start to the new year. It was a lovely day for a walk though, albeit a bit cold, & also to meet up with friends. The only photo worth putting here is this one of a jackdaw that was all fluffed up to keep warm on a very cold day.

7th February - Another trip to Bushy Park in the hope of a good sunrise, which didn't happen! So wondered in the park with friends to see what was around. We watched this seagull (below) stirring up the water and then diving for the rewards. Unfortunately I didn't get any good shots as struggled to get down low without a waterproof mat, but good to watch this bird.

Walking into the water gardens, we saw this delightful little robin and fed him with some bird food I had in my bag.

Finally as we were heading to the car, this heron was seen hunting in the stream and then wandered into the bracken.

13th March - This male fox comes daily to our garden but I haven't seen the female for a while & assume she is having her cubs somewhere nearby.

21st March 2022

Following a period of illness in the family, it was lovely to get out again. It was a beautiful spring day and there was definitely love in the air ❤️

These 2 kestrels were very active all day. I'm looking forward to seeing the chicks

This little gosling is one of 3 and only a few days old on Leg of Mutton Pond in Bushy Park. His/her parents are very protective and last. year all 7 of their chicks survived

27th March - the vixen in our garden

28th April - Not had time to go out with my camera, so more of the foxes in our garden with the vixen (top) & dog fox resting in our garden

5th May - I have seen a cub in next door's garden playing with mum and dad on a few occasions. I tried to get a photo from our bathroom window, but due to distance and fading light, I didn't manage to get and good photos, but lovely to see nevertheless

12th May - Dad on one of his daily visits to us

14th May - One day I suddenly got a glimpse of the cub at the bottom of our garden. I rushed to get my camera and managed to get a very quick shot of him, or her - so cute 🥰

16th May - Today dad visited the garden and brought his cub with him

18th May - The vixen visited us during the afternoon today

23rd May I took the opportunity to go to Bushy Park for a couple of hours as finally the weather was good and I was not working. I arrived at 06.00 and it was very tranquil with a miist over the ponds. There were lots of babies around with the first I saw being the Egyptian geese and their 11 goslings born in the last 24 hours. It was very difficult to photograph them as they stuck very close to their mum, but adorable to watch them

Then I stumbled upon some rabbits feeding in the long grass. Not easy to capture as they are very timid

When I arrived at the park, the the female adult swan and her 3 cygnets had just gone back on the nest. Finally they all resurfaced and swam around the pond and along the stream. I believe these are just under a week old.

28th May - a nice day forecasted, so decided on another trip to Bushy Park to see what is around and to catch up on how the youngsters are doing. First the bad news, all 11 goslings died and one of the cygnets was killed by a pike. Apparently, dad sat with the dead youngster for a few hours grieving. Very, very sad 😢 I found the 2 adult Egyptian geese who came running up to me for food, which of course they got. The 3 Egyptian goslings in the water gardens are much bigger and doing well, and also all came running up to me for some duck food. I might have found some in my bag for them 😉 Finally the Canada geese had 3 goslings that were constantly moving, feeding and preening. A delight to watch, but difficult to photograph

First trip was to see how the kestrels were doing. The female (below) has been seen, but not the male. The chicks have hatched and could be heard in the nest. Not a lot of action from the female and I did not see her bring any food for the chicks while I was there. I hope they do well.

I then went to see how the remaining cygnets were doing and mum and dad were very protective. They appear to be on the stream now and not the main pond, maybe because they are worried about the pike there?

Whilst feeding the geese, I stumbled upon a great tit nest. Mum & dad were busy flying in to feed their chicks. Unfortunately, the jackdaws were also showing an interest. Mum appears to have mites leaving her with a bald head, but hopefully she will recover without any ill effect

Worms were on the menu for this heron

1st June - This vixen is visiting us most days, usually early afternoon and I called her Aphrodite. She was a little scruffy but I thought she was beautiful. I have seen the adults frequently, but none of the cub for over a week now. I have a horrible suspicion he or she is no longer with us 😢

4th June - Another trip to Bushy Park to try and photograph the cygnets whilst they are still small and to try and get them on mum's back. I had been told they did this very early when first leaving the nest, so I go there just after 5am. Still no luck, they had moved to the stream before I go there. Still lovely to watch them though

Also visited the kestrels nest and found there were 2 chicks in there. Unfortunately, the male has not been seen for several days and the female was off hunting somewhere. Managed to get a photo of the youngsters, although difficult to get a decent photo as it is very dark

Later found mum hunting

A little trip into the gardens to find lots of baby rabbits. Unfortunately, the lighting was very poor where the babies were, but was still delightful to watch.

7th & 8th June - We were excited to see the fox cub recently in the garden as we hadn't seen it since the photos above. So I decided to put the trail camera out and captured the cub with mum.

The family consists of at least 3 vixens and 1 male. However, I am bit confused as to who the mother of the cub is? Previously, I had seen it interact a lot with another vixen, which initially I thought was the one that visits are garden daily during the day as I had seen her play with the cub on the trail camera. However, this cub is playing and following the vixen, who I have named Cyclops as she only has one eye. On the camera, the other eye does not reflect with the infra red and with the naked eye, it looks cloudy, so not sure what the problem is, but it doesn't seem to bother her much. Dad I have called Zeus and the other vixens are Hera and Aphrodite for the vixen who visits daily as she has beautiful colouring with darker fur on her shoulders. I have no idea if the cub is male or female, but named it Athena after Zeus's eldest and favourite child, although he has fathered several cubs before now. I am not 100% sure if Aphrodite is from this family though as she seems to come from a different place to the others. I have also seen other foxes visit the garden, but it is possible they are not part of this family group and come from elsewhere in the neighbourhood.

13th June 2022

The cub visited the garden today in daylight

8th October 2022 - another trip to Bushy Park and it was misty morning. Spotted these red deer in the trees.

Stonechat

5th December - My first attempt at photographing light painting at Waverley Abbey

12th December 2022

This fox, Apollo, visits early most mornings. I don't think he is from the usual family group and probably comes from somewhere else in the area. The photo below was taken during a very cold spell and frost.