Yesterday evening I went for a stroll to the thin strip of
woodland at the end of my road. On the other side of the woodland is a field where
on previous visits I had noticed some well defined trails.
I had only been zoning for around 10 minutes when a
couple of bats arrived. As I sat there they were buzzing me, checking me out.
As I sat looking up at the bats against the sky I noticed
something in my peripheral vision, a fox was making its way alone the trail
towards me. As he came closer he stopped, checked me out for a while and then
decided to walk around the back of me through the woodland.
I managed to slowly bring the camera around to catch him walking off into the woods. The quality is not great as it was pretty dark at this point and beyond the ability of the camcorder so I have lightened the video in a software package.
I managed to slowly bring the camera around to catch him walking off into the woods. The quality is not great as it was pretty dark at this point and beyond the ability of the camcorder so I have lightened the video in a software package.
The base line at this particular location is very noisy due
to the road and people walking by, this can make it quite a challenge to zone
in. But in those moments when the cars and people are not there all the noises
of the woodland come alive. This is a location where your sense of smell overrides
your hearing. I have been walking along the hedgerow and the fox scent has been
so strong that I was able to pin point a 2m stretch where the fox was probably
sat there watching me, other times a more faint smell drifts across the field
on the breeze.
You don’t need to go far to see the wildlife, slow down and
open your senses as it’s a lot closer than you think...