I recently wrote about the night visitors who own the hours of darkness out there in the woods that surround our house. My daughter’s camera trap had caught badgers, deer, mice and rabbits going about their foraging routines.
But that was not the whole story. Wildlife is as busy during the day. At a thicket, close by something we call ‘the forgotten valley’, where haybales rot, sprouting grass and dandelion (pis-en-lit in French, literally wet-the-bed) the camera was set up to observe a rabbit hole set on an embankment and surrounded by almost impenetrable brambles and early growth birch and willow.
The wild rabbit is well camouflaged in daytime with only movement sometimes giving it away as it emerges into the sun in the early evening. Then the deer, large loping animals that travel the fields and forests round and about our house, that manage to stay hidden despite their size.
These are a small selection of the images captured by the camera. There was more than one deer identified and numerous rabbits, and the sighting of many badgers and field mice. The forgotten valley may have been disregarded by humans, due to its narrow and boggy nature, but this has simply made it all the more popular with the local wildlife.
This is my favourite image. The hawk. It has just paid a visit to the rabbit hole, but I don’t think the inhabitants will be welcoming.
14thcenturypoet 